Caribbean Ferry from DR- Puerto Rico

Caribbean ferries from DR-Puerto Rico

I had to show up at the docks 5 hours before departure, due to customs and check in….. And I can now understand why! First I stood in line to check in for 1 hour, then in customs they pulled everything out of both my bags that I had carefully packed only hours before. Then they took all my fruit and food of me, then stuffed everything back in, so half of it did not fit.

Then I wandered off to passport control…. Oh what fun. First of all I apparently have a fake passport, secondly of all my signature is fake, and thirdly we do have social security number cards in Norway, and fourthly a woman backpacking by herself is unacceptable in this country.

They sent me into a room with 3 female security people and 2 men, and it was extremely intimidating I tell you. To prove my signature was not fake, I had to sigh a piece of paper a hundred times, to compare my signature for them then to decide whether it was mine or not! Then they looked at my passport for ages. They questioned me why my Spanish was so good, why I had travelled in the ‘Dominican Republic, why I was travelling by my self, and why I had a backpack!

I had to tell them my life story about how I had learnt Spanish, and why I was travelling, and what a backpacker was. All very annoying, when they look at you and presume you are lying no matter what. They kept asking me the same things over and over again. Then I got asked to show my Norwegian ID card (Does not exist), so I showed her my visa, with my id on the back, and I got told that was unacceptable… I told her that the ID card she asked for did not exist and she kept telling me it did!!!
Then I had to show her all my boarding cards, and I made the mistake of telling her I flew to Dominican Republic from Frankfurt, and I forgot to say that I had one flight first from Oslo to Frankfurt, so then she saw my ticket and called e a liar, and questioned me why I had not told her this at first……

After hours of questioning, I finally got to go, and then I had to go through all the payments I had to make to leave the country, for having stayed 4 days over a month, and for entering Puerto Rico….. I was feeling rather poor after all of this.

Finally on the boat all I had to do was get my key and get settled into my cabin. As I walk to my cabin I realise I am on the street called Carl Johan (main street in Oslo, Norway), I start wondering around the ship, and quickly realise this used to be a Norwegian ship going to Germany or Denmark. There were Scandinavian things everywhere, and some of the crew even looked Norwegian.

I wanted to take some photos of the city by night as we sailed out, so I headed for one of the upper decks. To my amusement every door had a warning in Norwegian saying, “Be careful, surface might be covered in Ice and might be slippery”. Ice in the Caribbean….. Impossible! I even have photos to prove it, oh not the ice of course, but the sign! 

After the photo session, I headed in to the buffet and off to my cabin to write my blog as a good girl, and get some sleep, as I would have to get up early to pack, shower and ship out of there for my arrival in Puerto Rico Mayaguez.

At 5 I was up and running, packed, and heading for the upper decks again to try to get some morning photos of the port area. I must have looked strange standing there with 2 backpacks and a camera in my hand, as so many people were looking at me

I arrived in Mayaguez port at 8 am, and then I had to go through customs and passport control, and surprisingly enough, it was easier to get into Puerto Rico which is a US commonwealth, than it was leaving the Dominican Republic.

I was finally in the hotel about 11 am, and ready to discover a new place.

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