Lots of DR advice wanted for newbies

[gloryboy]

Hi All

This is our first posting, we are a couple currently living in Roatan, The Bay Islands and are looking to come to the dominican for a while to see how we like it, can anyone point us in the right directions for:

Accomodation - A room within a house, A studio apartment or 1 bedroom apartment to rent - on the north coast. Accomodation must have internet access as i work off the net.

Transport - prices of cars and scooters, are they expensive, what do we need i.e is it safe to have only a scooter or do we need a car/4x4.
are cabs expensive, what is the public transport like, is it expensive etc etc.

Amenities - does the north coast around caberete have everything a young (we think so - 29 & 35) couple might need, i.e nice restaurants, chilled bars, supermarkets.
We are not a having it couple, we dont really do much, we are chilling people but we made the mistake of moving to the quiet end of Roatan and it is like a retirement village, so we have decided that even if we dont use the busy life, we would still like it around or in the near vacinity of us.

Internet - can anyone tell me what the score is on the internet situation. Is it stable, high speed, reliable, do you have various suppliers as here on roatan there is 1 and they are terrible (i physically cannot work). I would really appreciate as much info as possible about this.

Power cuts - Does the DR have many power cuts, how often and how long for - rough estimates.

Cost of living - is electricity expensive, is supermarket food expensive, cost of fuel, etc etc.

If there is anything else that anyone can help us with please feel free to post your advice, it would be much apprieciated.

Cheers, we look forward to your replies.

T&K

[Chris]

All your questions are answered and you can find these answers with a little reading on the board. Nevertheless, just quickly:

Originally Posted by gloryboy

Hi All

This is our first posting, we are a couple currently living in Roatan, The Bay Islands and are looking to come to the dominican for a while to see how we like it, can anyone point us in the right directions for:

Accomodation - A room within a house, A studio apartment or 1 bedroom apartment to rent - on the north coast. Accomodation must have internet access as i work off the net.

When and what is your budget?

Originally Posted by gloryboy

Transport - prices of cars and scooters, are they expensive, what do we need i.e is it safe to have only a scooter or do we need a car/4x4.
are cabs expensive, what is the public transport like, is it expensive etc etc.

Yes, cars are about 50% more expensive than in the US. Many people live here that do not have a vehicles. If you have time, public transport will get you where-ever you need to go, cheaply.

Originally Posted by gloryboy

Amenities - does the north coast around caberete have everything a young (we think so - 29 & 35) couple might need, i.e nice restaurants, chilled bars, supermarkets.
We are not a having it couple, we dont really do much, we are chilling people but we made the mistake of moving to the quiet end of Roatan and it is like a retirement village, so we have decided that even if we dont use the busy life, we would still like it around or in the near vacinity of us.

Restaurants, bars and supermarkets yes. An opera house? No. One movie house that I know of, on the North Coast.

Originally Posted by gloryboy

Internet - can anyone tell me what the score is on the internet situation. Is it stable, high speed, reliable, do you have various suppliers as here on roatan there is 1 and they are terrible (i physically cannot work). I would really appreciate as much info as possible about this.

There are options. Best option is to get accommodation where there is terrestrial internet.

Originally Posted by gloryboy

Power cuts - Does the DR have many power cuts, how often and how long for - rough estimates.

Yes, anything from a few seconds to a number of days. Average anything between 2 hours to 8 hours a day. Your accommodation should have a generator, inverter and battery bank.

Originally Posted by gloryboy

Cost of living - is electricity expensive, is supermarket food expensive, cost of fuel, etc etc.

The most expensive I believe in the world.

Originally Posted by gloryboy

If there is anything else that anyone can help us with please feel free to post your advice, it would be much apprieciated.

Cheers, we look forward to your replies.

T&K

Yes, what I can help you with, is to advise you to read, read and read some more on the forums. It will take you a few weeks to read only the 2007 threads. All of your questions are answered with up to date information.

[Robert]

Also take a look in our Knowledge Base.

Dominican DR1 Knowledge Base

[mountainfrog]

Originally Posted by Chris

.... All of your questions are answered with up to date information.

....including the proper name of this country.

Nevertheless, welcome to the board.

m'frog

[Me_again]

"...including the proper name of this country."

m'frog means that some of us crinnnnnge when we hear the name: "The Dominican". It makes me wince just to type it.

[Hillbilly]

Glad to see the my assistants in the Grammar Police Force caught that error.

Yes, dear folks, read, read, read.

This can be a wonderful place to live, but a lot depends on just how you approach things. If you take a long look, get the "big picture" and make the right choices, I am sure you will find a wonderful place to live.

From what little I know about Roatan, the DR is totally different. First off, you cannot get "island fever" , that frustration of 'no place to go' with little islands. There is 48,000+ square kilometers (about the size of West Virginia) of territory in the DR, and an incredible variety of scenery and ecological environments: Tropical beaches, tropical forests, semi-desert, high (+/-) mountains, rain forests, big valleys, large cities, tiny, hidden hamlets, rivers and lakes.

I think, that in comparison to Honduras, prices are probably pretty much the same. If you want to live on supermarket stuff, it is very expensive. If you eat fresh, it is affordable.
The DR is "connected" to the world. You can get reliable DSL connections, cable internet and satellite hookups, with ease.
Now, if you insist on beachfront living, you will pay more in every phase of your life. If you live in any one of the major cities withing 1 1/2 hours of the beach, you pay a whole lot less to live and have a wider, broader quality of life: supermarkets, theaters, movies, restaurants, and a more cosmopolitan population.

So read on good folks, read on...

HB

[joestrummer]

Wow. You guys are tough.
Gloryboy got the name right two out of three times.

[gloryboy]

thanks for your replies
I know what you mean about the dominican, because my name is michaelangelo and i hate it when people call me mike
Any more advice about the country!

by the way for those that are taking it a bit too seriously, my name aint really mike - ARRRRRRRGGGGGH, its michaelangelo

Not really

[besagnota]

Hi there.

Don't know much about DR myself as yet but from the couple of times I've visited, I can tell you it's very different from Roatan. I holidayed in Roatan 3 years ago and loved it but yes, I imagine it would be a bit too quiet for any length of time unless you're into diving. There seems to be a lot more going on in and around Cabarete. Try it, I think you'll like it.