Juan Dolio - South Beach of the Caribbean !!!

[mikey007]

they should build a jettie system or wave breakers to minimize the undertow you also have to realize that all this newly pumped in sand has to settle in the jettie system should be built vertically and perpindicular against the shore not horizontally in which i believe they were doing,again i am no expert but just relaying my observations and experience. additionally were these victims drinking alcoholic beverages ,,,,,,,,

[Matilda]

No they were not drunk! You have to realise how dangerous the ocean is just off Marbella and Maxim bungalows. There have been 8 Haitian and Dominicans drowned and one frenchman - the latter was a good swimmer. The undertow is now so strong that no one could survive if caught in it.

Today it was a guy who was just hot from working and went into the sea for a dip. You do not have to swim far fromthe shore before you are caught in it.

Matilda

[Lambada]

Originally Posted by Matilda

Metro have paid 5000RD$ to his family. That might cover the rum at the wake. As usual my husband and I have paid for the funeral and we will look after his family as much as we can. How many more people have to die off the beach here in Villas del Mar, until they realise what they have done to the ocean by moving the beach and putting curves inthe beach between each resort????

Any advice on what I can do about this would be welcome.


A sad Matilda

Good on you Matilda for seeing to the funeral & taking care of the family. You keep doing this (road accidents, drowning etc) except usually you tell no-one. Hope you don't mind me telling people. People of JD you have a gem in your midst, quietly getting on with helping, never blowing her own trumpet. Well..........it's time someone did!

Any chance the UASD geological students could come study the ocean changes & report back? They are getting more militant all the time - this would be a really worthwhile cause, saving lives.

[Fernandez]

I am reading this from abroad, and wondering about the drownings that are being discussed on these pages. I am no expert on beach replenishment projects, and less so on the project implemented in Juan Dolio. I have heard about undertows, but to date I have never experienced a tow on the beach... not that it does not exist.
I wonder what the weather conditions were at the time, calm/stormy.
I also wonder is due to the bad storms last year... it appears to me that the beach has a more dramatic drop down from the edge than when first expanded, and that waves seem to crash a bit more with a more vertical angle now present. Perhaps this has something to do with it. However, if there are 8 drownings in the same general area, than there is a more profound issue that needs to be investigated.

I would be interested in hearing more fact.... dates, conditions etc.. if there is any information. I wonder if the Guayacanes/Juan Dolio development association have any records on file.

[Matilda]

Thanks Lambada, that is a great suggestion re University. i will have a word with the mayor and see if I can get him to sort it out.

Fernandez. Not sure if I can give you times and dates. last summer there were 7 or 8 drownings. They occur off the beach at the new Maxim bungalows and next door at the Marbella construction. Mostly construction workers going in for a dip, but also a Frenchman who was known as a good swimmer. This is the first one this year.

Conditions were good - the problem is unless you know the ocean well it is hard to see current, both undertows and whirlpools.

I will write to the Tourist development association as see if they have any plans to do anything

[A.Hidalgo]

Matilda, you indicated most of the drowned were construction workers. Just wondering why not tourist. Where the drownings occurred an area not for tourist? Why the lopsided statistics?
Btw kudos to you for helping with the funeral of that person.

[Matilda]

The area I am talking about is on the Boulevard in Villas del Mar. There were two large hotels next to each other. One was Playa Real and the other Melia. Playa Real was knocked down to make way for what will be Marbella apartments by Metro and Melia is being remodelled to be Maxim bunglalows. There are no tourists there, just construction workers working on the new sites. The few toursits that there are in Juan Dolio are in the existing hotels at the other end starting with Capella, and at the far end of Villas del mar in Albatros, where you cannot enter the sea due to the rocks.

I have today written to the tourism association for Juan Dolio. Will let you know if I get a reply!

Matilda

[mikey007]

is it possible that these haitian laborers who were working all day in the sun drowned as a result of body cramps and were dehydrated

[Matilda]

Originally Posted by mikey007

is it possible that these haitian laborers who were working all day in the sun drowned as a result of body cramps and were dehydrated

No. They drowned for the same reason the other construction workers, French expat, Dominicans who weren't construction workers died. the reason is that since the beach has been pushed out into the sea and the coastline has been altered there are now some VERY dangerous whirlpools and undertows within 10 metres of the beach. You do not have to swim out very far to be caught. If you are caught in an undertow or a down current you need to swim parallel to the shore to get out of it. Most people would just fight to get to the surface and they never will, hence they drown.

Mikey do not make excuses for this happening. It is a problem with altering the coastline, no one was drunk, cramped or dehydrated. The sea was calm. Very few people swim in this place at the moment, but unless expert advice is taken on how to get rid of these whirlpools, then when Marbella and Maxim are full of residents in the sea all day long, this will be a weekly or even daily occurrence.

Matilda

[A.Hidalgo]

Perhaps putting up signs around the area of the danger might help? Maybe you can contact the owners of the hotel property and a warning be disseminated to the workers to avoid the water in that area. Just throwing some ideas out there.