SHIP ANCHORS OFF OF LA ROMANA
By Bob Van Leer

  (LA ROMANA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, Jan. 31, 1997) - Our cruise ship, Legend of the Seas, anchored this morning off Catalina Island, Dominican Republic, and we took a lighter, a small passenger boat, to shore at La Romana city on the main island.

  The Dominican Republic is a country of 7 million people occupying the eastern part of the island of Hispaniola. (Haiti occupies the western portion.) It is located between Jamaica and Puerto Rico.

  It is located on the southeastern coast 70 miles east of Santo Domingo, the capital city and the oldest city in the western hemisphere. La Romana has a population of about 14,000 and is a clean and well-kept city, especially for this part of the world.

  Our guide, Samuel, said tourism, sugar cane and light manufacturing are the mainstay of the economy. Sugar cane used to be number one, but is now of lesser importance.

  The minimum income is $2000 per year, according to our guide. A trade pact worked out under Pres. Reagan allows exports to enter the United States duty-free and has built a large textile industry, which may explain what happened to the U.S. textile industry.

  Samuel said today's temperature of 72 degrees was too cold for local residents.

  East of La Romana is a large hotel which has 280 rooms and 150 villas. It boasts three golf courses, 13 tennis courts, three polo fields(and stable with 2000 horses) plus restaurants, bars, etc.

  We stopped at a replica of a Spanish village of the 1600's, however this one was built by a wealthy businessman between 1978 and 1982.

  Return to the ship was early, 12:30 p.m., to get underway for the next port of call, Curacao, almost due south off the coast of Venezuela.

  In the evening we had the captain's welcome aboard party. Capt. Bengt Ronsen gave a few details on the ship. He said it will be two years old in April and cost $330 million to build. He said the ship had a beam of 105 feet and the Panama Canal locks, which we were to pass through, are 110 feet wide.

  Ronsen said the ship has two main propellers and two bow thrusters. The thrusters give enough maneuverability so the ship rarely needs to use a tug.

  He said 26 knots per hour is maximum speed but full speed is rated at 23 knots.

  Ronsen said there were people from 22 countries aboard of which 1444 of the 1803 passengers were from the U.S.

  The ship presents excellent entertainment every night and tonight's was a comedian and a crooner.
  The cruise to Curacao, a Dutch possession, is 380 nautical miles.