By Stuart Wasserman

On my second trip to the Dominican Republic I wanted a bit of adventure, so I started on a wild and natural peninsula called Samana, where my short stay included boat rides through Las Haitises National Park, through cays and around karst rock that emerged out of the sea millions of years ago. Nearby caves feature Taino and Ciguayos Indian petroglyphs.

Each winter the North Atlantic migratory whales choose the Samana Peninsula as their prime area to calve. Whale-watching season runs from mid-January through mid-March, and during my morning outing I was lucky enough to see many humpback whales jumping joyfully.

But even when it's not whale season, there's plenty to do in Samana. One popular offering is the excursion into the countryside to Limon Falls, a huge waterfall set in a tropical paradise. The reward after a horseback ride or walk to the falls is a swim in the big pool in front of the falls and the ability to pop under the falls in little side caves.

One of the prettiest beaches in the area is said to be Las Galeras, where a few French Canadians reside. I would also add Playa Rincon to the list. This three-mile-long white sand beach can be reached by four-wheel drive or a short boat ride over from the next bay. There is usually at least one fish restaurant owned by a family of fishermen on these out-of-the-way beaches by the turquoise Atlantic Ocean.

Extensive new tollways make getting about the Dominican Republic easy, and there has been a surge in new lodging construction around the island. Many of the hotels feature great balconies with views, such as Hotel Magnifico, which is owned by French-Canadian Gerard Hebert. He was one of the early ones to take up roost in Cabarete back in the early 1980s, and he has slowly built up a unique lodging spread over extensive gardens a half-block from the beach. Many balconies have a sea view.

Hebert credits another French Canadian, a professional windsurfer named Jean Laporte, for Cabarete's discovery back in 1984, calling him "the Christopher Columbus of Cabarete."

I found stand-out balconies at the 3-year-old Bannister Hotel just outside of Samana town in Puerto Bahia. Here the balconies look over a new marina that attracts some yachters from the United States.

I also loved the huge balconies of Balcones del Atlantico, located just outside the French-Canadian enclave of Las Terrenas, where up to 2,000 French-speaking people live at least part of the year. Las Terrenas is located on the Samana Peninsula about 35 minutes from Samana town, which was formerly known as Santa Barbara de Samana.

Balcones del Atlantico features a beachfront fine-dining restaurant called Porto, which fronts the tranquil Atlantic and a private beach. Delicious standards are mahi-mahi and their tasty pumpkin soup. Many of the 30 villa rental suites have three bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room and a wide balcony. During my stay I met three couples from Kentucky who rented one three-bedroom villa for a week.

Much of my personal adventure came from my choice to ride public transportation to get around the peninsula and for the longer ride to Cabarete on the north coast. It included buses, vans called "gua guas," and even riding on the back of motor scooters or moto conchos, a common form of taxi transportation in the Dominican Republic.

I took the ride on the daily bus that runs from Samana to Cabarete. The cost for the three-and-a-half-hour ride that offers views of the island coastline was about $5. It would have cost $200 for a private car to make that journey, and I would not have had the opportunity to meet the locals.

Marcus Bohm, a German man who has lived in Cabarete for 24 years, gave me a good bit of advice: "A smile goes a long way in the Dominican Republic." And that turned out to be true. I enjoyed hearing Spanish spoken on the bus, though it was so rapid that I understood little. One man offered to sell me land but I politely told him, "No gracias." I got off at Janet's Supermarket and then it was only a half-block to Hotel Magnifico.

Cabarete is a sports town. Many of the foreign residents come to windsurf, surf, kite-board or paddle-board, the latter becoming a fast-growing sport according to Bohm, who each February organizes an international sporting competition called "Master of the Ocean."

Cabarete has a burgeoning restaurant scene with many restaurants offering evening dining on the sand under colorful lights and lanterns. A number of restaurants are owned and operated by young French or Italian entrepreneurs.

I met Jennifer Cantrell and Mike Walker of Liberty, Missouri, in a small Cabarete breakfast spot. They did the same journey as I from Samana to Cabarete, but they rented a car at the airport in Santo Domingo for about $900 for a week. Then they drove about two and a half hours to Samana, stayed there for a few nights and then drove another three hours to Cabarete, stopping at pretty beaches along the way.

Jerry and Teri Fleeson from Cleveland, Ohio, whom I met at Popi's, a fish restaurant on Cabarete Beach, have already booked a return trip for February 2015.

"Cabarete has become our favorite get-out-of-snow getaway destination," Jerry said.

He also gave me a great tip for an early breakfast on the beach at Velas, which opens at 7:30 a.m. as the sun splashes color across the golden sand beach.

It's easy to find and offers outdoor dining, good coffee and a great view of stand-up paddle-boarders floating off into a cloudless distant horizon.

WHEN YOU GO

Getting to Samana: Jet Blue offers direct flights to Samana, El Catey International Airport (AZS) from JFK in New York, and Air Canada flies directly from Toronto. American serves Puerto Plata International Airport (POP), which is located about 30 minutes away from Cabarete. Delta Airlines offers direct flights Santo Domingo (SDQ) from Atlanta. Santo Domingo's airport, called Las Americas, offers several international car-rental companies.

Lodgings: Balcones del Atlantico, www.balconesdelatlantico.com; Hotel Magnifico, www.hotelmagnifico.com; the Bannister Hotel, www.thebannisterhotel.com

The Bannister Hotel in Puerto Bahia, Dominican Republic, provides marina views from luxurious balconies. Photo courtesy of Stuart Wasserman.

Boats that provide transportation to other beaches are available for hire at Las Galeras Beach, about 30 minutes from the town of Samana in the Dominican Republic. Photo courtesy of Stuart Wasserman.

Stuart Wasserman is a freelance writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.