From the mountains to the sea and back to the mountains:
Now that over 3 months has pasted it is time for me to reflect on my adventure with MotoCaribe Motorcycle Tours. Time to write a few words on my experience.
I had been to the Dominican Republic on two previous occasions in the past and have enjoyed the country, the culture and its people immensely. This tour gives an alternative exploration of the country that most tourists do not see.
Down to the real deal both Robert and Alida are fabulous hosts, never having to worry about any of the logistics. Any needs that came up they were happy to finds ways to accommodate and advise on how achieve my needs.
There was always great food, and plenty of it. In fact every time I thought I had a great meal, another better one was around the corner. I was delighted with the accommodations.
The tour itself was a amazing blend of a tour of a tropical island in all it‘s wonders and diversity that was done from the seat of a motorcycle. The motorcycle riding was a blast. Everyday was always a new adventure each day having its own unique virtues and experiences. From the funky ”Tail of the Iguana” to the fabulous road to Constanza .
When looking back at this tour I get this big silly grin on my face, Every time I tell my stories about the adventure I get a great big silly grin on my face. Now when I think about going back for either the north tour again or the southern tour I get an even bigger silly grin on my face. What more could one want than a little adventure in paradise?
Great people, great roads (for the most part, just enough other to keep it interesting), great bikes, great riding. Spending time with Robert and Alida was like spending time with friends.
My fondness for the Dominican Republic has even grown more from previous visit.
-Rick Grahn, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada August 2, 2011
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“MotoCaribe is the best Motorcycle Adventure Vacation for your dollar”
Motocaribe tours are fun, inexpensive, exciting, eye opening, and close (for US travelers). I have ridden motorcycles for 32 years. I’ve ridden all over the US, and in 13 other countries in Europe, Canada, and the Caribbean, and my experiences with Motocaribe equal or better them. I liked my northeast tour so much, I went back and did the southwest tour the next year, and it did not disappoint.
Dr. Todd Wolf, New Jersey
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“Forget the boring Americanized vacation to a resort, looking at the same beach all week and talking to someone from your hometown. THIS is the full Dominican riding experience. The rice paddies, pineapple plantations, coconut groves, crashing ocean waves and high mountain vistas–that is what you will get. Smiling faces, kids in school uniforms waving and shouting Hola!”
– Roadstargirl
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“On Jan31st 2010 my husband and I embarked on a brand new adventure….a MotoCaribe Motorcycle Tour.
Being a travel agent and having worked in this business for 20 years enabled us to take many fabulous vacations all over the world..however I must say I entered this vacation with more than a bit of trepidation…lets see.. I’m going to be a passenger on the back of my hubby’s bike….one of which he has never ridden before for 6 solid days of travelling unknown terrain in the Northeast Dominican Republic!!!!
We arrived to spectacular sunshine and a tall handsome smiling man holding a MotoCaribe sign..this would be Robert our leader for the week. Throughout our week we stayed at amazingly quaint resorts, ate some of the best local food I have ever had, saw vistas that no words can describe, rode an incredible machine that stuck like glue to every road condition and had more fun than one words can ever describe.
Robert and Alida took care of the smallest of details and our every need. We never once felt unsafe in fact we truly were at home amongst the smiling Dominican faces we passed every day.
This vacation had everything we needed we were able to fulfil our passion of riding a great bike in an exotic location through winding mountain roads as well as along turquoise beaches.
The MotoCaribe team are the best and we would highly recommend this to anyone wanting a truly unique experience..it is not for the faint of heart but what is better than an adventure awaiting you at every turn.
One must live life to the fullest!”
-Cindy & David McKiver
clmckiver hotmail.com
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“A seven day adventure tour with MotoCaribe is like being in a great movie for a week. There is number one, plenty of action packed riding, beautiful scenery, colorful characters, guided by lead rider Ed. MotoCaribe ramps up the plot every day and add their share of light comedy all along the way. Robert is definitely the director in this production with Alida being the producer working behind the scenes to make things run smoothly. This crew will take care of you. You are going to have a great time starring in your own adventure in the Caribbean. Riding V-Stroms around paradise…what’s not to like? Do it NOW! This is a real thumbs up and just too good to miss. I loved it.”
- ThorHiney
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“Fantastic! That sums it up, but I’ll give details.
Before going on our tour of the north coast with Motocaribe, I’d looked for reviews on here and hadn’t found any, so I guess I’m the first. This is a tour, on motorcycles, of the moutainous area centered in Jarabacoa and also the Samana Peninsula. The Motocaribe website (www.motocaribe.com) has tons of details and other trip reports with tons of pictures about what you do each day. Excellent reviews! My main question before going on this trip was if it was too good to be true. 
The website write-ups and pictures looked phenomenal, and the price for a motorcycle tour was less than all the others we were looking at. The answer to my question is, it WAS too good, but it was ALSO TRUE!
First of all let me immediately dispel some common myths:
1. “The Dominican Republic (DR) is dangerous & lawless” – NO WAY!! Dominicans are friendly, outgoing, god fearing, helpful, and kind, and I NEVER, ever felt unsafe. I felt welcome everywhere.
2. “The DR is just another little “beachy” caribbean island with little to see” – The DR is a HUGE country, and has amazing geography, topography, and culture. It also has unique ecosystems, wildlife (found nowhere else), rivers, lakes, desert, rain forests, cloud forests, HUGE mountains (the tallest being over 10,000 ft), and more national parks per square mile than most countries on earth. The roads will challenge your skills and make you a better, more alert rider, and the scenery will impress you.
3. “Its a pain to get to the DR” - Flights to the DR are easy to find, and inexpensive, direct flights are available from most major cities.
4. “It will be difficult to plan the trip, and there will be a ton of hidden fees” – no again! All you have to do is get in touch with Robert & Alida & tell them what tour you want to do, then get your flights, grab your gear & go. Thats it! from the minute you get to the DR they will be there & will handle everything (schedule, transfers, meals, bikes, gas, luggage, activities, etc) and, except for alcohol & souvenires, you will not have to open your wallet again for anything.
As a serious rider, traveler, and adventure tourer, I highly recommend these tours to anyone who loves motorcycles, travel, adventure, and fun (oh and a great bargain as well), as much as me.
Dr. Todd Wolf, Parsippany, NJ, USA______________________________________________________
Overall, when someone asks me how our vacation went, I say, “Perfect. In any way it could have been perfect, it was.” My husband says, “It was the best vacation we’ve ever taken.” I’ll skip saying and reviewing what we did on each day, as it’s already on the website, but here’s the 4 categories I just loved about this vacation.
1) The scenery. Wow!!! We got to see so much of the Dominican Republic!! We really got to see mountains and gorgeous lookouts the entire time we were riding the bikes. Other places we’ve been, I see one great lookout and think, “that was beautiful!,” but this was moment after moment after moment of beautiful mountains. Amazing! The beaches were fantastic! Playa Rincon Beach – nothing like it anywhere! We rode through jungle-looking area and that was fascinating, and we saw great caves and rock formations. If you like nature, this is a trip to take!
2) The activities. This is a motorcycle tour, so we were riding, and that was awesome! through such great scenery. But it didn’t stop there. We got to swim in and behind a secluded waterfall, swam in a crystal-clear lagoon, snorkeled at the beach, went horseback riding, and hiked to a different waterfall. There was so much fun! It was more than just a motorcycle tour where you ride all day, and that’s great, but we kept stopping at amazing different sites to do different things, and it was wonderful! My husband and I love all-inclusives, but we do tend to get a bit bored unless we plan a bunch of excursions. This Motocaribe tour is like having paid for a new, different excursion each day. They chose fantastic things to do, it’s exciting, never a dull moment, and so fun! Aside – so many people before we left were questioning if I really thought we’d be safe riding through the DR. One friend suggested I learn the Spanish word for “ransom” before going. I can say I felt very safe. They mentioned that any place we might potentially not feel safe, they had avoided on the tour. Also, it is a motorcycle tour, but one of the people in our group just rode in the van the entire time. You can go do all these fun things from the van, even if you don’t ride.
3) The culture. I have always been so interested in cultures of other places and countries. I do think it’s fun to see a tiny bit of another culture from an all-inclusive, but I think it’s hard to really get an understanding of a country or culture when you’re always in a tourist town. This Motocaribe tour kept us completely out of the normal tourist destinations. We saw and did a ton that the average tourist never would. In the process, I feel like I have a much better understanding of the country. As we rode past some houses, I could sometimes see in between the slats of wood that comprised the house. Very enlightening. We saw people going about their daily lives along the side of the road, riding a moto with a chicken coop full of tons of chickens attached to the back, etc. So interesting to see real life. We had Dominican food at our meals every day. Delicious (especially all that fresh fruit! Yum!) and very interesting to me. I am going to try to make red beans and white rice like they did. And we were encouraged to speak Spanish, which was great fun, although I’d only ever taken French and German, it was just so interesting to try to “get into” the culture.
4) Robert and Alida. Robert and Alida are the husband and wife team that comprise Motocaribe. They are wonderful people and so fun to be around! They chose perfect places to see, rides to take, places for meals and to stay. Robert is originally from the U.S. and Alida is Dominican. Alida translated everything for us that needed to be translated, and was a wealth of information about the country and the people. They were both so thoughtful and eager for us to see the country and have a great vacation. I can’t give them enough compliments. They even got me a birthday cake when they found out it was my birthday while on the tour. They go above and beyond and I thoroughly enjoyed them.
I suppose this is long enough, but to sum it up – Motocaribe provides an awesome tour! We loved it!! I need to build up babysitting credits with my parents, and then we’d want to do their tour of the southwest, too! ”
Jodi & Charles Utter
2) The activities. This is a motorcycle tour, so we were riding, and that was awesome! through such great scenery. But it didn’t stop there. We got to swim in and behind a secluded waterfall, swam in a crystal-clear lagoon, snorkeled at the beach, went horseback riding, and hiked to a different waterfall. There was so much fun! It was more than just a motorcycle tour where you ride all day, and that’s great, but we kept stopping at amazing different sites to do different things, and it was wonderful! My husband and I love all-inclusives, but we do tend to get a bit bored unless we plan a bunch of excursions. This Motocaribe tour is like having paid for a new, different excursion each day. They chose fantastic things to do, it’s exciting, never a dull moment, and so fun! Aside – so many people before we left were questioning if I really thought we’d be safe riding through the DR. One friend suggested I learn the Spanish word for “ransom” before going. I can say I felt very safe. They mentioned that any place we might potentially not feel safe, they had avoided on the tour. Also, it is a motorcycle tour, but one of the people in our group just rode in the van the entire time. You can go do all these fun things from the van, even if you don’t ride.
3) The culture. I have always been so interested in cultures of other places and countries. I do think it’s fun to see a tiny bit of another culture from an all-inclusive, but I think it’s hard to really get an understanding of a country or culture when you’re always in a tourist town. This Motocaribe tour kept us completely out of the normal tourist destinations. We saw and did a ton that the average tourist never would. In the process, I feel like I have a much better understanding of the country. As we rode past some houses, I could sometimes see in between the slats of wood that comprised the house. Very enlightening. We saw people going about their daily lives along the side of the road, riding a moto with a chicken coop full of tons of chickens attached to the back, etc. So interesting to see real life. We had Dominican food at our meals every day. Delicious (especially all that fresh fruit! Yum!) and very interesting to me. I am going to try to make red beans and white rice like they did. And we were encouraged to speak Spanish, which was great fun, although I’d only ever taken French and German, it was just so interesting to try to “get into” the culture.
4) Robert and Alida. Robert and Alida are the husband and wife team that comprise Motocaribe. They are wonderful people and so fun to be around! They chose perfect places to see, rides to take, places for meals and to stay. Robert is originally from the U.S. and Alida is Dominican. Alida translated everything for us that needed to be translated, and was a wealth of information about the country and the people. They were both so thoughtful and eager for us to see the country and have a great vacation. I can’t give them enough compliments. They even got me a birthday cake when they found out it was my birthday while on the tour. They go above and beyond and I thoroughly enjoyed them.
I suppose this is long enough, but to sum it up – Motocaribe provides an awesome tour! We loved it!! I need to build up babysitting credits with my parents, and then we’d want to do their tour of the southwest, too! ”
Jodi & Charles Utter
