1-21-16

Punta Cana (January 20th): We woke early & took a walk on the beach. Peaceful & very few folks out.

Last week a heart in the snow, this week a heart in the sand. <3

Then I quickly whipped up a sand sculpture. A mama elephant with her baby!

No one was around to take credit…so I did. ;-)

This happy guy sold us a pretty conch shell.

We picked the one in the middle & got it home safely.

While we walked the beach all the resorts had employees digging holes to bury the kelp & seaweed that had washed up on the shore. Apparently it dissolves in a short amount of time (didn't know).

Walking the beach gave us a better perspective on where our hotel was situated on Bavaro Beach. We are one very large resort amongst many, many other large resorts. It's kinda crazy actually and I believe they are all inclusive properties like ours. Food & drinks all day long are included in the price (dangerous!). :-/ This is a look at the beach area of the Grand Bahia Principe where we stayed.

You would never know our property or this pool was packed with people yesterday. But today because it was cloudy and because it was right before dinner (I guess most were in their room getting ready) we nearly had the pool to ourselves. Earlier we had taken kayaks out & got caught in the rain. It was kinda fun. It poured but wasn't cold.

Once the rain stopped we took advantage of pool side massages. Awww…this is the life!

We cleaned up & were off to dinner. This is the Amber lobby (closest to our room). Within the resort you have an option for an enormous dinner buffet (served in every lobby dining room) or you can make a reservation at one of 7 restaurants on property. 2 of the nights we made restaurant reservations. No complaints on the food…it was plentiful and very good. The bad part about all inclusive is you feel the need to try everything & drink more. We did our best to self control but it was hard; there were desserts! :-(

It was fun to dress up a bit for the evenings. After dinner you could attend a show or dancing or karaoke. We went to a couple shows while there (they were pretty good!). This property felt like Disneyland! They even had golf cart trains to take you back & forth across the grounds. I think there were 6 large pools on property, a teen center, mini golf, tennis, a casino & a water park. We had a great day hanging out here. Tomorrow we'll go off property for a day excursion to Saona Island!