1-25-16

On our last day in the Dominican Republic (1/22) we rented a car & went in search of Bob's favorite palm tree (shown above in Bob's photo from 2013). This tree is the main reason we chose Punta Cana for our Caribbean vacation since Bob has wanted to bring me back to it one day. Awww :-)

Bob knew the exact beach; Playa Blanca. It was only 10 minutes from the airport & beautiful! Gorgeous white sand with more fake looking powder teal water.

And THERE it is!!!!!! Thee tree!

Bob climbs up the trunk right away but it feels steeper than he remembers.

For sure the 2nd tree that used to be next to his favorite tree was missing. It's trunk had arched high & it complimented the other nicely. Must have been washed away by the tides. :-(

But we were really happy his favorite was still there!!

Bob did some more climbing on it!

And then we relaxed & admired it & everything around more. At this point Bob decided that this tree wasn't his favorite tree after all. It was definitely the beach & the spot but after he pulled up his 2013 photo he realized his fav palm was more flat & the reason it was easier to climb. So now…thee palm tree & that 2nd one had both been taken out. Kinda sad. :-(  Based on how much the roots are exposed on the other palm trees…they are probably in danger too. 

Well…we still had the best time at Playa Blanca!! I'm so thankful Bob brought me to this special beach and to the amazing islands of Dominican Republic & Saona. It was a unique vacation that left us more curious about this place with lovely people & gorgeous waters. If opportunity presents itself…I would love for us to come back and explore more. Good-bye DR…thanks for the fun!

1-24-16

Saona Island (1/21) part 3: Here are a few pics taken on the island after we shot a "roll of film" in the water. ;-) Our group stayed on the island about 3 hours. Included was a yummy lunch spread with chicken, seafood & pasta!

There was also an open bar for more rum drinks or fresh coconut water from this guy.

Several of these small painted houses were on the island. I believe this is where some of the workers live. There are a high number of tour groups coming here by boat each day so this island gets hopp'n. To their credit…everything is extremely organized & clean while managing so many tourists. Well done tour!!

Funny totem pole!

This donkey is the island Uber.

Island time = relaxing time = massage time for Bob & I.

This must be low season. Even though there were several tour groups on the island…there were still hundreds of unused loungers up & down the beach. High season must be packed!

Island selfie…good-bye Saona!

 Island donkey…adios!

Island speed boat…fun transportation back to the marina.

And away we went!

1-23-16

Presenting The Blue Lagoon!

Starring Brooke Shields :-) ...

and Christopher Atkins! :-)

Maybe Bob's a better Johnny Depp playing Captain Jack Sparrow and...

maybe I'm a better Keira Knightly as Elizabeth Turner (a damsel in distress) in Pirates of the Caribbean!?

I don't think we're cut out for any of those parts…but we sure took enough photos to make our own movie!!!!

I apologize for soooo many posed shots but we had to take a lot of pics in paradise!

It's just that we had the perfect sunny day & I had the perfect model.

Bob played photographer too. And there were other paparazzi…can you see the two models on the sand posing for their camera man? hee hee! (click on photo to enlarge)

I guess I could have tried a yoga pose or something different. Nope, oh well. :-/  This pic does give a little glimpse of our hangout. The blue lounge chairs were for our tour group. We had lunch under the shade of the palm trees.

That's a wrap of our photo session!

Off to eat some lunch and lounge on those blue chairs.

PS: I googled locations for where Blue Lagoon & Pirates of the Caribbean were filmed. Listed were places like Fiji, Jamaica, Bahamas, Dominica but NOT Dominican Republic, Punta Cana or Saona Island. Hmmm…a bit of false advertising. Even so…this island looks like those movies were filmed here. We don't mind…it was amazing!

1-22-16

Today (January 21st) was a big day! We got on a bus at 6:30am and drove south for a couple hours (including a few stops along the way).

One stop was at this snack shop with a souvenir barn next door.

Across the road was a goat farm...

where this cute guy was being taken away for someone's dinner. We saw him butchered but I will spare you that photo. :-(

We reached the boat marina!

 And boarded a catamaran like this one.

We set out for an hour & 1/2 cruise to reach Saona Island. The boat was filled with rum drinks, merengue dancing & relaxing. There were about 20 in our group. 

We had the perfect weather for this excursion!

Soaking it all in!

Before reaching Saona Island our catamaran stopped at a private swimming spot with the most clear turquoise water. It was lovely…but hardly private. ;-) We joined several other tour companies with their  tourists doing the same thing.

However there was plenty of room for all…and we smiled the whole time while swimming around in the Caribbean waters.

Wahoo!!!!

After an hour of splashing around we got back on the boat so this guy (along with 4 other crew-mates) could get us to our day's destination.

There it is…Saona Island! 

We were told part of Blue Lagoon & Pirates of the Caribbean were filmed on & around this island. Might have to rent those movies soon to rewatch. :-) It really was a gorgeous setting. The palm trees were incredibly dense.

Getting our backpacks ready as we'll be getting off the boat for lunch, swimming, beach massages, photo ops & more rum drinks soon. (those pics in tomorrow's post).

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!