Dominican Republic vacation wrap-up

Christi and Monica poolside

Monica and Christi were great travel partners for this luxury vacation!  Although the three of us spent most of our time together, it wasn't out of obligation.  I learned a long time ago that not only do you and your travel companions need to agree on the goal of the journey, you also have to genuinely enjoy each others' company.  With the objective of a relaxing, lounge around on the beach and at the pool kind of vacation already established before departure, it was pretty easy to all just hang out without feeling the need to entertain each other.  For the most part, we all got hungry around the same time (I'll explain my decreased appetite shortly) and seemed to synchronize our need to come in out of the sun.  I lucked out and picked up a really good book at the airport that carried me through the week of lounging in the sun while Christi came armed with several books and magazines. The relaxing powers of the sun on our skin actually made the presence of reading material trivial.  Unfortunately, if you chose the wrong section of the beach or the pool designated as the "party" pool for that day, your quiet lounging time of reading evaporated with the over-amplified voice of a party emcee.

Monica and Christi getting pedicures

Of course, one of the major draws of this vacation for my travel companions was the spa.  Included with our vacation package was $1500 of credits to be applied on various amenities throughout the resort.  This is the part where I get to my lack of enthusiasm about the all-inclusive vacation.  That $1500 is arbitrarily distributed amongst various activities. Only $300 could be applied toward the spa, the remaining $1200 could only go towards golf, four preselected "excursions" (which of course did not include scuba diving), or upgrades of wine.  Let me remind you at this point, that alcohol is included in the "all inclusive" package.  What that really means is that mediocre supermarket wine and liquors are included (ironically, everywhere but the night club!).  In order to have a nice bottle of wine with dinner (or drinks at the night club), you have to use the $1500 worth of credits.  As an example, a bottle of Yellow Tail Shiraz (a supermarket Australian brand wine) would set you back $100 of credits.  For those of you who don't pay much attention to wine brands, you can get a bottle of Yellow Tail Shiraz at your local grocery store in the U.S. for $15.  A nice enough wine, but certainly not a $100 bottle of wine.  Monica and Christi easily exceeded their $300 room limit for the spa (I donated my portion of the $300 to them).  We each got a free manicure, pedicure and back massage though since we were using the room of a "member", so yes, I had painted (neutral) toenails and fingernails for a couple of days!

Post dive celebratory Brahma beer :-)

Although not included, I opted for an activity of my own...a day of scuba diving!  Dressel Divers took a van load of folks from the Punta Cana resorts two hours southwest to the National Park.  From there we took a boat to Cacon dive site and enjoyed sightseeing the coral reef off the coast of Saona island at approx. 40 feet.  From there, we waited out our surface interval by hanging out and eating BBQ on the island.  As part of a protected National Park, the island is pristine and has no construction (other than a few thatched covered open structures).  After lunch settled, we did our second dive at El Penon, this time viewing the coral reefs from a depth of approx. 60 feet.  For both dives, the water temp was 78 degrees F with visibility ranging from 50 to 65 feet.  We saw moray eel, crabs, sting rays, various species of fish (lionfish, cherubfish) and different colors of brain and fan coral.  I'd love to post some photos for you, but the dive shop wouldn't let me purchase a disposable underwater camera before boarding the boat since there were videos of the dive made available for $80.  Note to self, don't forget to purchase your own underwater camera before you leave the States!  Oh, and that $9 bottle of sunscreen you didn't pack so you wouldn't have to check a bag at the airport now costs you $32 at the resort "store"!  Suddenly, that airline baggage fee is looking like a deal! 

Coastline of Saona Island

Lack of underwater photos notwithstanding, the day was a blast!  As a single diver in a sport where having a buddy is required, I've been paired up with quite the array of dive partners over the years.  I lucked out on this trip and paired up with a guy named Mike who also happened to be east coast Army (figure the odds!).  His wife opted for a full day at the spa, so he was more than happy to pair up with me for the underwater sightseeing.  He was a great dive buddy (i.e. safe, attentive and fun) and added to my enjoyment of the whole day.  I would post a pic of us together, but I forgot to ask him if he'd be OK with me posting a pic so I don't want to invade his privacy online.  

Dive cooler of Brahma beer, rum and coke!

After the last dive, lots of boats full of divers and snorkelers converged on a shallow sandbar area just off the coastline of the island to hang out and tell stories about all we'd seen.  Of course, the cooler full of beer, rum and coke added to the embellishment of those stories!  There's no doubt, the day of diving was one of the highlights of my vacation.

Let me back up and fill you in on something I mentioned in the first vacation post- my lack of appetite.  For those of you who know me, I am in a constant state of hunger.  Certainly not in a literal starving-to-death kind of way, but in a "yep, I could go for a snack right now" kind of way.  Before departing on this vacation, I had readied myself for the inevitable weight gain that was sure to come with having unlimited access to gourmet food for a week.  Well, just like with the mediocre alcohol, the lackluster array of ordinary tasting food did not entice my appetite.  This lack of exceptional food was probably my biggest disappointment of the trip.  The one shining standout however, was my birthday dinner at the Brazilian Steakhouse.

Birthday dinner at Brazilian Steakhouse

City sites

On the night before departing the resort, the one remaining restaurant for us to try was the Brazilian Steakhouse.  So, we got all dressed up and walked on over.  To our pleasant surprise, the food was quite good as was the service.  We mentioned to our server Luddy that we were celebrating my birthday and she took it upon herself to make it a memorable event.  Christi and Monica had somehow acquired a tiara for me to where for the occasion and Luddy produced a very chocolaty cake!  Before we knew it, a whole crew of performers came out and serenaded me with an unidentifiable, though quite melodious version of "Happy Birthday"! Since there was no candle on the cake, Luddy produced a lighter for me to blow out!!  At the end of the celebration, we were finally introduced to the elusive Dominican drink we'd heard about all week- Mama Juana!  It's made with rum that's been infused with sticks, leaves and roots of various trees and plants native to the Dominican Republic.  This rum is mixed with red wine, honey and various other ingredients based on the personal preference of the person mixing the drink.  The version we had was very smooth, which we were told was attributed to the dash of ammareto added to it.  


Lest I sound oblivious to the challenges being faced by the population on the island of Hispaniola, let me acknowledge what was on the back of my mind throughout this vacation.  The personal income of the two counties that cohabitate this island, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, have annual per capita incomes of $1300 and $8200 respectively.  It was only 2 years ago (to the date that I arrived in Dom Rep) that Haiti experienced a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that killed 220,000 people and injured another 300,000.  As of a few months ago, 6000 people have died of a cholera outbreak there and another 200,000+ have been infected.  This has, and is happening, roughly 300 miles from where we vacationed.  So however disappointed I may have been in the "all-inclusive" experience, I absolutely recognize that the world is not a fair place and that I have benefited immensely from that lack of fairness.  It is not "fair" that I was born in a country whose per capita income is roughly $40,000 instead of $1300.  It is not "fair" that I have access to clean drinking water 24/7.  It is not "fair" that I have ready access to drugs that keep me from contracting malaria when I vacation in countries whose preventive medicine standards pale in comparison to those of the country to which I was fortunate enough to be born.  So to avoid sounding like a spoiled princess disappointed in the amenities of my vacation, let me just state for the record that I fully recognize how fortunate I am to have the ability and means to take this type of vacation.  I immensely enjoyed the time I spent with Monica and Christi and felt the trip was well worth taking.  I'll probably just skip the "all-inclusive" part next time :-) 

Hope you enjoyed my wrap-up.  Not sure what's awaiting me over the next week or so, but I'll certainly try to find something interesting to share.