I know it’s been a little while since I last posted, but I spent my last week in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic with NO COMPUTER and very limited cell reception and it was WONDERFUL!
Yes – I went on an amazing vacation in early January and yes – we spent a couple of days in Miami in May, but this vacation was muchhhh needed for both of us, after a pretty busy busy season this year (and for me before gearing up for my rotation).
So what did we do?
NOTHING!
Okay, not nothing, but not a whole lot other than eating (do you expect anything else from me?). We stayed at an all-inclusive, adults-only (absolute must) resort on Bavaro Beach and it was magnificent (Punta Cana Princess for anyone interested). We arrived just in time for dinner on Sunday evening 7/1 and left Saturday morning 7/7, so we had a full five days to relax. And oh did we relax! We spent our first four days lounging by the pool or on the beach and it was HOT, HOT, HOT. Hellooooo sun-poisoning 🙁 We cooled off by taking a dip in the phenomenal pool and through a steady flow of delicious island drinks (aka tons of piña coladas and mojitos).
If you haven’t done a relaxation trip like this before, I highly recommend – especially all-inclusive and all adults.
But what else did you do?
I wasn’t kidding, we really didn’t do much. But by the end of the week, we decided we should venture off the resort and see something that Punta Cana had to offer and it did not let us down. We decided to spend the day at the Scape Park at Cap Cana, which is a “natural theme park” with several different adventures to pick from. We were able to select three activities to do during the day plus we had access to the animal exhibit. We picked zip-lining, the Hoyo Azul, and the Sunshine Cruise. If you’re reading this and you know Brandon and you just took a huge gasp and read that again, hearing that he did zip-lining, yes – he did it and he didn’t hate it! He told me that he would do it again, so that’s huge!
Zip-Lining
The first activity of the morning (~10am-12pm) was zip-lining. It was our first-time zip-lining, and I think we picked a pretty good place to start. There were 12 zip-lines, with the last dipping us in the water (which was much-needed because it was toasty outside!). We were grateful that we did that activity first because the weather did not let up and it got really hot later in the day. The lines weren’t super fast so it was a great starter course for us. Everyone who worked the lines was super nice and made sure that you were comfortable before shooting us off!
After zip-lining, we found the animal encounter and I took the cutest pictures with the cutest little monkey ♥♥♥
Hoyo Azul
Our next activity was the Hoyo Azul, or the Blue Hole, which was a cenote located at the foot of a 75-meter high cliff, with the clearest, blue water. There was a small hike to get to the Blue Hole, and once we were there, they have a ledge that you can jump off into the water, which is about 40 feet deep. The pictures don’t really do it justice, but it was beautiful.
Sunshine Cruise
Our last activity of the day was the Sunshine Cruise, which was essentially a booze cruise with some snorkeling. Somehow I took ZERO pictures, but Brandon snapped this gem.
We snorkeled for about 15 minutes, but the ocean was pretty choppy that day with lots and lots of seaweed to see and not a whole lot else. We spend most of the trip lounging in the sun. After snorkeling, the boat stopped at a sand bar and they created a “sand bar” in the water so everyone shuffled out to the waist deep water for some sunshine and beverages. We went out for a bit, but I was either 1) worried about my hearing aids getting wet or 2) deaf as a doorknob, so we ended up back on the boat for most of the time.
Food
The last thing I did was eat, eat, eat.
Since it was all-inclusive, there is literally food available at all hours with a pretty wide variety of options. The buffet was open each night for dinner with a different theme (American, Mexican, Dominican, etc.). There was a big celebration for the Fourth of July that included a pool party during the day and a huge American buffet at dinner. There were also four restaurants that we could dine at on our resort and we had access to the restaurants on the sister resort next door as well. My personal favorite was the Swiss restaurant that has fondue. So much, that I dragged Brandon back there a second time on our last night. We had the most delicious shrimp fondue appetizer and cheese and beef fondue entrées. I also ate my weight in mango, watermelon and passion fruit (YUM) and cheese fries because, well I’m on vacation, why not?
All in all, it was a very nice break that went by juuuust a little bit too fast for my liking (but my body was just fine with getting some time out of the sun). I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a vacay idea or a tropical location!
