It’s winter and we live in Wisconsin, so you know what that means! It was time for us to escape the cold and snow and head to a beach. This year I started the search in January and after a full day of scouring the internet for anything from a cruise, to an AirBnB, to an all-inclusive package, I came upon an all-inclusive package to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic that cost about the same as our trip to Punta Cana last year. I was really interested in Curacao or Turks and Caicos but I was finding that they were both too expensive, mostly when it came to the airfare. Although we have been to the Dominican Republic on several occasions, it has always been to Punta Cana so I was looking forward to exploring the northern side of the island at Puerto Plata.
Tom and I left Monday evening for Chicago as our flight was at 5:00a.m. on Tuesday. We checked into the hotel just before 7:00p.m. and thought it was crazy that we would only be there for 8 hours as we needed to catch the 3:00a.m. shuttle. We typically like to eat a really nice meal before we head out and this year was no different. We were in for a treat as a Capitol Grille was just up the road from the Hyatt Regency. I had the surf & turf and Tom had a New York strip and we both really enjoyed the side of brussel sprouts. The meal cost the same as our Park Sleep Fly hotel stay, but we have no regrets.
We got to the airport and saw a long line forming for the check-in counter. I noticed there were self-service terminals that were vacant so we went to use them. What we didn’t know was that we needed to complete the on-line immigration application before we checked-in. We hadn’t done this yet and was having a hard time navigating the website on our phone. This is the same site we stumbled through when we were leaving the Dominican last year. Lucky for us there was a super helpful gate agent that assisted us through the process and kept reassuring us that we had plenty of time and more shockingly, there was nobody waiting to use the terminals behind us. We finally got the immigration thing worked out and began checking in on the terminal, but when we got to the bags we informed him that we were military and he told us we were using the wrong terminal. The military terminal was the one to our left! Doh! We started the process again and finally made it through and got our bags dropped. We were through security and to our gate with plenty of time to spare. We connected in Miami and had no travel issues to Puerto Plata. We made it through Puerto Plata immigration and customs in a breeze; probably the quickest ever coming into a country! We easily found our pre-arranged transportation and was checking into the Gran Ventana Beach Resort in no-time.
Our first impressions of our room was that we were pretty unimpressed. It was a super basic room on the first floor, but it had a balcony. We did have a view of the ocean, but it was just a sliver that you could only see if on the balcony. I like to unpack when on vacation, but there was no dresser in the room and the closet only had 7 hangers. There were a couple of shelves in the TV armoire, so we ended up living out of the suitcase which is not ideal. The bathroom I was ok with. Nothing amazing, but nothing to complain about either. We learned to love being on the first floor as we would often hop over the balcony railing as it was just feet to the path to the beach.
I paid extra for the Royal package so that gave us a few perks such as unlimited ala carte dining, reserved area on the beach with bartender and server, access to the Vintage club (private bar area), a fruit basket, and 5 bottles of alcohol to name a few. Upon check-in we found that all of the ala carte restaurants were booked for the night so our only option was the buffet, but we did make a reservation for the next night at the Seaside Grill. We also chose a bottle of rum, red wine, and champagne for our free bottles. She told us we could have one more, but since we don’t really ever make mixed drinks in the room felt that it was sufficient. It wasn’t until the third or fourth day that I saw someone bring their bottle of wine with them to the ala carte restaurant that I realized that you could do that. The red wine they served in the au was just ok, so the next night I brought our bottle of cabernet sauvignon and it was so much better. We hadn’t touched the rum or champagne so I took them back to the Vintage Club to see if I could exchange it for more wine. They said the champagne was worth 3 bottles and the rum 1, so I got 4 more bottles of red wine! Wish I would have realized that sooner in the trip because at this point we only had 2 more dinners left. I packed the 2 bottles that we had remaining and hope they don’t break in my luggage.
The buffet was less then impressive and felt like they might be short staffed as it took forever to have a server pour us some water and they never came back to refill our glass. I’m glad I was able to make reservations at the restaurants for the rest of the trip. Our reservation time defaulted to 8:30p.m. as that was the only time available, but it actually worked out to be a perfect time for us. The food in the restaurants was better than in the buffet, but nothing that I’ll be dreaming or craving for in the future. We ate at the Seaside Grill twice, a restaurant called Octopus once, and the Italian restaurant three times. The night we went to the Octopus restaurant we actually had reservations for the Italian restaurant but I had wrongly assumed that the Italian restaurant was in the same place as the Octopus. We gave the host our reservation slip and they didn’t say anything that we were in the wrong place and sat us. Once we saw the menu we knew we weren’t at the Italian restaurant but we just went with it. We figured if they didn’t look at it that close we would just use our slip for Octopus for the Italian restaurant the next night. The food at the Octopus was pretty bad. I had chicken curry and Tom had a chicken breast with mango. Both of our chicken was overcooked and dry and just didn’t have much flavor. We were glad that we didn’t have any further reservations there. The next night at the Italian restaurant we breathed a sigh of relief when we were seated after the hostess had seemingly scrutinized our reservation slip, but I think that’s because I said we needed a table for four. I have no idea why I would say that, clearly it was for two and told her that as she was about to sit us at a table for four and was bringing an extra chair over. We all laughed about it and she became our favorite employee at the resort. The next two nights she saw us, her face would light up with a smile in recognition and she treated us with extra care. On our last visit she had sat us in the middle of the restaurant by a large group of loud individuals. Before we ordered she told us she would prepare a table for us where it was quieter and moved us. The Italian restaurant had three cats that hung around. They didn’t bother us as we enjoyed seeing the cats. We even fed one that seemed particularly friendly. It made us miss our Boys.
It felt like it took a couple of days to get into a routine and now that I’m writing this at the airport on our way home, we find that we wished we could have stayed a couple of more days. Everyday we set an alarm for 6:30a.m. to get up to watch the sunrise. Tom had just bought a new 360 degree camera that he wanted to try and he had some particular ideas about a sunrise time lapse. He joined me on the first two mornings for a walk down the beach and filmed it with the 360 camera. We had more than a few people look at us like we were crazy since the camera is attached to really long pole. Another day we set it up on tripod. Tom got super irritated when people would walk in front of it and not pay any attention to their surroundings. The next time we tried it, we kindly asked people if they would mind walking around the camera. More than one person then stopped to chat with Tom to find out what the camera was and what it was doing. Even the local beach vendors that roamed the beach stopped to ask Tom about it.
Each morning I walked the beach to the West for what I think was about a mile and a half one way. The first time Tom and I walked this together and we went almost to what I assume would be the end of the beach. We stopped because it looked like we were coming upon a local beach village and saw a bunch of dogs. I had visions of being attacked by a dog so we turned around and started heading back. The dogs spied us though and started to follow us. They didn’t attack us, but they still didn’t make me feel comfortable. One dog was following us for a while and then before we knew it two other dogs came running after him and pounced him. Then the two dogs that had chased him started humping each other. It was almost felt like mom and dad was chasing down their kid and then when they got him decided to just go at it. It was quite comical. I didn’t find too many beach treasures walking to the West other then a couple pieces of sea glass. One morning however I found the most perfect medium size conch shell. It was completely intact and just semi-buried in the wet sand. It was an exciting find!!
Each evening I walked the beach to the East for what I think was about another mile and a half one way. Going this direction I found a treasure trove of sea glass. I would never really see it anywhere else along the beach accept for that one particular stretch. My new favorite beach treasure is sea glass so I enjoyed looking for the best pieces and especially the more rare blue glass. I picked up enough sea glass throughout the trip that it filled the water glass in our room. I didn’t buy a Christmas ornament this trip so I think I’m going to try to do something with the sea glass to make one.
The one excursion we did was to Paradise Island. Everyone we had talked to recommended going there and after our great excursion to Saona Island last year it was a no brainer for us. We were picked up at 7:30a.m. and had a two-hour bus ride to where we caught the boat to go to the island. The bus ride was slow and bumpy for most of the trip. We went though small village after small village and it felt like there were speed bumps in the road every 1/4 mile. On the boat ride to the island we stopped in the middle of the ocean at a “natural” swimming pool. Nothing too exciting here other than being served some drinks. This excursion also had a professional photographer along. Last year we enjoyed our photo shoot so we went all in again. This time however we couldn’t preview the photos before we could buy them. Since we don’t really buy souvenirs on our trips we decided to buy them sight unseen and hoped there would be at least one good one. We definitely didn’t get as many good ones as last year, but there are a couple candids we like. Paradise Island really should be renamed Paradise Sandbar because it was a very small island of all sand. The snorkeling was good, but beyond that it was not overly impressive in my mind. On the way back the boat took us into the mangrove forest for a short distance. That too was just “meh”. We got back to shore and had a buffet lunch at a restaurant. The food was very good with grilled lobster, fried fish, chicken, burgers, fries, salads, etc. We enjoyed the food and beers before the 2 hour bus ride back. We got back to the hotel after 5:00. It was a good excursion (not great), and with it being a very pricey excursion at $150/person, it is not something I would do again if we ever went back.
So our daily routine was sunrise, Jess beach walk, sit on the beach and read or sleep or snorkel or watch training videos in front of the resort, Jess evening beach walk, get ready for dinner, dinner, and then end with a night cap in the Vintage Club. Someone recommended Bailey’s and Amaretto over ice which we both thoroughly enjoyed. While Jess was on her morning/evening beach walk treasure hunts Tom surfed the web, played with his 360 camera video, and watched his nerd training videos. We were both completely relaxed and agreed this trip was needed and are thankful we were able to go.
So Puerto Plata vs Punta Cana? I don’t know….I think they’re both good and have their positives and negatives. I guess for me, the best deal might win out, but I’m hoping that the next beach vacation will be to a country that we have not yet been.
Stats of the Week:
Jess’s Total Steps Walked: 118,411
Most Steps in 1 Day: 20,711 (Monday, 27Feb23)
Jess’s Books Read: 2 1/2 (“Spare” by Prince Harry and “To Sir Phillip, With Love – Eloise’s Story” a Bridgerton story. As I write this on the plane I am halfway through a book called “A Conspiracy of Tall Men”. I hope to finish it on the next flight.)
Number of Training Videos Tom Watched: More than any one person should watch while on a vacation
Number of seashells acquired: 6
Number of pieces of sea glass acquired: Haven’t counted! Too many!
Morning Wind: Next to nothing
Wind by 11:00a.m: Crazy strong
