Copyright Free music credit to Benjamin Tissot – Sunny. Thank you!
Sunny – Gentle Royalty Free Acoustic Music | Bensound
Mia and I stayed with her daughter and husband at a large, nicely appointed, two-bedroom suite they had rented as part of an extended working vacation. Due to COVID, they had gotten a terrific deal from a friend to stay for several months. The grounds and pools were impeccable, even with the hardly noticeable expansion construction going on, that I found interesting to watch while sitting out. (Mia’s daughter did not want her picture on YouTube limiting the pictures I could post.)
We would walk to the public beach – Playa Dominicus – where we were then able to explore as far as we desired in either direction. We found the water at the public beach to be quite enjoyable with its sandbar and local attractions. Not many pictures at the beach because we spent a lot of time in the water and didn’t want to leave personal items setting out. I swam out and dove on some tropical fish hiding around occasional rocks. Otherwise, it was a white sandy bottom. I actually didn’t take any pictures; I was on vacation.
Rented scooters to visit Cueva del Puente – part of the National Park – but weren’t well prepared. Should have had flashlights, better shoes, and water. Marco only had flip flops. About a two hour round trip walk in and out. I don’t see how folks years ago could have walked here without shoes due to the corral. There were only a few other people and we got ice cold water offered to us when we got back to the main building. We would have been better prepared, but I misunderstood information/directions relayed to me, while at our pool, to get to an underground cave where you can swim. Turns out that was just down the street in the opposite direction.
Worth the walk – Review of Cueva del Puente, Parque Nacional del Este, Dominican Republic – Tripadvisor
We enjoyed eating at the local places, usually having the fresh fish dishes, but also the great wood burning, oven cooked pizza. Got the rolled ice cream on several occasions. When you leave the place we were staying, it is only a few steps to be out of the “resort” and into the daily life of Dominicans. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized Haiti is the other half of the island. It is difficult to fathom how there can be such a disparity from one side of the island to the other. Obviously, I am not informed enough to make any comment beyond frustration with why it has to be this way.
A highlight of the trip was scuba diving to 36 feet on a “wreck”. LOTS of fish and very clear water. Neither Mia or I had been scuba diving before and we had to pass an introductory safety course. Mia can swim but has not had her face underwater very often, and never snorkeled, but her scuba-trained daughter insisted she would have fun. As part of the introduction safety training, it took some time for Mia to get used to wearing a mask and clearing it to the satisfaction of the instructor. She should have held her mask more securely, so took a snoot full of salt water when stepping off the boat into the water. Then it was 5 minutes of getting her wits back before making it down to the wreck escorted by her instructor. I don’t know how she managed to climb that anchor rope with all that heavy gear. We will never stop laughing about the look on her face. “I don’t think I can do this!”, she exclaimed while hanging onto the boat anchor line with a death grip while bobbing up and down with the waves.
Her daughter made a mistake with the new Go Pro and failed to turn it on so we don’t have any video. The challenging part for me was getting my ears to adjust while slowing moving down the guide rope. It was 4 feet down then 2 feet up, but just when I was wondering if I would ever make it to the bottom, suddenly there we were. The instructor would look back to check on me and we used our hand signals to communicate any issues. I stayed close so she could focus on being sure Mia was doing OK. The variety and number of fish was very entertaining. From schools to single larger fish that did not seem concerned about our presence. We had a great time.
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