Mark and I spent a week at the Iberostar Selection Bavaro just outside Punta Cana with his family. The DR isn't technically a new country for me - in 2007, just before freshman year of college, I traveled there on a mission trip with my church, before getting an eye infection and then evacuated a day early due to a hurricane (which also allowed me to get my ulcered cornea diagnosed after arriving to my dorm before I was allowed to move in... it was a lot as an 18-year-old, and pre-blog!)
The dogs stayed at the Holderdyke home with my mom and youngest sister - we brought them in the for the occasion. After the flight from BWI, we navigated to the mass of large, boxy vans to find the one booked by our travel agent.
The ride to the eastern side wasn't long, which was one of the goals - get on the island, get to vacationing. We attempted some restaurant reservations for later in the week after getting golf cart rides to the rooms. The room for Mark and me overlooked the steak restaurant and the ponds in front of the buffet. The room with the nieces was a little further back, and beyond that was the in-laws' room. When our air-conditioning barely worked during the week, it was our sweet location (and our inertia) that made it fine. (There was also a flying ant infestation - they got it cleaned up. You just gotta co-exist with bugs in the tropics.)
The resort ran straight from the main building complex, to the pool area, to the ocean. Getting the early chairs at the pool seemed like a competitive sport, but by the time we were ready to swim (late morning), much of the dedicated crowd had already moved on.
Mark and I brought our gear to do a few dives. On Saturday, our first full day, we headed out to Saona Island. The two dives we very lovely - Mark and I hung out behind the group, playing with my new iPhone camera housing, while spotting turtles, spotted moray eels, an adult drum fish, and an octopus. After a second dive, we then lunched under a large wooden roof with a pair of women (one diver, one non-diver) before chatting about travels and the state of America while drinking and looking for starfish in the "natural pool."
Sunday, the next day, we dove near the resort. It was a pretty neat shipwreck, Astron (or Aston) Wreck. The rusty ship seemed to stretch for miles - especially with the surging water roiling my already beleaguered stomach. I made it back to the boat before feeding the fish, and calling it quits for the day (and pretty much for the week at that point).
We were back with the family on Monday for a big pool day (the resort included a water park structure, with water pouring out of giant buckets, as well as a swim-up bar) and some bingo.
Tuesday, we finally got to share our love of Caribbean reefs with the siblings and nieces. Saona and Catalina leave from the same resort, so Mark and I knew the van ride and were excited for the other four to see the Iberostar Hacienda Dominicus in Bayahibe. Once gear was attained, it was a boat ride out to Catalina and the reefs.
Jason will tell you that first snorkel was fine - a turtle came up to greet the snorkelers, and they could get back on the boat whenever they wanted. Divers saw lobster and eel, among the fish and coral. The second dive and snorkel, however, was tricky - when the youngest niece was ready to head back to the boat, the boat was not in the same place they dropped them off. What was supposed to be a slow, 30-min snorkel back to the boat was instead a single-minded swim for 5 minutes to get out of the water.
By the time we caught back up with them, everyone was onboard and more relaxed. Post-lunch, we took a boat ride up River Chavon, seeing some of the stunning houses, as well as mangrove-type shorelines. After a bit of birdwatching, we were back on the van to the resort.
While we didn't do much with the nightly shows, we tried most of the restaurants. The weather stayed beautiful, with afternoon showers only trapping us once. The ocean also calmed down toward the end of our stay - and we learned that if we went up the beach just 20 feet, there wasn't sharp coral and rocks cutting our feet!
The resort had a few other features we appreciated - it neighbored another property that we could visit, for their soft-serve ice cream and a second round of daily bingo. It also had a coral research center that we visited before our Catalina trip. The goal was to breed a staghorn coral that was more resistant to changing temperatures, so we got to see the water measurements and the baby coral being grown.
The greenery and layout of the resort was relaxing and the partial adventure options broke up the week to make each day a day to look forward to.
