Day 5: Isla Saona
It was a Monday and we were all excited to start the day. For years we've been trying to take the tour to Isla Saona. I've only seen pictures and paintings of it but I've heard that it is beautiful there so when I was organizing our to do list for this trip I made sure to include this adventure. We were planning on taking the tour directly from the resort but when you know people that know people and you pay a fraction of what it normally is, well you just go with it hahaha. My stepdad knows a lot of people in his town so he was always finding good deals for whatever we wanted to do. Best part was that it was the exact same tour as everyone else took so it wasn't like we got the bad end of the stick.
We rode a small motor boat to the catamaran that was farther out in the sea. From there the ride was 2 hours, we started the voyage around 10am and made it to the island right at 12pm. But those two hours flew by. The captain and his crew made it so much fun by playing music, giving drinks, shots, and dancing with the tourists. We were the firsts ones on the catamaran so it gave us some time to bond with the captain and his crew. I told him from the get go that I've never done this before nor was ever at sea for so long and that I was super nervous and worried I would get motion sickness but he told me "I got you! After we get moving you won't even give it a second thought" and what do you know, it was just like that. Of course that I had a couple of drinks so that may have had an effect on me. Either way I was not complaining or worried. Matter of fact as soon as we took off and they played the music I grabbed my man and started dancing. Boy was that fun! To dance a merengue with my life partner sang by Juan Luis Guerra (an old time favorite singer of mine) in the middle of the Caribbean Sea = bucket list check off! Two hours later and we were there. We reached the shore and headed straight for the very corner of the beach sitting area to be isolated from everyone else. We just wanted each other's company. We got in the water, ate some food, drank some more, and took lots of pictures! Everything was great but I was a bit disappointed on the water. It was very rocky and full of seaweed so we didn't enjoy our time there much aside from simply enjoying nature and it's natural beauty untouched by mankind.
After several hours we got back on a motor boat and made a quick stop a the natural pool. Now this was the highlight of the day. Guys, words can't never truly explain how beautiful and amazing this experience was. We jumped from the boat and the water was waist deep and clear as drinking water. There were tons of starfish just hanging around keeping us company. Hundreds of people scattered around having an amazing time. Couples celebrating love, kids living a dream, family enjoying the beauty that my beautiful island has to offer, friends living it up, and me feeling thankful and blessed for this marvelous opportunity and most importantly being with the people that I love most in this world. Everything was priceless!
About an hour later we were ready to take off and go back to La Romana but our boat battery died. Yup you heard right. We were stuck at sea for what felt an eternity. I was freaking out because I feared the worse but deep down I just knew that my life would not end like this (maybe I was being a bit dramatic). Thankfully the captain and his assistant were able to get the motors going and brought us back in to shore safe and sound. Unfortunately, that was enough for me not wanting to ever get on a motor boat again, the ocean is too much water for little ol' me. I would love to do this adventure again but I'm going to need a few years to get over it.
That night we drove to the capital, Santo Domingo, and stayed the night over my aunts house which is located right above my grandmas house. May her soul Rest In Peace. It was so bittersweet being there and not seeing her :( but I loved bonding with my aunt and cousins.
Day 6: Sanchez
This day consisted of a lot of driving. We were on the road for a good five hours or so trying to make it to Samana with a quick stop in Sanchez to visit family.
I have wonderful memories of this little town. I spent a nice chunk of time there when my dad passed away in 1998. I was young and my aunt wanted me to not fall into a depression so she took me with her for a while along with another cousin. There was a river behind her house and we would swim in it all day long. I don't remember much of my stay there except knowing that that time in my life was a happy one. I felt angry at the world and loved all at the same time.
While there my aunt greeted us with an amazing meal, which I did not take pictures of, and some lovely conversations. My uncle is into rooster fighting so he had tons of roosters in cages and a ton more chicken and hens just running around. Literally. They even had chickens up on trees. My boys got a kick out of that and AJ kept chasing the hens because he wanted to "pat it" Jajaja. We ended up staying with them till about 7pm and then we decided to hit the road because we weren't sure where we were going or where the hotel was exactly. Originally we went traveling there with no idea of which hotel we would stay at but we figured if we got there early we can "shop around". Lucky for us my uncle has a taxi business where he picks up tourist at the airport and drops them off a different resorts so he hooked us up and we ended up booking right there from his house.
The drive to Samana from Sanchez was a beautiful one and also a scary one. Sanchez is like a town on a mountain so getting to Samana, although it was only 30 minutes away it took forever because there were way too many dangerous curves and we had to drive carefully and slow. But the view! Omg the view was breathtaking! Oceanview all the way there on the left and country view on the right. We really enjoyed our time here, learn about why on the next post! ;)
p.s.
This was the song that hubby and I danced on the catamaran. Very fitting if you ask me :)
Post a Comment