i had a new book in hand which i picked up from one of those 'take a book/leave a book' bins
from our last hotel. i love reading so this time on the bus was perfect for me. as c dozed, i read
i was done with the book by the time we got back to santo domingo.
when we arrived back in the capital city, we contemplated finding a new hotel. we didn't have hotel reservations anywhere after the first night, but in the end, we chose to stay at coco boutique hotel, again because it was so comfortable. we ate at caffe bellini, an italian restaurant a hotel guest recomended just around the corner. the food was amazing and a more pricey, but we were on vacation and felt we could
indulge a bit.
the next morning, we were back on the bus heading to the town of puerto plata, located on the coast,
about 2 hours east of santo domingo.
,
this town was a good jumping off point for our next adventure - hookah snorkeling.
this was another one of those 'must do in the DR' things and we were excited.
we were lucky to find out the hotel a fellow traveler recommended had a room available.
there were lots of mega resorts all around, but we prefer the smaller boutique hotels because
we get more opportunities to interact with the owner(s), other guests and even locals who
are employees.
a bit about puerto plata:
- the town has a european feel (much different than mexico's coastal communities).
- it is FULL of italians who for whatever reason, have moved and opened businesses here.
- most employees of these businesses are hatians who speak french and cater to the large number of french/french canadian visitors. we found very few spanish speaking dominicans in this beach town which was not only odd, but made it tough to communicate. the spanish that we did hear, was so thick with a french accent, it was near impossible to understand.
- the italians and europeans here love to smoke. not the best environment for me as i can't be within 100' of cigaratte smoke or i get nauseous.
- friendly folks wherever we went
- there was no harrassment. when we said 'no thanks' to a peddler/vendor, they would walk away.
it was refreshing.
we come to find out we are the only ones signed up for the hookah tour (most tourists went on the booze cruise tour around the samoa islands). we had our own personal guide, marco. he was a well-spoken and educated 30-something, who moved to the DR from barcelona to learn to scuba dive. he became a master diver and stayed. he's been in the D.R. for 3 yeras and now works for seavis taking tourists on scuba and hookah tours.
our first dive was to a coral reef not too far off the beach. we were just 15'-20' below the surface but it was perfect as i'm slightly claustraphobic. the water wasn't crystal clear like we've heard it was in some of the carribean islands, but it was pretty enough and all new to me. i learned the international hand signals to communicate with our instructor and c and i stayed down with him for about 45 minutes.
from here, we were taken out to the open ocean and anchored next to a 50' ship that was sunk purposefully for recreational diving. were were excited but the winds had picked up and it was choppy. because our air comes from a compressor that sits on a float on top of the ocean, there was brief concern that the waves may knock over the compressor which means - no air coming through our tubes. 10 minutes later, the winds died down and we were given the go. we were down a good 40 feet this time.
this was REALLY amazing and c's highlight from the trip. we saw eels, fish (which kind i couldn't tell you) but my sister stacey could name them all i'm sure. *grin* i am convinced hookah diving is right for me - no carrying heavy equipment and nothing more than a 10 minute lessons.
some photos from our hookah dives:
after hookah diving we went back to santo domingo (same hotel) for
our final night. we enjoyed a delicious dinner at a restaurant at the main plaza
in the zona colonial.
we agreed the this trip was exactly what we needed -
time together, reconnecting, sharing, and having a little fun.
