Day one - Sunday

We woke up at 4:30am to get to the airport for 6am.  We are very thankful to Christopher for the ride to (and from) the airport!

All of this...

...fit in these!

Our transport to the sunny south

And so we are

I can't believe it!

We're actually on our way!

Our flight left Ottawa only 15 minutes late.  Kath was thankful for the 2 movies shown (Grid Iron Gang and Open Season) to help pass the time, but as the flight went on we really wished the plane was equipped with individual air vents, as the flight got rather warm and the air became more and more stale.

We had a one hour stop over in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic to let people off, and let on those who were going home.  The Punta Cana airport is an interesting building – you take the stairs from the airplane down to the tarmac, but the striking feature is that the terminal is completely open to the tarmac and the weather.  I’m guessing rain or cold really isn’t an issue.

Coming in for a landing

We were met at the exit by Patrick, our GoTravel agent, who directed us to our appropriate taxi.  There were only 4 of us going to the Divi Little Bay Beach Resort, and all of our stuff fit into the small van.  When we arrived at the resort, it was nice to see that access was restricted by a laneway controlled by a gate and monitored by a security guard at all times.

We checked into the resort at the main reception desk, which like the DR airport, was completely open to the elements.  We were given a room with 2 doubles rather than the kingbed room Kath had requested.  We were told to check back in the morning to see if a kingbed room became available after several guests had checked out. 

For dinner we went to Toucan’s Bar & Grill, the resort restaurant, and had that evening’s special the Italian buffet.  Dinner included a glass of wine and dessert, along with your choice of soups, salads, lasagna, spaghetti & penne pasta, chicken cacciatore, and a tomato meat sauce with meatballs.  The food was nothing spectacular but decent, especially after a long day of traveling.  On our way back to the room we noticed a security guard strolling the grounds, and were reassured by that. 

After a short rest we met up with Patrick again, who gave us a bit of an orientation to the island and provided us with information about various activities available to us.

The timeshares at Divi

more of the timeshares

The hotel side at Divi

Day two – Monday

Maybe it’s a Caribbean thing, but like other resorts we ourselves have visited or those we’ve heard about from friends, the existence of a hot shower in the morning seems to be a rare thing.  Thankfully, in the very least we had a warm shower every morning, but water pressure constantly fluctuated as did the temperature. 

We went to Toucan’s for breakfast, deciding on the All American buffet – coffee, juice, fruit, cheese, sliced ham, croissants, pastries, toast, hashbrowns, and cooked to order eggs, pancakes and French toast.

After breakfast we wandered through the resort property and ventured up the hill to see the remains of Fort Amsterdam.  The view of Philipsburg was amazing, with 4 huge cruise ships in port, and several other sailing ships in the harbour.

The view from Fort Amsterdam

We wandered back and checked with the front desk to see if a kingbed room had become available, and much to our pleasure were moved a couple of doors down to the room we wanted originally.  We finally unpacked our suitcases and deposited our valuables in the in-room safe.  The room was equipped with a very important coffee maker, hair dryer, ironing board and iron, tv and alarm clock.

Finally, a kingbed

The bathroom

To the balcony

Our view from the balcony

Our wheels

The resort had a Thrifty outlet on-site, and we arranged to rent a tiny 4-door 3 banger for the week.  The agent told us that if we left any valuables in the car to make sure to leave it unlocked – I thought he was joking when in fact he was quite serious.  Petty theft is supposedly quite rampant on the island, and thieves will damage a car to get at the goods – the broken trunk lock on our rental was hard evidence of this.  The agent was merely warning us that we would be responsible for any damage should we not heed his advice.

We took a quick drive into Philipsburg to see what the driving was like – holy crap, it was crazy!  Narrow, winding, hilly roads with only minimal signage – nobody stops, they only slow down.  But despite the craziness, drivers are generally courteous and will let you in with a wave or quick beep on the horn.

Kath quickly had enough of that and we retreated back to the resort, jumped into our swimsuits and grabbed our snorkelling gear to explore the shoreline of the peninsula that the resort was built on.  The water was warm and mainly clear, but somewhat murky – perhaps stirred up by the wind and waves or by the many other visitors who had been snorkelling or diving in the area.

That evening we ate dinner at Toucan’s again, deciding not to venture out by car at night until we had become more familiar with the local roads.  We had the grilled lobster dinner, which was okay.  The lobster was overcooked, but the rest of the dinner (baked potato, corn on the cob, various salads, and cheesecake for dessert) was fine.

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Day one pics