For our annual time share trip and to relax a bit before Keith's prostate surgery, we decided to go to the Dominican Republic for a week with John and JoAnna. Keith called this our 'spontaneous trip' as we were supposed to still be in South America but since we knew we had to be back for Keith's surgery, we planned this trip with John and Jo about four months ago!
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| Staying at 'higher' ground to avoid the tsunami |
We stayed at the Sports Illustrated Cap Cana which is a resort within the gated community of Cap Cana that has several resorts. Our resort was in a marina so did not have direct beach access; however, they offered a free shuttle over to a beach. The resort itself was not our favorite - it was a bit outdated and rundown and the food (we had to get the all inclusive) was also not as good as other all inclusive we have done. That said, our room (we got a two bedroom) was huge and the beds were comfortable. The staff were also very nice. And of course, we still had a great time!
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| Main pool at our resort |
While there, we worked out each morning and then sat at the pool in the afternoon. The resort had two pools but we chose to relax at the one where they had a bar. The first evening we got a notice that there was an earthquake in the Western Caribbean and that there was a tsunami warning for islands east of us. We decided not to take chances so, beers in hand, we walked to the second floor cross over at the hotel and hung out there until the warning was over - we were the only ones that seemed to be concerned!
One day, we rented a golf cart and drove to the other end of the gated community - took about 15-20 minutes - where we stopped at Eden Roc, a high end resort located on a beautiful beach alcove. We had a couple of drinks at their beach bar while admiring the view. We then rode back to Juanillo Beach where our resort had amenities; we had lunch there which was pretty decent. We walked around, taking photos and then relaxed on some beach chairs. We went back to this beach the next day, this time taking the free hotel shuttle.
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| Juanillo Beach |
All of our other meals were at the resort - they had one restaurant where breakfast, lunch and dinner was served (buffet style) and another 'rotating' restaurant that featured a specific cuisine. For the latter, we had Italian one night and Mexican/Brazilian two other nights. The Brazilian meats were pretty good.
We also watched the Super Bowl at the resort which was an interesting experience. For a Sports Illustrated resort, we were surprised by the lack of TVs and options to watch the game. They did have a large TV in the main bar so we went there and watched it with Spanish commentary and no US commercials! JoAnna was super excited that the Eagles won.
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| Cruising in the golf cart |
We returned back to TX one day before John and JoAnna left as we did not want to risk any delays getting back for the surgery.
