Oh joy! Flying to the Dominican Rep with a plane full of Saint Francis Xavier University grads. Lively to say the least. The resort was no surprise as we had stayed at the Grand Paradise before.....the bargain basement of bargain basement packaged vacations.
The first 4 days
After three attempts to get a better room we ended up on the far end of the resort with a stunning view of the employee parking lot. Room was clean, musty smelling but close to all the amenities of the resort. Be dammed if I was going to pay an extra $10USA a day for an ocean view. Too boot we received a free concert for every time it started to rain accompanied by thunder then lightening every car alarm in the lot sounded off. Sort of named that tune the "Bells, Horns and Sirens of Paradise." This performance was repeated 4 times during our stay. After one particularly hard rain Marie and I awoke to the joy of an indoor pool in the bathroom.
After an a la carte breakfast it was a toss up between a mad dash for the beach or bathroom..............the latter won. Feeling much lighter I rejoined Marie and headed to the beach with Pro in hand. Pesos jumped under the coil as well as these 2 little silver numbers!
One day blended with the next till on the fatal 4th day death hit.............coil on the Pro.
Trip to Puerto Plata City
Marie up till this time had mad no requests nor demands for any side trips so I suggested (with all the detecting I had been doing I felt guilty)a shopping jaunt downtown. Knew that the taxis on the resort would want $50USA for the round trip. No way was I going to fork that over so we walked to the main road and hailed the local bus which cost only $6 for the trip. Mind you we do not have any reservations about sharing a mini van with 20 other locals, a few chickens and a floor in the vehicle which........was not there. In town we visited many shops including the post office where a nice miniature pane was scoffed along with a copy of every issue they had in stock.
Also took in the historic church where I said a prayer for my Pro.
Outside we joined in the feeding.....man talk about aerial bombing!
Was kind of thinking that the city was full of hunters and it was open season on pedestrians crossing the streets...pretty hairy!
That evening back at the resort we ate at the specialty restaurant where the dress of the evening was mask and snorkel as the heavy rain and high winds forced all us dinners to group in the center of the place which was open sided. Marie looked lovely if not a tad on the wet side. Evening was made palatable by a multitude of glasses of Dominican red wine a.k.a. kerosene which I drank by watering it down by sticking my arm out of the side of the building. Real class act but Marie took it in stride. That evening I could have sworn that "Ackmed the Dead Terrorist" was mocking me.
Days of the Seahunter Mk11
Since the early departure of the Pro I was forced to use the Seahunter which was up to the task and just a super machine on wet sand. However whenever I got waist deep in the water she falsed. Tried everything to stop this to no avail so hit the popular swimming spots at deep low tide. Got to say me son the water was dead. Two coins on the whole trip found in the water. Just as well as the waves at times were brutal and with my knees felt a tad timid entering the ocean.
Sunset on day 5 was postcard picture perfect.
"X" marks the spot
If you recall Marie and I had come down with a plane full of university kids who were not far from what one saw in the movie "Animal House." Well on the day before they were to head back this young man who was obviously hung over approached me as I was doing the lower beach below the high water mark. He indicated that he had lost his "X" ring on the point by the beach chairs to which I replied that I had gridded that off just this morning and had not found that ring but a nice little diamond and gold ring. Said I would have another look see once the chairs were removed from the beach for the night. they were leaving that night.
Later that evening did take another swing at the area..............voila!
Had told the young fellow to post his lost ring on the university website so I should be able to track him down with no problem. Have never taken a reward for returning an item but if I'm successful here I think a contribution towards a new coil for the pro would be ..........fitting! The 14K band I had found just below where this was found.
The chicken tri facto
Think that the life expectancy of a chicken in the Dom. Rep must be about.......3 days. Recall at lunch it was grilled chicken, supper was chicken baked with wine sauce and for snacks later that evening it was fried chicken.
The drink tri facto
Must have been a new bartender at the poolside bar for I ordered a grass hopper and got a rum and coke. Ordered a banana mama for Marie and got a whiskey sour. Next trip to the bar I thought I would get him good and ordered a starboard light (green cream demeyth, rum and sprite) and received a beer with tomato juice. Lost in translation..........now there is a good name for a drink!
How to get your moneys worth out of a Dominican vacation
This was a tough one as the food was not that good, the booze...well one can only drink so much and that was for medicinal purposes only or take 45 minute showers. Still cannot wrap my head around how you can bath in water that you cannot drink! This only resulted in me getting out of the shower looking like an albino prune,a rather relaxed one at that which became a daily ritual for me much to the dismay of Marie who always seemed to need the facility! Of course when I left the resort I took every bar of soap, shampoo, shower cap(now that is a laugh) and lotion that the maids left each day.
Cabarette and Sousa Beach trips.
Marie and I once again took local transport to these two places and did some shopping and detecting. Here detecting is near nightmare with the amount of garbage (bottle caps, metal shrouds and stuff) in the sand of these public beaches. All told for the two trips 45 coins were found. Running the Seahunter wide open makes for a lot of trash target digging! Marie scratched off all her present lists in these two spots.
Winding down on the last few days
Had virtually gridded off the entire beach at the resort from the Orange Market to the old site of the Occidental resort. With the shoulder and knees getting rather worn out I adjourned to the pool area for the last few days. Even won a coffee cup in a dart throw.oh joy. Got involved with a water polo game and made a great bouy.....team I was on kicked butt but no thanks to me as I avoided the scrums that the young fellows seemed to relish. wasn't about to find out how my travel medical plan worked.
Last day was sort of mellow and reflective so I tallied up the finds.
3 gold rings
1 silver ring
1 silver bracelet with lorimor stones
108 Dominican coins totalling 680 pesos
25 miscellaneous foreign coins
2 dinkies
5 keys
ear ring
hair clip
2 pins
3 junker rings
Now what to do with the coins? Have hunted on a few trips to the D.R with Joseph who sells jewelry on the beach. Found him near the Barcello . We struck up a deal....he got the bag and I got a nice set of earrings for Marie!
Which in turn got me thissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!
The Peso Pirate of Puerto Plata has decided to leave this port and venture to a new port of call next vacation. Some place special to celebrate our 20th year together.
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