Dominican Republic

Jan 31-Feb 2
AC1796 YYZ-PUJ, AC945 PUJ-YUL, AC7979 YUL-YTZ

Our first trip to the Dominican Republic had multiple objectives. Foremost, it was a break from the worst of Toronto’s winter, but it was also our anniversary weekend. Finally, it expanded our country count to 110.

Dominican Republic has long been a favourite all-inclusive winter vacation spot for Canadians, but it hadn’t been high on our list of destinations. We haven’t quite jumped on that bandwagon, but we did enjoy our time there and the beautiful Dreams Royal Beach near Punta Cana.

With the convenient flight schedule, we were able to fly into Punta Cana after work and arrive late Friday evening. Luckily, there was a hotel very close to the airport that I was able to book with just a few points making for a very economical first night. We landed on time and were quickly on the hotel shuttle and checked in to our hotel before 10:30pm.

Feb 1

The airport hotel had served its purpose as a good kick-off point and was right next to a convenient bank to grab some local currency. After a slow start to the day, we ordered an Uber to take us to the resort where we’d be spending the majority of the weekend. When we arrived at the room, it wasn’t ready, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying the resort property. We were welcomed and headed to the restaurant for a late breakfast and then explored the massive resort grounds while we waited for our room.

The turtles and colourful frogs that inhabited the natural mangrove forest and estuary within the resort complex

Checking out the beach

The public beach was a lot more lively than the private beach we had in Jamaica a few weeks earlier.

Heading back across the boardwalk for some lunch, we found more turtles enjoying the warm sun

One of many egrets in the estuary

This egret was less shy and not at all scared by Tom’s presence

Although we saw many egrets, this was the only blue heron we ran across

After settling into the room and taking advantage of the gym facilities, we explored more of the expansive resort grounds

Walking further along the beach, there was a partial pier used to service some of the nearby boats

Catching a few folks wading into the waters, we just walked along the beach

Back at the resort I enjoyed a caipirinha. Although it’s a Brazilian cocktail, they did an excellent job

After enjoying a wonderful seafood dinner, we explored more of the grounds

After dinner, we relaxed on our balcony and enjoyed some of the music from the nearby theatre. Later in the evening, the skies opened up to a pretty heavy downpour, so we were glad to be inside. Luckily, this was the only break we had from great weather during our short visit.

Feb 2

I was up early and headed for a walk through the grounds before hitting the gym. When Tom was up and ready, we relaxed and explored some more. We had lots of time for a late breakfast along the beach and one last frozen cocktail before leaving shortly after noon for our afternoon flight home.

No early morning activity at one of the many swim up bars

I had the beach mostly to myself for my early morning walk

Continuing my swim up bar tour

Tom relaxing in the shade of the covered portion of the walkway

Resting my feet before heading back across the walkway

After looking for iguanas, since our arrival my keen eye was rewarded with our first sighting hiding in the branches

This iguana was a little more in the open

Catching our last view of the Dominican Republic on our plane’s climb out of Punta Cana

After making the most of our time in the resort, we made our way back to Punta Cana’s airport and headed home to Toronto via Montreal. We landed in Montreal almost an hour ahead of schedule, and moved ourselves to an earlier flight home. Unfortunately, with snow storm delays at Pearson, our new flight was quite delayed. We did, however, manage to switch to a flight to Toronto Island airport that got us home a little bit earlier and well before our original scheduled flight.