I met our group of Americans (in the city to celebrate the 40th anniversary of birth) in the lobby of the All-inclusive resort is currently Larimar on Saturday afternoon to go on a cruise with a catamaran Bebe.
All 44 adults and 3 children showed up and everyone was glad they left. We stand around in our bathing suits and hold beach towels / bags; most people engage in casual conversation, and some people go back and forth to the lobby bar to get more drinks before leaving. After about half an hour, the guides from Bebe Catamaran showed up on time for our 14:00 pm, and we started kicking two safari-style trucks in the open air, which they sent us.
The trip from the resort to the beach takes only 5 minutes. We arrived in a small area of El Cortesito, which does not look like a lot and may even look like a certain shady area, especially in the eyes of tourists coming straight from the well-kept gardens of a luxury resort.
The one street that passes through El Cortesito is a two-way street that is wide enough for cars to go in one direction. Fortunately, there were no other cars passing by when we arrived, and our drivers could easily get to the corner of the street. We unloaded the trucks and went to the store behind us. It took only 3 seconds before sellers from various souvenir shops noticed our group of tourists and began to approach them in the hope of luring someone to the store. However, no one dared off course, and we went through the store to get to the beach on the other side.
Arriving at the beach and first ocean view:
As soon as we left the store, the view of the beach and the ocean was absolutely stunning; a sharp contrast with the dusty street and the hectic gift shops behind us.
We stood on the beach for a few minutes, took off our shoes, which were placed in a large bucket, as we were not allowed to bring / wear shoes on the catamaran for safety reasons.
The guides gave each person a life vest, and we went to the edge of the ocean to deliver a speedboat that would lead us from the beach to the catamaran.
I think they could not pull the catamaran close to the beach so that everyone could just go aboard, so the only option for this was to go first to the small boat, although not everyone was too crazy about it.
Not all of us could fit, so the speedboat had to make three trips before we were aboard the 56-foot sailing catamaran and ready to throw. With less than 50 people, we had enough space so that everyone could sit, stand or lie down on their own. They say they can have up to 60 people on board, but I personally will not be more than 50 people to make sure that it is not too crowded.
The sun was hitting us, there was a cloud in the sky, and it was the perfect day for a day cruise. As soon as we went, we received some information about the routes and safety rules from the crew, which were considered the captain, bartender and three comrades. We had an open bar (without alcohol before scuba diving), as well as several snacks (fruit kebabs and nachos with salsa) and snorkeling equipment.
Scuba diving over a coral reef with chocolate:
Our first stop was the designated snorkeling zone, just a few minutes from us, where we dropped anchor. There were already several other boats, and people in the water - it seems that this is a good place for scuba diving. The crew began to distribute masks and fins. 47 people took quite a long time for everyone to tune in, although not everyone wanted to get into the water. They lowered the ladder so that we could enter the water, and several people decided to just jump over one side.
One of the comrades (the one they called Chocolate ) brought the submariners to the right places, equipped with a bag full of bread for feeding fish, and thus attract them to us. The water was pleasant and warm, just like in the Caribbean. One person who had a diving watch measured the temperature at 88 degrees Fahrenheit / 31 degrees Celsius! Unfortunately, visibility was not 100% transparent, and the quality of the coral reef was the only way. If you are planning to take a stroll through a colorful coral reef with a lot of tropical fish in all the colors of the rainbow, you will really be disappointed. The outfit is honestly not so great!
I really didn’t like the idea of the 40s, some floated above each other (and kicked each other), so I swam a little to one side and found one spot above the reef with a lot of fish. Most of them were black and yellow striped, some were gray with blue fins, while others were black. At one point, I had a swarm of these small, really cute yellow-black striped fish around me and one small blue fish that almost swam right into my mask.
When I came up to see where the rest of the group was, the guide, Chocolate, was next to me, and I decided to talk to him for a while, instead of bowing my head back under the water.
He was a young guy, very friendly. He told me that he is from Port-au-Prince in Haiti and has lived in the Dominican Republic for three years. He spoke Spanish very well, with a slight Creole accent, and said that he initially came to the country to study, but now he was working on a tour of the Bebe catamaran. After reading about the Haitians living in the Dominican Republic, I was tempted to ask him how he came to the country, and if he was a legal resident, but I decided that it might be too personal (and uncomfortable), so instead I asked him a little about your family, etc.
He told me that he had several family members in the Dominican Republic, but most of his family still lived and worked in Haiti.
Man overboard - take one:
After about 30 minutes of scuba diving, our guides called us back to the catamaran. When everyone was on board and we were ready to leave, the lady from our group realized that we were missing someone! “Raymond!” Raymond! Raymond !!! She cried, but no one answered her.
The captain turned off the motors, and Chocolate quickly jumped into the water and swam, looking for our missing guy. At the same time, everyone else lined up on the side of the catamaran to scout our missing person across the ocean. Several people were nervous, thinking that Raymond was somehow lost forever, which could never be. After a quick search and rescue, Raymond was safely returned on board the catamaran - a little confused in all the turmoil that occurred.
We continued the cruise along the coast, enjoying the open bar (currently serving rum and beer), music and views of the beach. The crew served as fruit kebabs, but I noticed when one of the guys came back with an empty tray. Unfortunately, they ended before I got a chance to try it.
Natural pool and more bees:
Our next stop was in the Natural Pool, in front of the Barceló Bávaro Beach Resort. This is a popular stop for most of the ocean excursions to Punta Cana, and when we arrived, there were already several other boats and many people in the water. The natural pool is like a sandy beach in the ocean, where the water is super shallow (deep waist) and calm. Each tour, which stops at the Natural Pool, spends about 30 minutes here, serving drinks from the floating bar, which in our case was a simple wooden plank on which to drink the floor with drinks.
Shortly after we arrived, we ran out of beer, which caused quite a stir, as everyone mostly drank beer. Tensions rose among the people in the group, and the crew had to quickly resolve the situation before it got out of control. Unfortunately, since we were almost going to go ashore, there was not enough time for the bees to be taken to the Natural Pool. The best solution turned out to be a beer waiting for us when we returned, so that we could take them on the beach and on a safari truck returning to the hotel.
Man overboard - take two:
After about half an hour in the Natural Pool, we began to return to the beach, where we stayed. At the request of some other people on board, the crew raised sails on a catamaran so that we could sail back without using the motor. The air rose, and we returned with good speed; though not without a single stop on the way, since our friend, Raymond, fell overboard ... on purpose.
It turned out that someone had dared to jump overboard and said that they would give him $ 500 to do it — what he did then. The crew immediately stopped the boat and desperately watched as Raymond sailed ashore, thinking that this there was a beach that we left and that our resort was right there He did not understand that he was mistaken and that our resort was in fact much farther along the beach; 30 minutes walk from the hotel. A few minutes later he called him and with all his strength convinced him to return, he did it, and after that the crew guarded him and grabbed him every time he tried to move an inch.
We were back when it was getting dark. It took time for people on the beach to organize the bees, which they first swam to us on a speedboat, and then went back to the beach when the group decided to have a beer on land.
Several people got an ant, because of the waiting time to get into the speedboat and back to the beach, and decided to jump into the ocean and swim on the beach. We drank beer, returned to the trucks and headed back to the resort, as the daylight had completely disappeared.
The real name of the person has been changed.
