Wanderlust: Dominican Republic 2017 • The Spirited Traveler

I’m fresh off this year’s birthday trip to the Dominican Republic!! This marks my very first time visiting the Caribbean region. And I had wonderful time as I accomplished my top 3 trip goals:

relax
Relax
RELAX

🙂 After running all around and up & down as much of Paris as I could last year, I promised myself a more laid-back birthday trip this time. And I delivered! I enjoyed hours upon hours relaxing on the beach, rum tours, snorkeling, zip lining, & just exploring the area we stayed in, enjoying the sun. Some “enjoyed” the sun more than others *cough* sun burn *cough*, but I’ll not bring that up-LOL.

Top 5 highlights from the Dominican Republic:

1. Beach Bum– The best part of this trip was being a beach bum!! I spent hours every day doing nothing but sitting on the beach, enjoying the view & weather, listening to the sounds of the ocean, and enjoying our beverages. I was only a 2 min walk to the beach from my lodgings, which means only a 1 min walk to the Canoa Beach Bar. Yes, beach and a bar within a 2 min walk. The food was so good & fresh, we never had a bad meal. And the beverages…. I can’t say enough about the taste & quality of the drinks and the service. They even offer beach service, so you lounge on the beach and really be a bum. You just can’t beat that. I was there every day. 🙂 The staff (day & night) knew and greeted me (like an episode of Cheers) whenever I stopped by.

2. Snorkeling– I went snorkeling for the very first time! This was the #1 experience I wanted to have during this trip & I’m happy I was able to accomplish it as a birthday gift! The Snorkeling cruise also included time in a natural pool. It was beautiful. Check out my snorkeling recap here for video of the experience. Can’t wait to visit additional islands and do it again.

3. Pirate Factory Rum Tour– I couldn’t go to the DR and NOT have rum! I’ve never been a rum fan, but I am now. When looking for a rum tour close to me, I discovered Pirate Factory Rum and knew instantly that I had to visit. Not only do they use 300 year old pirate recipes to craft their rums, but each bottle is a legit, hand painted work of art. I tasted all 8 flavors of their rum. My favs were the coconut milk, chinola (passion fruit), and their Mamajuana. They also include a tour of the Taino cave on site. I had no idea the island is basically connected by a series of tunnels. Our guide was passionate and knowledgable about the history of the island, the impact of Columbus, and of course, rum! I highly recommend this tour.

4. Zip lining– This was my 3rd time zip lining, but first time zip lining in the mountains! It was tiring, but beautiful. I took along my GoPro and got some great video of the experience. A dedicated post on this adventure, complete with video, can be found here.

5. The Night Life– Punta Cana is gorgeous and full of fun, exciting things to do. Club Oro comes highly recommended, both by locals and the internet, as THE place to check out. So of course, it was one the list to check out. We packed our hottest “On the Town” outfits, determined to hit up a different hot spot each night. We were ready, I tell you! Then we promptly fell asleep each night without going anywhere but dream land. 😀 I promise, this is the funniest memory for me from this trip. We wore ourselves out, apparently, with chilling on the beach and beverages in between our excursions. Nothing felt better than taking a shower after a day in the sun and sand, then feeling the AC hit you. Man, we were out! So ironic that we were determined to not tire ourselves out like we did in Paris, that the time we spent relaxing on the beach sapped our energy just as well. We did manage to pull ourselves together to enjoy a wonderful dinner on the beach at Jellyfish, however.