#82 Altos de Chavon & Catalina Island, Dominican Republic

On Friday February 8, the boys and I spent the day touring the sites around where we were staying in the Dominican Republic. We scheduled the tour with our rep, Hector. It was a big day, and I'm excited to tell you about it, and show a couple of pics!

First we went to the Chavon River to ride an amphibious vehicle. The bus ride only took about 15 minutes or so from our hotel, but we stopped at a couple of other resorts to pick up other tourists. We boarded the amphibious, rode on the land about a minute and got in the river. The crew immediately began serving soft drinks and wriggling around to the meringue beat. Los Dominicanos really love their meringue! More on that in a minute...

There is a jungle along the banks of the river. MT learned the previous day that films like "Rambo" and "Apocalypse Now" had been filmed there. The main reason we were on the boat was to get a look at the town of Altos de Chavon, a reproduction of a 15th century European village. The town was built at the top of a hill by a wealthy man, Charlie Gordon, as a gift for his daughter.

When we got to the point in the river where we saw the town, the boat turned around and the dancing began. A really cute girl Dominican girl grabbed MT and started dancing with him. T and I were cracking up because the girl was totally wriggling her booty, and MT just looked like his hips were locked. There was no wriggle there, but he did have a big smile on his face!

When we got back to the shore, we got back on the bus and actually went over to Altos de Chavon. It is now an artist colony and it's really pretty up there. We only had about 40 minutes or so to wander around, buy postcards and water, etc., but it was enough to make us appreciate how interesting it was.

Our next stop was the public beach in La Romana. See, we were going out to Catalina Island, so we had to get on a boat. The thing is, there is no dock at the public beach. Instead, our speed boats were anchored at the beach and we had to climb aboard. I'm guessing that usually it's not a problem, but the sea was a little rough that day, so the boats were really rocking and it was kind of hard to climb aboard. There were strong guys there to help everyone up, but it was still hard and a little scary! I even lost my flip flop when I tried to get on. Happily, the guy was able to reach down and pick it up when it washed back up on the rocky beach. Oh yeah. Did I mention it was rocky, too?

So we get aboard and everyone puts on life jackets. The crew tells T he should go to the back of the boat, so I follow him so that we can hold on together. (That's me waving in the corner before we got going very fast.) Oh my God! It was so bumpy and scary and wet and loud! Fortunately, it didn't take too long to get to Catalina. Again, they pulled the boat up on the beach so we could easily get out. I was so happy to be back on land!

Catalina Island is beautiful. No one lives there, but there is a Dominican Naval Base on one end of the island. We got lounge chairs, drinks, and lunch. There were also restrooms and little shops. We stayed there for two or three hours, I guess. The beach was a little rocky. There was a small coral reef that was easy for the snorkelers to swim to, and MT said it was really neat. T and I stayed on the shore and played in the water. It was a nice day and we enjoyed our time there! Way too soon, it was time to climb back aboard the speed boat and head back to La Romana.

While we were on the island, MT befriended a British family that had a little boy and two daughters, along with the mom and dad. In the speed boat on the way back, we were sitting by this family. The younger daughter, probably 14 or so, just got drenched! Every time that boat hit a wave, the water would come right over the side of the boat and soak this poor girl. I was sitting right next to her and I got a little wet, but nothing like her!

Once again, the dismount at the beach in La Romana was a little scary, but we all did fine. Little kids around T's age were waiting on the beach with fresh water to pour onto our feet to clean off the sand, for a price of course.

The last stop was at a store in La Romana. I didn't even go in because I was pretty tired after all the excitement of the speed boat and just from being out in the hot hot Caribbean sun.

In all, it was a fun day and we enjoyed seeing those sites.
Notes about pics: The pic at the top is Catalina Island beach. The next one is a view of the Chavon River from the amphibious vehicle. Next is MT dancing with the cute Dominican girl who was on the crew. The next pic is the church in Altos de Chavon. In the next photo, I'm in the back left corner, waving happily before I tucked and covered, clutching my son's hand in fear of possible sea-sickness! The last two pics are of Catalina Island beach. In the bottom pic, that's T contemplating the waves.