In the fall of 2017, we took our very first and likely last Caribbean cruise. We are the kind of people who have to try everything once, even if we know it isn’t exactly our cup of tea. Our cruise was the classic Caribbean booze cruise experience. I’m still glad that we went, but I can’t say that I’m dying to repeat it.
This trip was my second visit to the Dominican Republic, the first being a week long medical mission to the Haitian border. Obviously, this trip was leisure to the max, rather than long days working in the heat as before.
We sailed from Fort Lauderdale to the Dominican Republic on day one. Due to hurricanes, we were rerouted from Turks and Caicos to the Dominican Republic a day early. Our first stop was Amber Cove. We spent the day stand up paddle boarding and kayaking.
The second stop in the Dominican Republic was La Romana, which was incredible. We opted for a dune buggy excursion through the sugar cane fields. Just imagine, twenty dune buggies racing through the fields and jungle overgrowth of the Dominican countryside, slowing only for massive puddles of mud that quickly douse every rider. We nearly flooded the engine with mud, leaving our poor buggy engine sputtering for the last 15 minutes of the ride. We were covered head to toe with mud. We stopped for an educational break where we learned how sugar cane is grown and harvested, fueled by munching on pure sugar cane. The whole day was by far the best experience of the entire cruise.
After a mere 48 hours in the Dominican Republic, it was time to set sail again. This time, to Aruba!