Our Holiday in the Dominican Republic - Day 2

Day 2 started (eventually, after waking up a lot earlier) at around 7AM local time. We decided to get some breakfast at the same buffet we were at the night before, and then head down to the beach. by the time we got out of the room it was around 7:30AM, and we got to the buffet about 5 minutes later. 

It was quiet in the buffet when we arrived, but again there was loads of food on offer, from pancakes, to cereals, different breads, croissants, and pain-au-chocolate. There was fruit, cold meats, sausages, salami, you name it, pretty much it was there. I didn't really enjoy my choice of breakfast, but that was my fault more than the resorts. The coffee was served in what could only be described as a soup bowl. 

After breakfast, we went down to the beach to find a some reclining chairs. Most of the shaded chairs and beds (yes, they have double beds out on the sand) already had towels on them claiming them, even though the people who claimed them were definitely not about. Eventually we found some recliners not claimed and moved them into the shade from a palm tree.

I went to get a couple of drinks and came back with 2 cocktails. I'm not sure what they were called, but they were Rum based. Nóirín didn't like it much so I ended up drinking both of them. This was still around 9AM local time. We stayed on the beach for most of the morning. There was waitress service, so we (I) ended up with a few more cocktails during the morning. 

Around 12:30PM, I decided to go for a swim. Once again the water was beautiful, and not as rough today as it had been on day 1. I stayed in the water for about 10 minutes. When I got back to the chairs, we decided to go in for a bit. The heat and change in times had gotten to Nóirín and she was feeling really tired. We went to the main reception to wait there as we had an appointment with the local Thomson rep at 1:30PM. 

I went back to the room to get changed, and managed to lock both keys in the room. So I went to reception to get a replacement key. They gave me a one time use key, which after walking across to the room, discovered it didn't work and had to go back. She had accidentally coded the key to another room. Eventually I got a key that worked, and went back to get the keys I had locked in the room.

We met with the Thomson rep, a little after 1:30PM as we were waiting in a different place to her. I went to ask the receptionists if they had seen her, and they told me that I needed to be in the Palace reception area, and to wait outside for a lift. About 30 seconds after, I saw the rep approaching the reception desk, as she was looking for us.

We were told about all the restaurants on site. 2 of the restaurants are exclusively for the use of guests in Royal Suites Turquesa, the others only guests in Royal Suites are allowed to book, so even if there is a queue of people waiting to get it, we can walk to the front of the queue, so long as we have booked. We have a butler, who will do anything for us, including run the jacuzzi bath for us to be ready when we get back to the room, booking restaurants, and arranging buggies to take us anywhere on the resort.

She told us about the tours. We decided before hand that we wanted to do the catamaran sailing across to Saona Island. She told us it would have to be the weekend of 6th July, as there are only 30 spaces per sailing and they only go Sunday and Monday. We booked up for next Sunday ( 6th July) but she didn't have her credit card machine, so we have another appointment with her on day 3 at 1:10PM local time. We reported the problems we found with the shower and Jacuzzi and she went across to the reception desk to get someone to sort them out for us, that afternoon.

After the meeting we decided to get some lunch, and chose Chanterelle restaurant (French although you wouldn't think it from the menu). I had a burger and chips and Nóirín had gnocchi. The food was good, except the burger was slightly undercooked for my liking. I think they thought I said "Medium" instead of "Medium Well".

Next we went back to the room, so Nóirín could rest her eyes a little. Even I was feeling tired at this point, so a break from the sun for a while was very welcome. Once inside the room, we noticed Nóiríns back and arms were sunburnt (not too badly though) and the backs of my hands were a little red, along with the top of my chest, and slight burn on my belly.

The afternoon was spent by the pool near the beach, sitting in the shade for fear of making our sunburns worse. We tried to book dinner on the way in the Chinese restaurant, but was told bookings can only be made between 7AM and 1PM, so we decided just to try our luck. The poolside was nice and cool with the breeze and being in the shade, just reading and watching the world go by, with a couple of drinks. The man selling massages came round (Fernando) and offered us a 2 for 1. Not something appealing for Nóirín with a sunburnt back. He taught us the Spanish for Ireland, and we said we'd do the massages later in the holiday (which we won't).

At 6PM Nóirín said she wanted to go in the sea (!!!) so we walked across the sand to the seashore and put our things on a recliner, while we went for a dip. We got about waist deep, which is good going for Nóirín as the waves were quite high, and she was very nervous. After a few minutes she went to sit on the edge, and probably got more water in her mouth and face than she did out at waist depth. I went for a swim to cool down, and then we both returned to the room. 

On the way back, we saw 2 small lizards climbing up the side of the wall near the room. Nóirín went for a shower, while I cracked open a Budweiser and went to sit on the balcony. The first seat I sat down on was broken, with a missing bolt which made it quite dangerous. I took a photo and will show it to the butler on the way to dinner. The shower hasn't been fixed so I need to ask about that too. 

 

I've noticed my belly is really quite red now. This could be painful.

We decided we would like to try the Chinese restaurant, which is all the way over the other side of the resort. We asked our butler to arrange transport, and 5 minutes later a buggy came by to collect us. We told him we wanted to go the the Chinese restaurant and we got underway. He dropped off one other couple first at the onsite shops, then took us a little further, (stopping briefly to talk to one of the girls he knew). He stopped and pointed and said "Chinese Restaurant", We got off and walked to the place he was pointing to. No Chinese restaurant. There was an Italian and a Steakhouse, but he had taken us to the wrong place for the Chinese. We tried to go into the Steakhouse instead, but the girl at the entrance told us it was fully booked.

We then decided we would just head towards where the Chinese restaurant was to see if we could get a meal down there. There are about 4 or 5 restaurants close together, so we hoped we would be lucky. We walked back to the reception of Punta Cana resort, which was only 100 yards away, and we asked for transport to the Chinese restaurant.

While we were waiting, we were approached by a happy guy named Eciel. He was very friendly, asking us where we were from and making jokes with us. He asked us if we had claimed our free gift yet, which we hadn't. We read beforehand that there was a sales pitch there, and this is what Eciel was trying to sign us up for. We signed up for 7:45 on Monday morning, for breakfast and a viewing of all the rooms. They want you to book directly with them for future holidays. We won't be doing that, but I do want to see the other rooms, to see if we got our moneys worth. Eciel walked us most of the way to the restaurants. It turns out he is Mexican, and he lived in Edmonton in Canada for a while. He said the coldest it ever gets in the Dominican Republic is 8 degrees, but cold is considered 12 degrees.

After waiting in a queue at what we thought was the Chinese restaurant for a while, we decided to try one of the other restaurants. The nearest one had no queue, so we thought we'd try that. The girl on the reception desk said "I have a table inside, but the air conditioning isn't working, and its HOT!". We asked if we could see how hot, and we decided it wasn't that bad and accepted the table. When we were given the menus, it turns out we were in the Chinese restaurant!

I had a satay chicken type starter and Nóirín had a tandorri chicken skewer (turns out it was Chinese and Indian cuisine). I had sweet and sour pork medallions for main and Nóirín had Kadhai Chicken (what ever that was). The food was OK, Nóiríns was a little salty.

We got back to the room at about 9:30. Nóirín went to lay on the bed with her Kindle to cool down. I followed about 5 minutes later. I noticed she wasn't changing pages. She was already asleep! It didn't take me long to follow suit.

That was the end of day 2.