Day 4, Samana, Dominican Republic,January 19, 2025

We awoke to a beautiful sunny day. After breakfast we toured the resort and realized that we were just three rooms from the very end. No wonder it was the quiet section. I took a picture of a plant that was attached to a wall. We were surprised to see that the skinny root made it’s was up the wall to become this large plant with very large leaves. The gardens throughout our resort are so lush. Our room overlooks the gardens and the hot tub area. 

We made our way to the pool and slathered on sunscreen. The ocean was a little too rough for swimming today. The lifeguards were telling people not to go in. After a while we moved to the cabana area  overlooking the ocean and away from the music. The restaurant for lunch was steps away then it was snooze time. After a walk on the beach, it was shower, a stop at the lobby bar before our second a la carte dinner. It was scrumptious. We then settled on the patio and played a game of scrabble while listening to the entertainment. Of course, Jill won again.  Tomorrow I might get lucky.

I’m 

Day 3, Samana, Dominican Republic, January 18, 2025

The king bed is luxurious, we are sleeping so well - great pillows. The buffet breakfast is absolutely delicious and the seating is alfresco. The tables are set with white table cloths and white cloth napkins, all you would ever want to start your day. 

The daily temperature has been 25/26 with low humidity, perfect. A storm came in today so we played scrabble on our balcony. Jill won again. After our buffet lunch we headed for the pool loungers. Jill fell in love with frozen margaritas and the two of us have both enjoyed the mojitos. She couldn’t stop laughing when a fly made its home in my hair. Could have been the rum.

We caught some sun then walked for a while on the beach. The waves were stormy, a little too rough for a swim, although possible. Our room is in the quiet wing, as requested which is so appreciated, especially for our pre-dinner snooze. Tonight we went to one of the a la carte restaurants - 2 are included in our package. Beautiful seating overlooking the pool, but sadly we weren’t impressed with the food, although the wine was good :)  Jill took a picture of me when she suggested, with tongue in cheek, that we go to the buffet after we leave the restaurant. We headed for the lobby bar and chatted with our new friends, Frank and Joel from Toronto. We sat outside for a bit then called it a night. It was a lovely day of heavy heavy rain then clearing, then more rain. It doesn’t matter to us, it is the rhythm of the weather down here. We took advantage of  between deluges.

Day 2, Samana, Dominican Republic, January 17, 2025

We slept for six hours and woke up hungry. After marvelling at the views from our room, we headed down to the buffet breakfast. It was more than anyone would want. The coffee is exceptional as is the friendly service. Time to check out the resort - it is so much more than we expected after reading some of the online reviews. The beach is a tropical dream. We stopped by the beach bar for a beer as we were definitely short on fluids after our travel ordeal. We needed a snooze to catch up on the sleep we missed and then on to the beach for a swim. The water is a beautiful temperature and felt so good to be in salt water again. A snooze on the beach, a mojito at the bar, a shower, and we were ready for the dinner buffet, but not before a sparkling wine out on one of the numerous comfortable seating areas throughout this multilevel resort. We were impressed. 

Dinner was exceptional, especially in contrast to what was on offer for dinner in Cuba. We dined alfresco with attentive service. What a treat.

Day 1, Samana, Dominican Republic, January 16, 2025

Our journey began at 8am when we turned the key to our place and took Red Car to the airport. Our flight was to take four hours with a 12:30 pm departure. We breezed through security in minutes due to the vastly improved logistics. We were happy to have made a couple of wraps to tide us over before the flight. Our plane left the gate and then the captain said we have a towing issue and need to go back to the gate for a quick repair which wasn’t quick. Two hours later we were off after needing to be de iced which coloured the wing green. 

An hour into our flight, there was a medical emergency. The crew were attending to the issue. First with thick binders, and then with a defibrillator. The plane was losing altitude so we suspected that it was being diverted and yes it was, to Washington, DC. We landed heavy as we were full of fuel. Dozens of emergency vehicles followed the plan to a gate. We found out that they were worried our unscheduled arrival could have been a terrorist act prior to Trump’s inauguration. The male passenger was removed from the plane using a fabric stretcher that was pulled down the incredibly narrow aisle of our Air Canada Rouge aircraft. He didn’t look good - I don’t know if  he survived. Because we landed heavy, the ground crew had to make sure there was no damage upon landing. Then we sat there for three long hours while Customs filled out the paperwork necessary for unscheduled landings in the U.S. 

When we arrived after nine hours, we endured the lineups getting through immigration and customs just to get into a packed van for over an hour to get to our resort. We were tired and hungry. After checking in and getting our high tech wrist bands (which opened the door to our room with a pass on the reader) we were in! We were grateful our resort had set out a cold snack tray in our room with cold beer in the mini bar. We got to sleep by 2am their time, which is one hour ahead. Our room is huge with a king bed. We have a large balcony overlooking the sea. We went to bed happy to be here and slept soundly.