Там за Океаном или Большая охота на крабов Beyond the Ocean or the Great Crab Hunt

"Over the Ocean, or the Great Crab Hunt"
First, let me explain where exactly and why we went. My dream was to see the Ocean. And touch (I'm a kinesthetic! ). Cuba immediately came to mind - snow-white sand, palm trees and the remnants of socialism, which I want to look at least with an eye. My husband, unlike me, is a realist and it turned out to be difficult for him to immediately decide on Cuba. I started the preparatory process in early May... But it was also fraught with delay (strike iron... ). On one of the rainy May Saturdays, when we so wanted the sun, we sat together on the Internet and "accidentally" looked at the Capital Tour website - what is there in Cuba? ))) And my boyfriend disappeared! For the sake of order, he flirted: what about the children? Maybe better to Turkey - but all together? I will not reveal all my tricks - the main thing is that the issue is resolved in principle, the rest is details. We decided to buy a tour in an agency that has already been proven more than once - right at the entrance to the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. And that's where the surprises began. A very talkative lady, Nadezhda, who has been a good friend for a long time, she won’t advise bad things, suddenly declares: “What the hell did this Cuba give up to you? ! ".
We were not ready for such a turn and were confused: "But what to do? "

- Like what? Fly to the Dominican Republic!! ! The Dominican Republic is located on the island of Haiti in the Caribbean between Cuba and Jamaica, the climate is almost equatorial, maritime. The sand is snow-white, the palm trees are royal, the service is bourgeois, the table is Swedish)))))))))))
And what was left for us? Moreover, according to the calculations of our modest budget, it turned out that, minus the cost of the flight, which is 70% of the payment, our entire holiday in five stars "Premium" comes out for two less than one and a half thousand bucks.
We flew.
"Transaero" - non-stop twelve-hour flight Domodedovo - Punta Cana. We flew along with the sun (the hourly difference is 8 hours), I generally have a difficult relationship with sleep. I always envy my husband - he knows how to sleep everywhere! During the flight I read "Master and Margarita", drew crosses in Japanese crosswords and - for the most part admired the view from the porthole. And there was something to admire: the route was incomprehensible. From Moscow - to the north-west, through Pskov, the Baltic states, Sweden, Norway, the north of Britain. It was great to see Stockholm. Norwegian fjords, snow on mountain tops, rivers. And. . . the endless Ocean.
Everything ended well. Punta Cana Airport. Before the trip, as always, I tried to collect as much information as possible, so I was ready: for the sweltering heat that hugged and wetted me immediately on the gangway, for a private airport (owned by Julio Iglesius), covered with palm leaves, for the absence of customs and border formalities. . .
We met and brought to the hotel. What surprised us, there were four couples in the minibus, all from different hotels, but the representative of the tour operator (the girl Karina from Capital Tour, God bless her and a rich fiancé! ) settled each couple personally, making sure that there were no problems. We were the last. . .
Everything was as in the pictures: multi-colored houses with numbers arranged so that no one interferes with anyone. There are flowers in the rooms, on the huge bed, in the washbasins, everywhere. The hotel was advised by Nadezhda (since we have gathered without children, take a hotel for newlyweds - relax, so relax! ). We have remembered her so many times with a kind word!

Everything was amazing - the variety of palm trees, from small, pineapple-like, to huge royal ones... the blue of the Ocean... the island is surrounded by a natural coral reef, so sharks, jellyfish and storms cannot approach the coast... snow-white sand of coral origin, in which red and bluish inclusions are guessed, cool in any heat... the absence of this very heat (average annual temperature + 28, almost without hesitation, at night + 25, water + 28)... wildlife (pelicans calmly dived next to the bathers and even allowed themselves to be touched! ), peacocks, parrots, some ducks, geese, pink flamingos live and move freely in hotels, in all the fountains there are an abundance of turtles, colorful fish (even one bit me by the finger, I thought it was a bun), what - something lizards, monitor lizards... But even this was not what struck me the most, but smiles! I have NEVER seen ANY hotel worker or local that didn't have a smile on their face, honestly! They constantly sing something, dance, and it's so cool. What else surprised me was the complete absence of Russian speech (it was then that I remembered the words of gratitude to the English teacher! ). The local language is Spanish. Hotel employees speak English, as 90% of vacationers are Americans. Our hotel ("Punta Cana Princess 5 *") is included in the "Princess" system, which allowed us to use (free of charge) the entire infrastructure of the other 4 hotels, and the guests of the remaining hotels could not use our infrastructure, I did not quite understand why, apparently different pay levels. Considering the time difference, for the first 3-4 days we woke up at 5 am and walked along the beach to other hotels. I cannot but say that the territories are huge, by Turkish standards - generally impossible. There is a ban on felling mangrove trees, and there are a lot of them, so on the territory of almost every hotel there are mangrove park areas in which living creatures live, very happy about the appearance of vacationers, brazenly begging for food! Shuttles (mini road trains with open trailers) run through the territories and between the hotels. In the evenings, we actively used them, went to various musicals and shows, which, indeed, were at the highest level! I am tempted in this matter and I can say with all responsibility!
What else is there to talk about? The sun is quite dangerous. My white-skinned husband burned immediately, despite all the precautions taken, because of which he bathed in a T-shirt for the next days, which did not interfere at all. In the morning we always swam in the Ocean, but it is absolutely impossible to do this for a long time - the sun is overhead, the shoulders burn, and there is never a calm. at first, it’s even cool to swing on significant waves, but my vestibular apparatus is not very good, so an hour of rocking is the limit! Next - the life-saving pool! Along its shores with surprisingly unimaginable geometry, on its islands there are low coconut palms, therefore there is a shadow. You can just lie on the water, you can play in one of the bays of the pool, you can sit in a bar up to your waist in water and sip Mamu Juana... I swam, read Akunin, swam again, then in the pool - then in the Ocean. Forgot about lunch. There was a sea restaurant on the beach, open 24 hours, where you could get ice cream, fruit, anything. . .
About restaurants. I was ready for an abundance of seafood and fruits. But still, I was amazed by ten types of freshly squeezed juices for breakfast, by the fact that if for some reason you don’t like any of the hundreds (I won’t be mistaken if I say so) of already prepared dishes, you can choose any source product or their combination (meat, fish, anything up to any kind of pasta) and ask to cook right in front of you according to your recipe. Think about it, it's even welcome! There were 5 restaurants on our territory (the main buffet restaurant, sea, fondue, Italian, Mexican), there were 16 more on the territories of neighboring hotels, all could be visited, but we had enough of our own. It's nice that from the second day the waiters greeted us in Russian, knew our preferences in drinks and dishes and happily fulfilled any whim.
By the way, we are people who are not used to exquisite service and are not spoiled, therefore we wore cocktails and beach towels ourselves, which surprised workers and Americans.

Imagine, this vacation was so different from the rest of my life: in pace, in the number of movements, that time changed its essence. Surprisingly, it dragged on in a completely different way - smoothly, serenely. It seems to me that a month or a year could have passed in this bliss... I did not go to any competitions and dance lessons that went on all day either on the beach, or in the pool, or in the lobby. Sometimes I looked at all this from the outside - cool. Sometimes I didn't look.
My husband and I enjoyed each other and laziness! It was worth it!
Excursions.
Many were offered. Expensive. We chose 3, paid over $800.
1. Safari to the outback. On open trucks equipped with seats and seat belts, they drove around the province. Long away. We stopped at a ranch, rode horses through a palm grove. Liked. Further - on the plantation of coffee, cocoa, sugar cane, mango orchards. Interesting. It turns out that cocoa grows right on the trunk. First, on the trunk of a tree that looks like a large apple tree, tiny white flowers appear here and there, and large brown fruits grow from them, the size of a large grapefruit, and cocoa grains live in white wet cotton wool, here!
From there - we went to a wild, not equipped bay. We swam in the Ocean (how blue it is! ).
2. Capital. What can I say, the history of one of our Annunciation Monastery in Kirzhach is 200 years older and so much more interesting than the entire history of America! Yes, they were at the monument and the lighthouse of Columbus (after all, he sailed just to Haiti, and it is there that the first city (Santa Domingo) and the first Catholic church of America are located), but it is impossible to compare with our Moscow, and even more so with St. Petersburg! What I really liked - underground lakes, through which they crossed in the dark on a ferry, stalactites and fish - impressed me!

3. Catalinita. It is an uninhabited island located at the confluence of the Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea. This is worth talking about separately, for the sake of this it was worth flying across the Ocean and parting with your beloved kids! First, we were brought by minibus to the city of millionaires - a hotel occupying about 50 hectares, with a helipad and an airport. Those who arrive on their own transport rest there, only there are the best golf courses, and each vacationer has his own electric car. Only through this hotel you can get to the city of artists - a city built in 1972 by one of the Hollywood producers for the 15th birthday of his daughter, modeled on Italian medieval cities. So, in my opinion, this is a real medieval city, with squares and houses entwined with ivy, with a church and an amphitheater, with fountains and crooked narrow streets. Now a grown-up girl has organized an art school there, where she teaches gifted teenagers with her own money and pays them a scholarship. The beauty is incredible. And given that the city is located on the steep bank of the Chavon River, where films were shot ("Rimbaud 2", "Apocalypse Now", something else... ), you can understand how beautiful it is there. We went down to the river, got into a speedboat. Sailed to the Caribbean. We stopped at a place called the Natural Pool. Absolute calm (this does not happen in the Ocean! ) The depth is chest-deep. And all over the bottom - sea stars of unprecedented beauty. We were given masks with snorkels, we swam, raised these stars, took pictures and released them. The Caribbean Sea is different - bright, bright turquoise! Because of the calm, there is no suspension of sand in it and the bottom can be seen at any depth. And fish. Colorful, curious. . .
Next is the island. It does not protrude above the water, where the depth is knee-deep. And again - marine life: mollusks (huge, lacquered, carved), rapana, hedgehogs, corals, oysters. To be honest, it’s impossible, but we brought a little bit with us.
Next is the Catalinita itself. A truly uninhabited island. Small. There we were already waiting for lunch in the form of salads, cold beer, grilled pork and huge grilled lobsters (by that time already hated! ). But that's not the point. There, 10 meters from the island, there is a reef, and a white wave with lambs exactly marks the border between the Blue Ocean and the Green Caribbean Sea. Magic! The island is rocky and we swam under the rocks in clear water among the fish and did not want to leave. But then there was another island - Saona. "Pirates of the Caribbean" were filmed there - where Johnny Depp found rum and burned a fire at night, our "Last Hero - 3" was also held there, where V. Presnyakov participated. But, to be honest, the island differs little from the shore of the hotel, and did not make much of an impression.
. . . So 2 weeks passed. I managed to miss the boys and my native landscapes, so I left with a light heart, knowing for sure that I would return. It's impossible not to go back there!
Here, in fact, is my whole story. Oh, by the way, you might want to ask: Why is there any kind of crab hunt in the title, especially the Big one?

I explain: from the first day, my beloved found on the beach under the sun loungers, made in the form of large double wooden beds with curtains, some kind of holes, or holes. And I realized: crabs live there! Apparently, the instinct of the hunter, dormant all his life, had to wake up sometime, and the favorable climate had the necessary effect. In short, I lost my husband on the second day of my stay in the Dominican Republic - he went on a hunting trail. Sometimes the hunt was successful, and then, to the enthusiastic laughter of my man, a new tenant settled in a chest of drawers, who brought the best fish from restaurants, and whose filming took up most of the video filmed on the island. Hunting did not stop at night - it acquired new colors. And the prey came across bigger! Hunting did not stop on excursions - oh, how many large crabs live on Catalinita!! ! It's good that I had enough, the sun, the ocean and serenity! And I could watch with indulgence the games of my overage child!