Cayo Levantado - an island paradise for two
Why Dominican Republic? I wanted to visit the Caribbean in the version of a beach vacation. I myself once spent 9 months at work in Martinique and Guadeloupe (even story is on TurPravda) and traveled them far and wide. But the wife was not there. In addition, once my daughter was sent on a honeymoon to the Dominican Republic, and she was simply delighted. The only place in the Caribbean where you can fly for a reasonable price is the Dominican Republic. Why only now? The children have grown up.
The hotel was chosen from those proposed by the travel agency. "On the advice of friends" was considered only 5 stars. As a result, I consider the advice correct: a lower level will not justify the hardships of the flight. We saw an opportunity to live on a small island, got interested, looked at photos / reviews, and settled on Luxury Bahia Principe Cayo Levantado.
The Levantado Island itself is an attraction and a place to visit excursions ("Pirate Island", "Baccardi Beach" - according to the advertisements of local travel agencies). A third of the island is a public area with a beach, the rest is only for hotel guests.
I try to avoid cliches and exaggerations, but I have to admit that a piece of paradise (island) is a perfectly adequate description of Levantado Island, especially if you live on it!!!
The hotel is located as if on the territory of a botanical garden (I'm only from the Singapore Botanical Gardens, if so)))), the elevation changes (the residential area is on a hill) add to the picturesqueness. Everything is fantastically beautiful and diverse. In a small area there are also sandy beaches with (almost) white sand, palm and mangrove groves, just a tropical (almost) forest, cliffs and islets. The purest water, the ability to swim for a long time and the absence of barriers (buoys) on the public beach (hereinafter referred to as "our beach").
I'll write about what we did/used.
We got up very early and met the dawn (about 07.00) on the shore (in different places). Then we had breakfast and immediately (things were already taken with us) went to the beach. We liked the public beach more, we mostly went to it. The first 30-60 minutes were completely alone on the beach. . .
. . . then a few hotel guests began to appear. By 10.20 am (at that time the first boats with sightseers were arriving) there were no more than 20 people. From 15.00 to 16.00 sightseers massively left "our" beach.
On a weekday, 10-20% of sun loungers were occupied, on weekends 20-40% (locals come). Only one day was an exception - a cruise ship came to Samana Bay and 100% of the sun loungers were occupied. But even this day I would not call pandemonium. Sun loungers are mostly free - those made of ribbons - 90% of them.
From solid matter, in the Mangrove region - for money (?! ).
From 11-12 to 16 we had a siesta/lunch. We did not try to joke with the midday tropical sun. Once stuck up to 13 and immediately slightly burnt. Yes, they used sunscreen 50+, the first days on the whole body, until the end - on the face, shoulders, neck.
From 4 p. m. to sunset (18 p. m. ) we were again on the beach, in the end we were usually alone again. It was very cool!
Locals… Those who make money on tourists (people in hotel uniforms, sellers of goods and services) are very smiling, friendly and benevolent. The rest are just like everywhere else.
We got our own history of relationships. It started with a purchase in a shop on our beach. Get to know the seller. A couple of days later he saw us with masks and fins and offered snorkeling on a boat, in the vicinity of the island, we agreed. Then the idea arose to try crabs and lobsters, turned to him. Everything was great, with jokes, jokes, we understood that we were paying him a lot, but our brains were relaxed, in rest mode. Everything went to the fact that our guide will receive advertising on the Internet. BUT after the crabs, he suddenly began to demand more money, and a lot. Apparently, easy money completely undermined his roof. He was politely but urgently sent to the garden. The next day, he clearly realized his mistake, curled around us with apologies, even brought two coconuts. We didn’t eat coconuts, we coldly accepted the apology, we didn’t have anything to do with him and didn’t talk to him. To be honest, it was very unpleasant, the sediment remained. And this despite the fact that people in Samana are considered the best in the Dominican Republic.
Excursions were not taken, because my Caribbean experience says that the island of Levantado has all the Caribbean natural beauties, except for a waterfall and a volcano.
Snorkeling from island beaches is possible, but weak. We took a motorboat with a visit to two places for three hours. It was much more fun there. First, above the sunken ship - about 500 m from our beach. The ship, by the way, is rather big, and there are really a lot of fish on it, however, a little creepy. It turned out that the boat did not have the means to get out of the water comfortably. Not all team members were in good physical shape ((((((. Some people had to be dragged into the boat together)))). hours.
After that, we moved to Cayo La Farola - an island even smaller than Levantado, on the other side of it. I dived from the rocky side of the island - very cool. The bottom drops quite sharply there and you can watch from 5-9 m down like in a balloon, and there is something to see under the rocks (as for the Caribbean, this is not Charm for you after all) - different schools of fish, corals. There was no one on the island itself at that moment, although there is infrastructure for tourists in the form of a ring path and an observation platform. We took a walk, then I still dived along the rocks (the boatman took me). At that time, some people were swimming and snorkeling in the area of entry to the island, on a 10-meter sandy beach.
At the same time, we swam around Levantado, looked around from the sea - no less beautiful than from the shore!
In general, we consider the tour to be creditable!
There was also an extreme excursion to the crabs, to the local home. The hotel boat is free for hotel guests. We looked at how people live in the Dominican Republic. We were in a house along the road, such as we had seen enough on the way to Samana from La Romana and back. The rooms are tiny. There are no doors, not even to the bathroom. There are problems with electricity (batteries were seen in the kitchen). Water is started (by a pump? ) only as it is consumed, apparently to save electricity. In general, everything is rather modest. On the way from the pier to the house (300 meters) we watched scenes from the evening local life - they live happily, they know how to relax here!
We were bought coconuts, pineapples (in the form of pino colada) and crab (one more time) on the public beach itself. Coconuts are good, moderately ripe, that is, the milk is tasty, with a nutty flavor, there is a jelly-like pulp. Even more ripe ones come across - the milk is already with a taste of kvass (mash), and the pulp is already denser, there is a lot of it and it is very tasty (not dry). Before that, in various tropical places, I came across coconuts up to $ 1 price and very green, with grass-flavored milk, and I didn’t like them at all. This is where I changed my mind. True, the price of a coconut on the island is $5. So much for a pineapple. There are 2 options on the beach. The first is in a large bar on the beach itself: all the pulp is crushed, remains in the fruit, some coconut milk (from a container), rum and ice are added. The second option is in numerous bars on the territory where visiting tourists are fed: only half of the pulp remains, water, milk and rum are added as much as you want. For the first time, I foolishly bubbled a lot of rum and regretted it. In general, we settled on the first option.
I really liked the crabs. It makes sense to order only a very large one, if less, then there is nothing to eat in it. We ate crab in the food court in a relaxed atmosphere. I have no idea how to eat it in a restaurant. We also tried lobsters - so-so, if just boiled, then the meat is harsh.
On the way back to the airport, we bought pineapples home for $1 already, from a car right by the road. Taste... you can’t buy such juicy, sweet and fragrant ones from us.
Of the living creatures, perhaps the main stars were pelicans. They are large, there are quite a few of them, they fly and hunt very close to people, especially in the morning and evening. At the bottom there are starfish, large ones. We did not torture them for the sake of the photo. And on the beach live crabs, small and very cautious. We played with them - we hunted down, stalked, caught, and then let them go. A very exciting activity on vacation! ))))))).
Yes, there is a chic shop with Dominican souvenirs at La Romana Airport, prices are cheaper than on the island, and the quality is an order of magnitude higher. We were normally so stingy there))).
The main disadvantage of the Dominican Republic is a difficult flight on a charter (11-12 hours). "Who was, he will not forget"))))).
The hotel itself is written separately
https://www.turpravda.ua/do/samana/Luxury_Bahia_Principe_Cayo_Levantado-h18480-r464678 .html
