Kaleidoscope Travel & Cruise

Article Published: July 5th, 2007

On April 7th my daughter Alicia and I headed off to Puerto Plata for a mother/daughter week of sun and relaxation. We spend a week at the Occidental Grand Puerto Plata directly on Playa Dorada beach. This wonderful 4 star all-inclusive resort has 7 restaurants, 2 pools, 4 bars, windsurfing, kayaking, water polo, tennis courts, horse-back riding, pool volleyball and incredible nightly entertainment. We choose 3 different excursion of the area. Our first was the Outback Safari – we left the hotel and headed out into the country side for a day of adventure with stops at a Dominican home, a local school, lunch stop with Dominican entertainment, a river cruise and a stop at the beach for boogie boarding. Our next excursion was Paradise Island, we left the hotel at 6:00am and headed for El Castillo where we boarded a speed boat to take us to Paradise Island. On our way we were fortunate to have wild dolphins playing in the wake of the boat. Once we arrived at the island we spent an hour on a snorkeling tour – viewing amazing coral and colorful fish, after spending time on the island we again boarded the speed boat and toured through the lush green mangroves of the National Park on our way to lunch at a small fishing village. Our third tour was the Puerto Plata City tour. Our first stop was the Brugal Rum factory, where we toured the factory and sampled their product. Then it was off to the San Felipe Fortress, the Amber museum, and the local market. It was a wonderful vacation in the Dominican Republic.

Entry Filed under: Dominican Republic