Sitting at PUJ for the trip home now. Overall, we had a pretty nice trip. The best thing we did was take an excursion to Saona Island. Easily the prettiest beach I’ve ever seen. Portions of Pirates of the Caribbean and Survivor were apparently filmed there.
Worst thing we did was a deep sea fishing charter. The boat was terrible, and the seas were extremely choppy. A lot of the rails were loose, and the ladder was only secure on one side, so when the boat was moving violently, you’d go to grab a rail and it would just come with you. Incredibly dangerous. When we got back, I talked to the guy that booked it for us. He said that all the good boats were refusing to go out because it was too rough, so he booked us on what he could get. Thanks a pant load....
As far as covid, it was no big deal. We wore masks when we went shopping and in the airport. Other than that, no real impact. Things did shut down around 10pm or so, but we weren’t impacted.
For those coming to Punta Cana soon, the beaches and water are loaded with seaweed. Some of the hotels clear their beaches, but it comes right back, but there’s not much they can do to clean the water. The beaches in Bayahibe and Saona were clear though, since that’s the Caribbean side.
Last thing- as we were starting to pack up yesterday, my wife realized her passport was gone. We searched everywhere, called around, checked the beach, etc. we were resigned to putting out daughter in the flight home alone, and then taking the 3 hour trip to the Capital to handle things at the US Embassy. We decided to search one more time before reporting it stolen. While we were searching, I came across the card of one of the taxi drivers we used. I hit him up on What’s App, and sure enough, it had fallen between the seats in his cab. We had him pick us up and take us to the airport today, and I gave him about $100 extra as a thank you. He saved our asses.