Bartek & Magda

It was time for a serious break from reality, so we decided to go to a beach and do nothing for a week! We had two choices. Either go travelling to some beautiful hot country, sight-see and soak in the culture, but that would require a lot of energy which we simply didn’t possess anymore. Or find an all inclusive resort and just turn off and enjoy the beach, water and hot weather. And that’s just what we did after finding the amazing Iberostar Hacienda Dominicus resort in the Dominican Republic. The resort sits on the southern part of the island facing the Caribbean Sea so the water was always the perfect temperature and generally cowabunga. The photos online of the hotel really don’t do it justice but we trusted ridiculous number of positive reviews we found on Trip Advisor, and boy were people right. The people, the service, the lush tropical gardens, the layout, the food, the white powder beach were all incredible. We honestly clued out of time and days of the week and just tanned, snorkeled, swam in the warm sea and enjoyed countless Pina Coladas and Mamajuana (which, if you haven’t had the pleasure to try it yet, is the local Dominican drink made from some crazy roots and funky leaves). We saw some lucky photographer shoot a wedding on the beach one day at sunset and we would love to come back and do the same one day. Any takers? ;) I leave you with a few photos we shot of some of the details from the resort, our Klementine and other things. We hope you like! And we can’t wait to go back…

First let me show you some of the gorgeous things they had in the gardens…

 

These bananas grew in the courtyard of our building and when they ripened, they were cut down and served for breakfast at the buffet!

 

 

 

 

 

The building on the left was one of the restaurants:

 

 

This was the lonely flamingo in the pond. What fascinatingly shaped creatures, check out the way the beak opens!

 

 

Our building!

 

 

The lobby area. For you photographers, I shot this with a 50mm lens @ f16, iso50 exposed for 16seconds, which would explain why anything moving looks ghostly :)

 

 

The buffet had these wicked chimney intakes on the left leading up to a jumbo chimney! And did I mention the staff was super awesome?

 

 

 

Carlos! Our ultra-friendly waiter

 

 

The main landmark of the hotel was this lighthouse which was right on the beach and conveniently had a bar at the bottom.

 

 

 

And here are some photos from the beach…

 

 

Klementine really didn’t mind the salty water getting in her eyes or mouth, she was too pre-occupied with catching the waves. I think I may have a surfer brewing.

 

 

She later found an adorable same-aged girl with whom she played with all the time, it was adorable.

 

 

 

 

I took the Catamaran out pretty much every day which was so much fun. I wish I could continue doing that but the St.Lawrence river here in Montreal is just a tad frozen right now. Oh, and I don’t have a Catamaran.

 

 

Pelicans. And a plane.

 

 

We took our little underwater camera too (doesn’t compare to our real gear but still cool!)

 

 

 

We took a little trip to the nearby town of La Romana and I snapped a few shots of some interesting textures and stuff:

 

 

 

 

 

I leave you with a couple photos I took from the plane

 

 

 

And finally, I don’t usually like sunset photos but this one I like. Thanks for visiting, we appreciate it! :)