A Day at the Beach

We were staying the colonial zone in Santo Domingo, which is full of history, restuarants and nightlife. Unfortunately it is not near a beach. As urban city dwellers looking for a getaway we wanted to have at least one day of relaxing in the sun during our weekend away. However, we were not interested in spending our entire vacation locked on an all-inclusive resort without seeing more of the city. Dilemma! Luckily, a resort in Boca Chica, the beach side bay area of Santo Domingo, offers a daypass option for travelers that want a day to experience the resort amenities. For $50 US on weekdays and $70 US on weekends you can have a day at the resort andthe beach. This all-inclusive option provides unlimited alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, access to the buffet and restaurants located near the beach including pizza, hamburgers, fish, and salads, and beach chairs and cabanas right along the water line. You also can take advantage of resort amenities such as the spa, aerobics classes, and pool.

 The day was perfect! We found a relaxing seat under the breezy cabanas and caught up on girl gossip and stories. We sipped on pina coladas, caipirinhas, rum punch, bahama mama’s and water throughout the day between laughing, swimming and sunning. We enjoyed the lunch buffet especially the grilled fish, rice and salad. We sat laughing too long and missed dessert but it was okay because we truly were full at that point. Food is available all day but the buffet has select hours. When it is closed you can get slices of pizza and items from the grill.

You may be saying that you would rather save your money and instead visit the public beaches in Boca Chica. There you can also have a beach chair and receive everything from a pedicure to made to order drinks. We didn’t feel like dealing with vendors selling us things every minute or having to have cash on us for drinks and food, so the resort option worked better for us but you can still get to the beach without going through the resort.

A roundtrip cab ride from the colonial zone can be anywhere from $50-80 per person. If you would like the cab driver to wait for you expect to pay a little more. A suggestion when traveling in Santo Domingo is to befriend a cab driver and get his number. Many places you will need transportation and if you use the same person they will often provide you with a discount and wait or return for you to bring you back to your hotel. We found this to be true when not only going to the beach, but going out for dinner, dancing or even to the airport. This was a safe way to travel as single women late at night because we knew the driver and he would wait for us at our destination until we were ready to leave. This cut down on dealing with shady characters or trying to negotiate in Spanish.

When traveling to Santo Domingo and staying in the Colonial Zone, I recommend that you take one day to relax at the beach. It helps you become rejuvenated for life back home and is a way to have a great memory of your getaway.

Oasis Hamaca Resort
www.oasishamaca.com

Arriba Aruba

 Hotel: Renaissance Marina (a Marriott property)

Aruba is a great place to travel to in the Carribbean because it has beautiful weather, lovely places to visit, clear blue water, and a great mixture of cultures, so you can experience many different things in just a few days. The island is about 20 miles away from Venezuela so there are many people who have moved to Aruba from South America so that latin flare is definitely felt all around. The language, called Papiamento, is a mixture of Dutch, Spanish, English, Portuguese, and African. Most of the hotels are located in the capital, Oranjastaad, which is where we stayed.
 
Our hotel was nice because it was in the middle of the city within walking distance to most of the nightclubs, restuarants, and shopping. The Renaissance mall is actually in our hotel and that is where all of the high end stores are located, such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Ferragamo, Carolina Herrera, Ralph Lauren, etc…
 
The hotel lobby was asthetically pleasing, as was the bar. The pool is rather small, probably because most people go to the private island that the Renaissance owns. Boats come into the hotel lobby every 15-20 minutes to pick guests up and take them over to the private island, which is really nice. It is about a 15 minute ride to the island, and the ride is enjoyable for the most part unless the water is choppy and you get splashed, which happened to a few people…
 
The private island is only for Renaissance Marina and Ocean Suite guests which is nice. The island has a beach that is for adults only and another for families. The family friendly beach is called “Iguana Beach” because there are amazing iguanas of all sizes living on the island. They are very docile creatures and are used to seeing and interacting with the people who come to the island every day. The other side of the island which has the adult only beach, called “Flamingo Beach”, has a beautiful flock of flamingoes that just hang out on the beach…
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