So 2016 was a year where we didn’t decide until the last minute to go away.  The Catalonia Bavaro was available for a really good price and having been to a Catalonia before we decided to book it.

This resort by far had more gardens, vegetation and more natural beauty then any place we had ever been to.  It was stunning.

The rooms were fantastic.  The resort had hot water issues while we were there, some people went as long as 6 days without water, but we aren’t the type of people that would let that ruin our vacation.  It was a bit annoying the resort wasn’t giving any information or once it was fixed didn’t even do so much as a ‘thanks for your patience’ note.  However, about a month ago we each received a compensation payment from our travel provider for the inconvenience.  We had such a good trip we didn’t bother to make a big deal of it, so the cheque was a bonus.  Vacation is about not sweating the small stuff.  We never do.

My husbands birthday was while we were there.  Our maid did a great job at putting something together for him!

The resort had all kinds on special places.  From having your feet cleaned by fish to love locks and the sand bar that took you to natural ocean pools, it was fantastic.

Our one complaint about this resort was the timeshare people.  No matter what we did they were relentless.  It is the one thing that will stop us from ever returning here and likely Punta Cana.  We have read that they are everywhere.  It is a shame.  This resort was so beautiful and Bavaro Beach is amazing, but there is no way we will ever go through that again.  My husband lost it completely with them a few times.  Didn’t matter, they were right back at us the next day.  My husband had dreams about the whole thing it was that bad.

Bavaro Beach is incredible, you can walk forever.  We did a 40.00 snorkel and natural ocean pool visit right from our beach it was awesome.

Part of the fun of Punta Cana is the airport.  It has changed a lot of the years but the open air concept is unique among the places we have been. It is a bit of a nightmare to navigate security and customs, but once you’re through that it is pretty cool.

We met so many people on this trip.  It was great but we long to return to Mexico.

Bavaro Beach is probably the best beach of any place we have been to but the sellers and timeshare people really are a turn off.  I don’t see that we will return to Punta Cana unless it is all we can get.

Our number one choice would be the Jewel resorts in Jamaica or something close to Puerto Morelos or  Playa Maroma in Mexico.  Akumal would be spectacular but it isn’t likely we will find something there.

Our plan for this summer is to tour our home province with maybe a side trip to Newfoundland.  Stay tuned for that!