We left Mirabel Friday evening and landed in Punta Cana before midnight (with one stopover in Puerta Plata on the way down). A small van picked us up from the airport and brought us to our resort... an hour away!!! We rode with one other couple that was dropped off at a different resort than us half-way into our trip... and basically had a personal chauffeur to the resort from there on!! Let me just say this... the resort is indeed *secluded* ... and if you thought our Quebec roads are bad, they're WONDERFUL compared to the treacherous and partly unpaved "highway" we drove on. I don't think our driver dropped below 110km/h during the drive (keep in mind that roads in similar conditions over here (like in the Laurentians) would not have us driving more than 30-40km/h on them!)

We arrived at the resort at night and didn't fully realize the beauty of the place until we woke up the next morning! It was **spectacular**!! The food was surprisingly good for the Dominican Republic, the rooms were impeccably clean and the grounds and pool was very very well kept. During our morning walks around the resort, we'd usually see the workers climb up the coconut trees and take down some of the fruit (wouldn't want them falling and knocking down any passerby's!), others would be tending to the plants, animals and the pools.

Animals... boy oh boy! There were beautiful flamingos, peacocks, ducks and other huge birds in and around the resort. The central isle from the main building to the beach had a pond in in leading all the way down to the pool. Fish, turtles and frogs made themselves at home here and, after brunch in the morning, people would often throw bits of bread into the water and watch the fish scramble for the food! (Actually, I learned that those turtles have a fondness for breakfast sausages!!)

The nightly entertainment was also much better than we'd expected! The entertainment team is truly exceptional, where they get their loads of energy from, I haven't got a clue! They're working from morning until late night doing everything from poolside entertainment, games animation and the main evening show.

Enough about that though, wouldn't want to bore anyone to death with a lengthy detailed description of the trip!

We decided to place a few pictures up online to show you a little bit of the resort and to share some of our fond memories of the trip. Each picture is rather small, but just click on it to get a larger view...