Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

I’m back today with a bit more on the cruise I took in January.  I’ve still got 3 more excursions to share with you from my cruise on the Carnival Breeze in January.  I took a lot of pics so didn’t want to just cram them all in one post, when each place deserves its own recognition.    So, today, let’s take a look at Punta Cana, DR.

If you missed my other posts on the cruise, check these out here and here and here.

This is how close the ship was to land in the Dominican Republic.  Amazing how close it can get to these island ports.

At the stop in the DR, we met up with  our excursion bus and headed about an hour away from the port to Punta Cana, a name I had heard about, but I’ve never been to this island.

Let me just say, the area we saw was breathtakingly beautiful in Punta Cana.  This place is called the Dolphin Explorer and they have quite the set up for tourists here.

We walked down a woodsy pathway from the bus and ended up on this beautiful beach, where of course we had to take pictures at this photo op spot.  It was a gorgeous day, perfect weather for this excursion.

I walked around the beach area after we finished with the dolphins and was just amazed at how unspoiled and beautiful this beach was.

So pretty and picturesque and like something on a postcard.

Blue skies and emerald water with white sand was quite the stunning view.

This would be a great place to hang out for a few hours.

An unspoiled tropical beach!

They have quite the set up at Dolphin Explorer.  We left our purses and coverups in a locker and walked down to this big dock shaped in a large square.

At the end of the dock, we were instructed where to go and which area we would be in for the dolphin exhibit.  We knew we’d be in the water with the dolphins, but didn’t know quite what to expect.

They have a lot of dolphins in captivity that are trained to work and swim with people and it really was a treat to experience this.  I had been in the water with wild dolphins before in Panama City, FL off a boat, but nothing like this.

We were not allowed to take any cameras and found out why.  They have a camera person assigned to each group and he took photos and videos of all of us in our group as we each took turns learning the signals and interacting with the dolphins.  It was a lot of fun!  Of course, at the end of the day we were instructed that we could buy our photo package and we did.  It was $150 for both Beth and I, since we were a pair, so we split that cost between us. Expensive….yes, but how often do you get a chance to do this?

We were instructed on hand signals for each part of the dolphin interacting and raising our arms meant they would jump over our heads.  That was pretty fun!

We also had a signal for the dolphin to swim by us and we would grab their dorsal fin and swim back to the landing we were on.  We had on life jackets for safety.

They turned over on their backs to do another swim and we were propelled along by their fins.

A once in a lifetime opportunity for sure.  We were all smiling and having a great time.

Next came the dolphin kiss!  I can now say I’ve kissed a dolphin. Their skin is soft and not scratchy at all.

We also had a chance to be kissed by a sea lion and that was a fun experience as well.  Of course, they are all about selling pictures, and I had to buy them all because who knows if this will ever happen again.

Dolphin Explorer also had a bird show and a sea lion show, which we saw before the bus took us back to the ship.

The colorful parrots were fun to watch.

Riding bikes across the high wire.

And the sea lions put on a little show too.

And that was our day in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.  This stop was probably our most memorable, swimming with the dolphins.  Truly a once in a lifetime opportunity that we so enjoyed!

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