About: Dominican Republic

Patti and I just had to get away from the cold and gloom of Chicago, so we headed down to Punta Cana for a quick get-away. We stayed at the Occidental Allegro Punta Cana Resort for four nights.

We spent much of our time relaxing, tanning, trying the drinks of the day, and diving. We did 4 dives over 3 days with Seaquest Divers out of Bavaro. Two crazy Germans, Uwe and Michael, run this operation. Be sure to pay cash and agree on prices before hand. We payed with a credit card and ended up getting over charged, to which their excuse was 'and ever changing exchange rate'. Ramon was our smiley boat driver, and got us where we needed to go very quickly.

All in all, this was a fun trip, despite one whole day of rain. The diving was so-so, visibility was crappy for Caribbean standards, but the water was an unbeatable 82 degrees. Reef life was not as abundant as I would hope, but maybe it was just bad timing. I'd go back to Punta Cana if I needed another short, cheap get-away.