DAY 3: PUERTO PLATA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 7AM-4PM TUESDAY DECEMBER 12TH

Our first port and we were super excited...and I was super nervous on top of that and here's why...

We have been to DR a few times: We've went to Saona Island by boat, Starfish Sandbar and our last time was a buggy tour where we had an absolute blast! But...what should we do this time? We would be docking at Taino Bay, which was new for us and I wasn't quite sure of the geographical location compared to the other places we had docked before. I did see some pictures of this new port and knew I really wanted to spend some time there as well. Should we forgo an excursion and stay at the port? Or should we forgo the port and just do something new? Decisions... 🤔

I did a lot of research and something kept catching my eye...a trip to the waterfalls. I watched video's and found reviews and everyone seemed to love this excursion. However, I was nervous about it after reading just how much walking and climbing stairs and hills were involved. Would I even be able to do this? I really wasn't sure. Several reviews said they do offer to stop along the way to rest. Rest? Was it really that intensive? Should I even do this to myself? I'm used to a lot of walking at work and standing on my feet for 12 1/2 hours during the day...BUT, there's no climbing involved. Climbing throws a whole other curve ball into the equation. Although I've had my hardware removed and walk 6+ miles a day at work, I have a lot of difficulty with stairs. Going down, I have to walk on the ball of my foot because my ankle still does not bend forward and is limited. Going up is no problem...even though it wears me out, I can do it without difficulty: bone wise, not respiratory wise LOL

Then throw in the factor of sliding down a waterfall ROCK...what are the dangers involved? Could I possibly hit the side of the rock and jab my foot on something causing extreme pain or yet worse, refracture an already misaligned and unstable foot that is still healing? Then there's the factor of jumping from a platform 25' in the air. Would the impact of the water hurt my foot? 

So many questions spinning in my head about this entire situation. I showed Sakari the video's and she squealed with excitement..."We gotta do that mom! That looks like so much fun!" and that's all it took for me to overcome my emotions and doubts and knew I just had to try it!  Ok, we're doing this! I booked with Marysol Tours and more on that later.

We were up at 6am and it was still dark out. We were already pulling in and the city was all lit up and ready to take on the cruisers about to invade their island. 

We got dressed and raced up to the buffet for breakfast. We were in such a hurry I didn't even get a picture of the food...no picture, no proof I cheated right?

They made the announcement that we were able to get off the ship at 6:50am and we headed down. The sun was coming up and it was beautiful.

They did have these cute little 3 wheeled motorcycles to give you a free ride down the dock but for some reason I decided to walk instead. I think I should have conserved my energy for the day but wanted to get that ankle in motion so it wouldn't freeze up on me.

We did stop to take a picture with the photographers along the way as well. 

We were docking at a new place (Taino Bay) and you can find my review of this beautiful port at the following link below. It's very beautiful and a great place to hang out at if you want a "free" day. We walked out of the port to do our excursion and then came back to spend the rest of the day here.

Our great day at DAMAJAGUA WATERFALLS review is located here:

Once back to the room, we had a quick shower and got dressed and decided to head up to the buffet only to find it was closed now. Ok, off to The Lounge for a meal.

The hubby ordered the mini sausage burgers (I think it came with 2 or 3 of them)

I ordered a cheeseburger with fries

And I also ordered the artichoke dip and chips...ya know, just because I forgot what it tasted like from before. 😉

Sakari was in a chip mood as well and got the loaded nacho's that she removed all of the "load" except the cheese and sour cream. LOL

We headed back to our room and onto the balcony to do some people watching as they came back from port. Would there be any pier runners this time around?

NOPE! Everyone was on the ship and we were actually pulling out 10 minutes early at 3:50pm.

Coming to pick up the pilot.

He was successful and off they went releasing us to the Captain and the seas.

The captain waved goodbye to us and off he went back to the port.

We were so tired after a full blown day of testing my leg out and feeling like we just competed in Wipeout and won, we slowly drifted off to La La Land from the sway of the boat and the clanging of clothes hangers in the closet...which drove Sakari nuts for awhile. 

It was a much needed rest and we woke up a little after 7pm and immediately knew we were missing the comedy club we wanted to see with Jon Stringer. We were hoping he would be better than the last person. Darnit. Well, we hoped we would have a second chance some time during the cruise still. 

The Mentalist show was at 7:30pm and we ended up missing that as well due to our "little nap".

We decided to head up to the buffet and see what we might munch on and along the way I found a DUCK!!! A Christmas Duck!  There wasn't a name tag attached to it and Sakari swore it was not hidden by someone and some little kid probably lost it. 

Up at the buffet, I would find these amazing fish sticks. They were so good. Then I grabbed some bad food (as if the breading on the fish wasn't already bad enough), which I didn't take but a bite of each of them just so I could be naughty and say I did it. 🤣

We really weren't too hungry, but I wasn't going to pass up desert either. I was real happy they continued to have the NS vanilla ice cream out a little more this cruise than the last.

We seen that the Mentalist would be having another show and told Sakari we would head to that show tonight, but we were going to go kill some time at the casino meanwhile. She was ok with that and gave us permission to go and off we went for some fun. 

The hubby managed to be the big winner tonight and walked away with $150.00 out of the $50 we took tonight. Remember, we consider it a big win if we have doubled our money and always cash out if that happens. 

About this time, the ship started really rocking and rolling. We must have hit some bad weather. Now I have NEVER been sea sick on a cruise, but my stomach was so upset and I felt like dinner was about to come up. I contained myself and we headed to the Mentalist show.

This show features a couple that do mind reading and telepathy. They are based out of Boston, MA but perform all over the country and on cruise ships. Antonina is from Russia and David is from Vermont. 

David started studying magic and mind reading when he was 14 years old. By the time he was 16 he was performing at resorts and restaurants. Then moved on to bars, clubs and street performance. After college he continued full time. 

Antonina worked in hospitality but always loved performing arts. They met and started performing together right away. They have been performing together now for 9 years. 

I'm pretty sure we have seen them on another cruise ship before. Sakari was super excited to go to this and insisted that we sit close to the front row and she took her spot on the isle seat in hopes that they might pick her for a part in the show.

The show was mind-blowing and Sakari spent a big portion of it throwing her hand up as high as she could to be picked...although she wasn't. 

After the show, we headed back to the room. I honestly wasn't feeling good and we all headed to bed. I had a restless night of having to sit up over and over to keep from getting sick. I've never had this before...was I really sea sick? Or was it something I ate? Please don't tell me it was the yummy fish! I was hoping they would have it again during the cruise. I'm blaming it on the mac and cheese! After hours of trying to calm my stomach, I finally drifted off to sleep...Zzzzz

Sorry I got busy yesterday with challenges from Sakari and her knew PING PONG table her brothers gave her for Christmas. 😝

So I managed to put together a short 2+ minute video of Taino Bay. It's just so pretty there and we loved the lazy river.