Posts Tagged ‘Vacation’

Our initial plans for the day was to check out the beach close to the resort. Which we did shortly after Dhan had a fresh coconut, and some breakfast for the both of us.

Dhan went to check out the beach and look for any pieces of coral, and I looked to find a pair of available lounge seats under a cabana. I found one with a pair of unoccupied lounge seats that were closed and had the resort’s towel on it. So we proceeded to lie down for a bit and enjoy the view, the sun, and the azure blue of the Atlantic Ocean.

Maybe 20 minutes into things we were both rudely interrupted by another resident of the resort claiming that the spot was and that the generic resort towel was his. He was a real ass about it, and I gave him back the spot exactly as I had found it. He was beginning to be apologetic at the end but he pissed me off so much that it ruined any possible enjoyment we could have had by moving on to a different part of the beach. That was the only real sour experience we had at Cayo Coco the entire trip, and it figures it was from a fellow Canuck being an ass. Worth pointing out that the cabanas by the poolside have a notice on them saying that they cannot be reserved, and most sensible people will leave a personal object (a book, a distinctive towel, or a water bottle) to claim a set of lounge chairs, and this asshat and done nothing like that. I didn’t want to fight over such a small thing, but the experience left a bad taste in my mouth, ditto for Dhan.

We retired to our room to recollect ourselves, and I pitched the idea about heading over to a place nearby called La Gaviota, which was a Commercial Center for selling souvenir crafts and other items. So we headed to the resort lobby to hire a cab to get there. We were lucky in that there were already a couple of cabs waiting there, both beautiful vintage cars from long before the U.S. embargo that started in the late 1950s.

The trip alone was well worth it, as the short drive to La Gaviota in the open-topped late 50s Buick was a blast. The first time either of us had ever traveled anywhere in such a vintage vehicle.

Turns out La Gaviota means “Seagull” in Spanish, and that is exactly what the building looks like from the outside.

The market at La Gaviota had a lot of variety, ranging from jewelry to t-shirts, and locally-made crafts of all sorts. Some official stores sold beach towels, rum, beer, and of course cigars. Dhan picked up a wooden blue crab and I picked up a set of fridge magnets of the iconic Che Guevara for friends and family back home.

Pleased with our purchases for ourselves and for the people back home, we made our way via the grand old Buick back to our resort.

And from there, we retired back to our room for a welcome afternoon nap.

It was close to sunset when we woke up, and we decided to stroll by the beach before dinner.

We had dinner and then retired to the lounge area for some music and drink. And my first-ever game of dominos with Dhan.

Looking for a nice warm place to relax in the Caribbean, I found a package deal from Air Canada for a week at an all-inclusive resort in Cayo Caco in Cuba. Never have been to Cuba before, the price was certainly good, and after researching some YouTube videos about the resort in question, we decided to go for it.

It started snowing heavily when we arrived in Toronto. Perfect weather to start a flight to somewhere nice and warm.

This is what it looked like as we were heading down the ramp at Pearson to our Air Canada Rouge flight:

From my time traveling on business on Air Canada Rouge flights, I got us seats with extra leg-room by the second set of emergency exit doors. Well worth it in terms of leg comfort, though there’s still not much in the way of elbow room either. Also no window to speak of, so no pics of the take-off or landing.

We arrived at the Cayo Coco/Jardines del Rey Airport (which goes by CCC) late that same evening.

It was nice being in the open air shortly after landing, and we exited from the back of the plane, and got into the long line up for Cuban customs, along with the passengers from two other flights from different Canadian airlines that arrived at around the same time.

It took a while to make our way through customs, and they didn’t seem to recognize us as a couple, so we each went to the customs agent one at a time. It was also a very long (almost an hour-and-a-half) wait for our checked luggage to arrive, and with three airplane’s worth of passengers and next to no seats in the baggage waiting area around, it seemed to take even longer. But in the end our luggage appeared, and we made our way to the bus that would take us to our resort.

It was there we met Alex, who got everyone on the bus and gave us a quick and friendly lowdown on how to best enjoy our vacations at the resorts. He had a lively trade in selling cold beer to the passengers.

Our resort was the final stop that the bus made, so we briefly got to see the foyers of a couple of other resorts. Our plane left a bit late and we waited forever for our luggage, so there was no welcoming party for us at the hotel, but we were beat by that point and were very thankful to get on an extended golf-cart which took us to our room. It was one of the “regular” rooms, which was sizable, had a king-sized bed, small TV, bar fridge, and a nice bathroom.

After shucking off our Canadian clothes and getting into something more appropriate for the warmer weather, we headed to the “snack bar” (actually a full restaurant and bar) and got a bite to eat. That is where we met the first of the local cats who hang out at the resort.

After that, we retired gratefully to bed.

Had an uneventful flight heading down from Toronto to Barbados on the Air Canada flight down. Once we got past customs we found our way to a taxi van which was driven by a delightful woman driver who took us on a scenic (and oddly, more direct) path to the yacht club at the south western part of the island. On the way there we saw palm trees with coconuts, kids playing outside their schools (each in the own distinctive and colourful school uniforms), breadfruit trees, and many other sights of rural Barbados. Afterwards we regretted not getting her name and taxi number, as she was very friendly and clearly liked Annie and Vanessa.

We made it to the yacht which was anchored at the Port St. Charles marina, close to Speightown, which is in the north eastern part of the island.There we met Erika’s sister, her Father and the crew: Jean-Claude (who is captain when Erika’s father isn’t on the boat) and the first mate, Matthias.

The cove we were in had a nice snady beach on the other side from where the boat was docked, so after we had unpacked and settled in, the girls got out their swim gear and I got out my camera gear. 😉 Here are some of the shots I took:

I love palm trees. (This ended up being my Facebook “Picture of the Day” for the 365 Group).

Did I say I loved palm trees?

The S/Y Volterra that seems dwarfed by the motor yacht moored beside it.

Head of a flying fish found on the beach.

Vanessa and Annie swimming in the shallow bay at the Marina