When you live in Minnesota and your winter lasts pretty much half the year, a midwinter trip to paradise is almost a necessity! Escaping the dark frigid mid-January temps alone would have made this trip worth it; however, that wasn’t all that made this trip great.
My goal for this trip was to get my PADI Open Water Scuba Diving Certification. I took the online coursework before I left so I would get to go straight into diving when I arrived. Because who wants to sit in a classroom for a day when they are in paradise…definitely not me!
After learning all the skills in the pool it was time for fun, the part I had been waiting for, the open water dives. The Dominican has some great areas for diving and I got to visit 3 different dive sites during my time there. I saw a boat wreck, a 2 different areas of a coral reef! Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures from the boat wreck as it was my first dive and I wanted to focus on just diving, but here are some of my favorite photos from the experience.
While most of my time was spent underwater, I also spent time at the beach enjoying the sunshine and incredible 80-degree weather ☀️ with my friends that came with me.
Playa Blanca was probably my favorite beach to visit. A private/public beach with an entrance fee meant it was much less crowded. The entrance fee also was a credit to the restaurant on site so you basically end up with a free day at the beach if you eat a meal there. Smart marketing strategy!
All in all a wonderful vacation with some friends even though I ditched them most of the time for my dive lessons 😬
Love, Laugh and Pura Vida 