Monday, 2020 March 16
I was awake relatively early, around 0430. I just read, finishing one science-fiction novel and starting another. Krista slept until after 0700. She hasn't slept this well in months if not years.
After a very leisurely morning, we headed down for breakfast. It was quite good, again. A few things were different from yesterday; it appears that there is a core group of dishes that are (almost) always present, then a rotating group of supporting dishes.
We wandered around the grounds a bit, then chilled in our room until it was time to meet our local Costco (Blue Travel) representative. We booked three tours: a half-day reef excursion (for Wednesday), a full-day excursion to Saona Island (for Friday), and a full-day trip to Santo Domingo (for next Tuesday).
We then wandered through the handful of shops provided by Sanctuary. Krista got some cool earrings made with a local mineral, larimar, found only in the Dominican Republic.
Next we stopped at the concierge desk so Krista could book a massage for tomorrow. We also tried to book dinner reservations for later in the week but apparently you can only do those the day of - that seems weird, but whatever. We also discovered that Sanctuary Town, the little add-on shopping and eating "village" across the street, is closed this week. That's unfortunate, because we were hoping to go to the Spanish restaurant there tonight.
We had run out of tasks so we headed back to the room. We just chilled; I caught up on a few email- and computer-related tasks, then went to reading. I actually finished the novel I had just started this morning (The Widening Gyre). It's an absolute summer blockbuster of a novel and has everything I love in light sci-fi; sarcastic smart-ass protagonists, aliens, space battles, etc. (Just don't think too hard about the tech or the plot, but I'm good at suspending disbelief in certain contexts.) I immediately started the sequel.
I also managed to semi-intentionally unlock a vacation achievement - I drank every single beer in our minibar over the course of the afternoon. (It's not as bad as it sounds, there were three 12-ounce cans of Presidente and two 8-ounce cans of Coors Light - so effectively, I was drinking water the whole time.
I'm a semi-dedicated user of Untappd, which basically turns drinking beer into a game. It cracked me up that after 1001 unique beers, I still had not checked in a Coors Light. So that became my 1002nd unique beer.
We were hanging out on the patio when housekeeping arrived. When we came back in we found a very nice surprise.
We decided to try the buffet for supper. We went up there around 1835 but were told to come back in maybe ten minutes (they theoretically opened at 1830). We waited about twenty minutes before going back; they were open by then, but with only a few people. The real crowds didn't seem to arrive until around 1930.
The food was good. It was a very eclectic mix (they describe it as "international flavors"). The sweet-and-sour pork was excellent. They also had very good beef filet that was so tender the fork tore it apart as I was trying to cut it.
We made it back to the room just before 2000. I took a quick shower - when I shaved I discovered that I had sunburnt my chin yesterday. The razor did not feel good.
Sunday, 2020 March 15 Tuesday, 2020 March 17