December 8, 2024
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - Casa Del Campo
We got diverted from Punta Cana to the sleep marina of Casa Del Campo, due to high winds and waves. We had to tender in and there was very little to see or do in the upscale marina. I walked the area with Scott - stopping at grocery and hardware stores. Alot of shops were high end and only a few were open. Basically, treated this stop as another SEA DAY with a nice tender ride & walk mid-day.
Another great day exploring the South Pacific ! Today as soon as our ship docked in Honiara , and we were cleared by customs, I was off with 9 other residents, to get in 2 small speed boats and head out to Simon's Nature Reserve in the Solomon Islands . It was about an hour long ride across the Iron Bottom Sound but so worth it to experience this special place!
Fun fact - Papua New Guinea is the most linguistically diverse country in the World! It is estimated that there are at least 826 Papuan languages. Some are spoken by just a handful of people, while others by 100,000. (Thanks - Basia & Wikipedia for sharing this information).
Tully is a small sugar mill town about 2 hours south of Cairns and we traveled here with a group of about 20 other residents to go white water rafting in the Tully River at the Gorge in the National Park. It is the beginning of the wet season and the river was running at a high level, so the rapids were class 4 out of 5. We had some trepidation, but were excited for the adventure! OMG so much FUN!!