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Would anyone mind sharing pictures?

Birdnutty

By Birdnutty,
in Dominican Republic

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Birdnutty Great Review Rare

Birdnutty

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We took the Cave/mangrove exploration with beach escape shore excursion just a few weeks ago. I took pix of all the wonderful sights. I especially love birds (Hence the name) and snapped away at Bird Island, at the terns on the pilings, the caves and the paintings, our guide, Edith, - everything I could.

 

The camera ate EVERYTHING. I have no idea how that can happen on a digital camera, but it did. All the pix previous to that and afterwards came out fine. TALK ABOUT MADDENING!

 

Anyway, if anyone was on that excursion, would you mind sharing some of your pictures with me? I'd love to have some visual reminders of a trip that we really enjoyed. You can email me at hi43211234 "at" yahoo.com, if you're willing.

 

Thanks so much!

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Karysa

Karysa

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Sorry, I was not on the trip. I hope someone has pictures to share with you though. Was this a ship sponsored excursion through NCL. I would be interested in learning more about it since my DH is big into photography and I thought that this might be a good excursion for him.

Karysa

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Birdnutty Great Review Rare

Birdnutty

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Yes, it was a ship sponsored trip. Called caves and Mangrove exploration. It's a long powerboat ride to the national park (the ship has to anchor WAY out), but the scenery is beautiful. If it's the right time of year (between jan 15 an end of March), it's possible to see whales inthe bay as you ride over.

Here's a review I did of the excursion.

 

"Well, we're back, and I have to say that we really enjoyed the excursion. It was run by the national Park. About 30 or so of us were picked up at the ship on a nice fiberglass boat on a high speed half hour trip to land (the ship has to dock quite a way out). We slowly circled "Bird island" - a small, high island with lots of frigate birds and nests, vultures, boobies (the feathered kind), and scissortails. Our guide was Edith, a Dutch transplant who fell in love with this island many years ago and remains today. She spoke English perfectly, and was so very knowledgeable, as well as personable. We learned alot about the mangroves inthe area and the river system in the country. We got out at a small dock and were led thru some really cool caves along the shoreline, where Indians and many other people once lived. We saw Cave drawings that date back hundreds of years. After a potty break and some rum & cokes, we piled back inthe boat for more touring around the water section of the park. with lots of commentary as we went. Water and soda was available throughout the trip.

 

Since we opted for the beach part of the trip, we were dropped off at Cayo Leventado - a beautiful clear water beach where there were beach chairs reserved for NCL guests on a certain part of the beach. There were some vendors and shopping in the area (it's a resort) and palm trees to sit under if you wanted shade. Young men came around occasionally with various animals to take your picture with, for a fee of course. They had a sea lion, 2 gorgeous parrots, a large iguana, a boa constrictor.

 

Food is available, as are drinks, but we were advised on the boat that the sanitary food conditions were not up to NCL's standards, so they advised us to purchase only the pre-packaged snacks. Instead, I made some PB sandwiches at breakfast and brought them with us to tide us over until we returned to the ship.

 

If we had done this trip in February or Mrch, we might have been able to see many whales that return to the bay every year to have their calves and to mate. Missed that one by only a few weeks! It's supposed to be one of the best spots inthe world for whale viewing, as the quantity of whales per sq KM is very high. Something to consider when making plans.

 

We did enjoy the excursion, even without the whales, and would do it again. In fact, I may need to. The only problem I encountered was that my camera did something really wierd and lost every single picture I took of that excursion. I am very upset about it, as it is an unusual place with special features, and I was really looking forward to the pictures, especially those of the birds - most of which I had never seen before. So if anyone goes and gets some good pix, would you share them with me?

 

 

Thanks!

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Karysa

Karysa

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Thank you Birdnutty. This sounds like an excursion that my family would like. I have to ask since two of you had camera problems, do you think it had something to do with the excursion like water splashing into the camera or just bad luck?

Karysa

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Birdnutty Great Review Rare

Birdnutty

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It definitely wasn't a water splash problem. I'm super paranoid about getting my camera near water. I think it was a case of really rotten luck. Or maybe the cave spirits were playing games with me..... ::::wink:::

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Lard Greystoke

Lard Greystoke

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How much walking is done on this tour. We walk kind of slowly and need breaks from time to time. I doesnt seem strenous but Norweigan has the tour listed as level 3-strenuous activity.

 

How did it seem to those who went??

 

Thanks

 

I think there are different tours. Mine included two short trips to caves. Walking distance was short but the footing in the caves was uneven, so if you had balance or agility issues it would be of concern.

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