What a wonderful way to start off our year of travel - spending it in the Dominican Republic with friends!

The clouds started to vanish and the sun came out to make our last week a warm one. Kristine, Phil, Duff, Holly and Shirley had all left back to the cold weather and we were the next to go. Paul, Barb, Dave have a couple of weeks left and Randy and Raquel are here until the end of April.

This week we all chipped in and helped Jeannine move to a new place. I am excited for her to move on and start a new chapter in her life. Lucy (her Dominican dog) loved to run and play with Roxy. It was great for both of them as many of the Dominican dogs are territorial and not really interested in playing. After all the moving was complete a few of us headed to Puerto Plata for a market shopping day. Tons of bargains for new and used clothing and household goods.

A nor-eastern storm hit the east coast and travelled down the eastern sea board and travelled all the way to the carribean. The waves and swells were 20 ft high; never to be witnessed before, even with the hurricanes. The waves were so big that it took all of the beaches away from Infinity Blu and dumped a ton of large boulders and debris on the the resort. Once the storm waters moved away the water level came right up to the resort. There were now large cliffs that dropped off 12-20 ft where the beach once was. So.. we got our snorkelling gear and jumped off the rocky cliffs to have a look at the newly formed waterfront.

We started coming to Sosua 3 years ago and have loved every minute we spent there. Glen (Rick's brother) invited us to travel there to join a few of his long time friends from Thunderbay (Duff, Holly, Kristine and Phil). Everyone was so welcoming and adopted us as family. We had such a wonderful time that first year that we decided to keep coming back. We found a great place down on the water (Infinity Blu) with a nice beach and some of the best snorkelling on the island.
Our friends from Calgary (Dave, Shirley, Paul and Barb) had been staying in Costa Rica for the last 2 years but were interested in finding a new place to explore. After hearing about our experiences they decided to join us in Sosua. They all enjoyed it so much that they came back for 2 consecutive years (much to our pleading of course), with Dave now looking at a longer commitment in the quaint beach town of Sosua.

Sosua beach is a great place for meeting friends and snorkelling. But most of all lying on the beach cots and watching life pass by. Next to Sosua beach our next favourite is Cabarette beach- only a short "chicken bus" ride away. The morning is great for a beach stroll or swimming in the ocean, but in the afternoon the wind starts to pick up. That is when the kite surfers and windsurfers start to come out. The day can hold many adventures and there is never a dull moment.

We enjoyed our early mornings and looked forward to heading out for out walk with Roxy before things started to get to hot. Her favourite part of the walk was after our long loop when we would head down to Mofongo King to meet the gang for Cappuccino's. This is where she could really have fun being a dog, running off leash and visiting with all of her newly found friends - dogs, cats, and of course the staff at Mofongo King.

Sosua has an endless choice of great places to eat, with extremely reasonably price food. However, a night out in Sosua isn't complete without singing Karaokee with the Howling Healers - now famous thanks to Youtube.

Sosua will always be a special place for us and we hope to return again one year. Dave, keep a place for us at papa's and Jeannine tell Lucy that Roxy will be back again to run on the beaches.