Central Forest Reserve

After the success of yesterday’s day adventures I felt wildly smug. S. had been worried about over-exerting ourselves on a ‘relaxing’ holiday but he was positively glowing with happiness yesterday, so I felt that whatever happened with the sea-sea-mammals I had achieved holiday goals. With a late start of 08:45 we somehow still managed to be a little short for time - time-keeping and relaxing can be a complicated matter - particularly when I’m involved (late, late, everywhere). However we made it on time! I felt a little wave of anxiety when we saw how full the boat was, but thanks to my CBT training I managed to jot down my worries, assess that they were all completely hypothetical (“what if” worries) and concluded there was literally nothing I could do about any of them (asides from the fact that they were absolutely unimportant). Mental health exercises done, up on the top deck of the boat, we set off to find dolphins and whales - and oh my god did we find them!

We first stumbled across an entire colony of the squeaky mammals, and the dolphins sped alongside the boat, racing and playfully jumping out in front of it. They were 100% loving the attention and they would swim up ahead and jump high-high-high in the air, do flips, twists, 360º turns. It was incredible. I have never seen that many dolphins together all at once, and that amicable, that friendly, it was great to see them out in the wild, free, and interested in interacting with us curious and gawking humans.

Next up we went out in search for whales. I felt a little skeptical that we would see any, purely because of the fact that in general whales seem to be a lot shyer than the flashy dolphins. However, in the distance, I saw a little squirt of water go up in the air. It looked like a snorkeler blowing water out of their snorkels, or a small geiger. We all saw it again, and that’s when the captain of the boat pointed out towards it and announced: “That’s a whale’s blow-hole! There’s two of them, a calf and a momma!”

Oh my god guys. They were definitely shy, but curious, and the little calf wandered over - not too close but close enough to see how much bigger than the dolphins he was, and yet how tiny he eemed. His momma in the distance dove down under, her huger tail flipping u before disappearing under the water. Fun fact: it takes six years for the calves to be able to dive as deep as their mothers - how insane is that?! In the meantime they communicate with their whale calls and such. Animals are incredible.

Needless to say S. and I were very, very content by the end of this boat-trip, and as we pulled back into the docks five hours later we happily went on to ‘relax’. We had a dinner reservation at a different resort’s restaurant called La Toc (La Toc restaurant in La Toc Resort in the town of La Toc. Seriously). We’d got to La Toc Resort very early, and so we’d been plying ourselves with cocktails. S., ever the adventurer, tried a different cocktail every time. I, however, had discovered the cocktail of my dreams (to the odd surprise off the bar-staff who all agreed they wouldn’t go near it). The Sangrita. Part Margarita, part Bloody Mary it was what dreams are made of, and a nice sharp, sour taste after the endless flow of sweet cocktails we’d been having up to this point. We both reached a happy tipsy point as we watched a country show by a man with the deepest and most beautiful voice I ever heard, and it has to be said: the atmosphere at the Sandals La Toc is lively, lively, lively. The age demographic expands down to a lot more people in their late 20s as opposed the the Halcyon where I think we’re the youngest by 15 odd years. Even the older groups however were energetic, dancing to the country music, laughing, drinking, chatting. Although I love our quiet little corner of the resort group (and the La Toc is huge you need a shuttle to get to certain more ‘exclusive’ parts of the accommodation) the La TOc definitely has a better evening atmosphere, and I’m glad we came out early for little drink, a little bougie and, finally, a little food.

My oh my guys, this restaurant was yum. Very formal as far as resort dining goes, but even still the waters and waitresses were friendly, kind and when S. couldn’t decide between two starters they straight up said “ have both - you’re on holiday! You’re having both.” Honestly, it was so fabulous. We ate, had wine (obviously) and when we’d finished eating all our intentions of going to the bar area of the resort were shattered as S. and I both were struggling to keep our eyes open. We did have a wonder, and the bar areas did look super lively and fun, but we chose to have a little explore, look at the absolutely clear night sky (there is zero light pollution here it is incredible). We wowed at how different the bog-dipper looked from the Caribbean, found the North Star, sat by the fire-pits and listened to the ocean for a little while, right up until our shuttle back home was read.

We were in bed by 23:30 - latest time to date. We are wild, wild party animals.Read more