Jellyfish, Sting Rays, and Sharks. Oh My!

Day 5 of vacation. (see day 1, day 2, day 3, and day 4)

We decided to do the standard snorkel/booze cruise combo.

We met at the dock and the dancers were there to get the party started.

We boarded the boat.  The water was gorgeous!  It was fun to see all the resorts from the water side.

We sailed to a massive holding tank, where we interacted with de-barbed sting rays and swam with nurse sharks.  I didn't enjoy it at all.  The sting rays grossed me out (although they were super soft, and I wouldn't mind a handbag made of that buttery soft skin...sorry PETA!) and the sharks were sad.  They would just gang up in one corner.

We then sailed a little further out and free style snorkeled.  It was okay, but definitely not the best snorkeling I've ever done.  It was crowded and I kept running into strangers.

I was back to the boat earlier than most because I was ready for a cocktail.  They served rum & cokes and Brahma beer.  It was a Brazilian brew and I liked it more than Presidente.  It was a little darker and had a much less generic flavor than Presidente.  I actually am going to try to track down some Brahma in the states.

Let the dance party begin...

We took shots of Mamajuana.  It is a local drink made by soaking a special blend of roots and bark in rum and honey. It was de-lic-ious!  The roots gave the rum an almost tobacco flavor.  The combo of the honey and the earthy, tobacco-y flavor reminded me of a hot toddy.

Things got really crazy after the shots.  There are pictures, but I would be risking my life by posting them.

When we arrived back at port, all the other guests shuffled off the boat, but we didn't want to leave!  So we hung back and had a private dance party for a little while.  Then the bar tender poured us some Brahma to go.  It felt just like home sweet Louisiana home...gotta love drinks to go.

After shopping and pics on a beautiful old boat,

we stumbled walked back to our beach chairs and napped.

Dinner was at Jellyfish, a restaurant a little ways up the beach.  After our adventure on night 2, we decided a cab was a good idea.

This restaurant was amazing!  We were the only ones in the whole place.  It was right on the beach.  The whole restaurant opened up to the beachfront, but it was raining, so they had the shades down.

My cocktail of choice was the Jellyfish.  It was very banana-y and very sweet.  Not something I would order again.

My sister ordered the pina colada and it was divine.  The creamiest pina colada I've ever tasted!

Hot pockets and calamari for appetizers.  The hot pockets tasted exactly like hot pockets from the freezer section, although they obviously are not freezer hot pockets.  The calamari was good and I forgot the picture. 

My entree was langostines with a side of yucca gratin.

Isn't the presentation stunning?!?!  If a lobster, a shrimp, and a crab had a baby, it would be a langostine.  It looks like a mini lobster, but the texture is the mix of flakey lump crab meat and shrimp.  Sounds weird, but it was so good.  And being a child of southwest Louisiana, I am very particular about seafood. The sauce was a champagne and cream.  The meat of the langostine itself was slightly sweet, and this sauce complimented it well.

The yucca gratin tasted just like my mom's scalloped potatoes, but the texture very starchy and unlike anything else I've ever had.  I loved it.  I was stuffed like a thanksgiving turkey, but continued to eat this starchy, fluffy, cheesey deliciousness.

It was a great last night in Punta Cana!

Have you ever eaten langostines?  What about yucca?