exoticspirit
11-30-2012, 04:30 PM
My first DR adventure started with a ridiculously early 4:30 am check-in at the Toronto airport (since I was connecting through Newark as part of my flights on points). I probably only got 4 hours of sleep before heading out. By the time I got to Puerto Plata at about 2 pm local time, I was zonked. But the arrival process as reported by others, was relatively smooth.
Arrival At The Airport
There was the local band that welcomed the passengers even though they sounded like they were playing an endless loop rather than an actual tune. The first line up was for the $10 US Tourist card with two windows available for payments. I had my two $5 US bills ready (including one which had part of a corner ripped off so I hid that one behind the full bill hoping the gal wouldn't catch it - she didn't). Immediately after you get your paper slip receipt (rather than a real card), there's free rum shots next to the Tourist card windows. I didn't bother since there were already several passengers lined up for the free booze and I wanted to get out of there.
A guy then collected the tourist card portion right before the immigration checkpoint. I was wearing my glasses because of the long flights and my passport photo does not have me wearing any. This apparently caused a problem for the immigration officer as he called for another of his team to verify. They both kept comparing my face to that of the photo and I finally decided to help them out by removing my glasses. Then they promptly stamped my passport but didn't even say one word to me throughout - not even a simple 'welcome' to Dominican Republic which I thought was kind of cold.
My checked luggage was already on the conveyor belt and outside where the taxi drivers were waiting to get business, I spotted the guy holding a Blackbeard's Resort sign with my last name on it. We went over to his parked minivan and started heading out to Costambar, where Blackbeard's is located.
The trip is pretty far out and a good 30 minutes as we went through Puerto Plata. I was kind of shocked at all the motoconchos buzzing around everywhere and I saw only one guy wearing a helmet. No other riders and their passengers, including small kids, wore any helmets. Some bikes had what seemed to be an entire family onboard - disasters waiting to happen.
The gates at Costambar were pretty far into the side road into that area so in hindsight, I don't think it would have been practical at all with my checked luggage, to use a cheap publico (the real cheap, crowded shared taxis the locals use) route to get there. Immediately after getting through the gates, I saw Jenny's market on the right side. I also saw a small pharmacy (called a farmacia locally) across the street with the words Viagra, Cialis and Levitra boldly painted on the wall!
Arrival To Blackbeard's
Once at Blackbeard's, the driver took me to reception where we were met by Tim, one of the gringo managers there. After Tim went through the lowdown on the resort and the process with the girls, I paid for the two nights stay at $70 each night for a standard room as well as the $45 US transfer from the POP airport. I also changed $300 US into DR pesos as Tim claimed that they were offering a rate around 38 better than the bank rate of 40. So the check-in was pretty efficient although I would have felt better if the initial online reservation with my credit card was done over a secure webpage which they didn't have.
It was already about 3 pm on the Sunday afternoon and things were really quiet at the resort. I saw maybe only 6 girls in bikinis sitting around a table near the pool, a group of four guys having lunch sitting at another table and that was all. Of course, the girls were already eyeing me like fresh prey!
My room on the second floor was okay, clean and comfortable with a large step-in shower. The bed was comfortable enough. They provided soap but no shampoo so if you don't want to use soap for washing your hair, you need to bring your own shampoo. A key lockbox was inside the closet for security. For some reason, there was a full length mirror in my room which I thought was probably more useful for the chicas than the guests. Since I had so little sleep the night before, I wanted to catch up and nap for the rest of the afternoon.
After a short nap, I was finally ready for action. Went downstairs to scope out the place which turned out to be quite straight forward. All the guest rooms faced the pool area. On the opposite side was the reception which was next to a pool table room, a small lobby area with free internet computer (which worked great), a bar area and an outdoor restaurant/dining area. Everything was pretty compact so when you look at the photos on their website, you have to realize that the place in real life is not that big.
There is a stairway that went up to the another bar area/dance floor where they have the contests and it's pretty nice although they are in use only Thursday to Saturday nights. There is a separate, hidden large jacuzzi which allows nudity but I never saw it being used once during my stay.
The Girls
The girls mainly hung out either at poolside tables or the open air bar area. They never really went inside the dining area unless accompanied by a guest (which I never saw happen except the odd time for breakfast when a guest treated a chica he had for an all-nighter). Maybe this was a rule they had to follow by the resort as to not bother the guests during their meals or something.
In the pool table room, there were two girls playing there and I recognized one of them from the photos in the Blackbeard's newsletter. It was a little 20 year old spinner named Madelyn, who immediately greeted me. I decided that she would be my first at Blackbeard's.
She met me at my room after she went back to the girls' changing room to get some things - they apparently use their own towel rather than any of your own room towels. She asked me to shower first then she proceeded to have her's. Then it was action time. After a nice first session, I left the standard 1,600 pesos on her purse while she showered again. Spent a bit of time talking - with a combo of my broken Spanish and her broken English - it was quite pleasant. She even did some dancing for me as she was in no rush to leave right away.
The way the DR girls dance is interesting. They do some nice curvy moves but if you catch some of the videos online, they also do this thing where they squat down and do this rapid ass vibration thing. They probably think this is sexy but in my honest opinion, I think this particular move looks more funny than sensual - but that's just my opinion.
After my session with Madelyn, I filled out a comment slip that Tim requested the guests to do on each girl we session with. I actually had Madelyn write her name at the top beforehand so I got her name right and even told her that I would do a nice writeup for her. She appreciated this. The whole session maybe lasted about an hour even though the room info binder stated 1 to 2 hours for 1,600 pesos but after you come (which they call a leche), the action is considered done. But in no way did I ever feel rushed during the sessions there.
The evening shift of about 20 to 30 girls came in about 6 pm while I was having my dinner. I did have initial worries that I wouldn't like any of the girls in DR and although there were girls that were a bit on the chunky side for my taste, there were enough slimmer ones which I prefer, like Madelyn. So it seems that earlier reports that there will usually be something for each guy's taste rings true. I was quite relieved by this. I didn't end up taking any girls for my first evening since I was just too tired but I did see a few I would like for the next evening.
On Monday, there were no girls available until they day shift started trotting in around noon. It was raining on and off the entire day so the bikinis were gone replaced by just street clothes (as explained to me by Madelyn). There were more girls in this day shift compared to Sunday. Some guys seemed to be taking their first girl for the day during the early parts of the afternoon. But activity overall during the day seemed to be quite low key with not much happening.
I found it kind of interesting that the DR girls seem to just hate getting their hair wet from the rain, even if just drizzles. They will wear these hair shower caps outside and even use umbrellas to take a few steps from the bar to their change room or to another room. It must be cultural since a local scuba operator later told me that DR girls tend to wash their hair only once per week and at the salons too among some other quirks they have. Not surprisingly, most tend to be non-swimmers.
For the daytime on Monday, I decided to have Madelyn again since I wanted to see if a repeat session with a chica would be any different and at least with Madelyn, it was. She was more aware of what I liked and didn't like this time around. After the action, she danced in my room some more and even gave me a quick lesson on how to dance the bachatta.
During the evening, I almost chose the mamasan on duty by mistake until I suddenly realized who she was when she asked me why I haven't taken a girl yet for the evening - and yes, she would have been my first choice if she was available! There were a few girls who approached me with a lot of hands feeling me up and this kind of aggressive attitude actually turned me off a bit especially since they tended to be the ones I had no interest in (too chunky, etc.). But I'll soon learn that this would be nothing compared to the aggression of the Sosua girls later on in my trip. By about 11 pm after some nice chatting with the other guys at the bar area, I decided on a slim quiet chica named Chanel.
Chanel turned out to be a real sweetheart and I enjoyed my session with this 22 year old lady who had legs that seemed to go on forever. I was keeping some feedback from other reports in mind that sometimes the aggressive girls do not provide that great service while the quieter ones usually do.
During this time, there were way more girls than guests so I would imagine that for both the daytime and evening shifts, many if not most of the girls, would walk away without earning any pesos. I heard as a rumour that some of them went over to another club in Costambar after the midnight Blackbeard's bar closing. I think I walked by it on the way to Jenny's as there was an apartment/motel complex that did have a pool and open air bar area with a few guys sitting around.
The Surrounding Area
I decided to take a walk outside to check out the beach and it was a quick 3 minute walk after turning left outside Blackbeard's and a quick right. The beach itself was crap. Full of pebbles and some litter. Not much was happening at all there. The weather was nice though at this time of year - not too hot and not too cold but more on this later.
I did see a few open air restaurants but none seemed to be open. In general, there wasn't really anything interesting in the immediate area. Jenny's is an easy 10 minute walk from Blackbeard's. After exiting the resort, go right, then turn right at the first street, then left then right again on the main road towards the Costambar gates. I looked around inside Jenny's but didn't buy anything. I did pick up a few tabs of generic Cialis at the small farmacia across from Jenny's just in case. This was the place where they had Viagra, Cialis and Levitra painted on the wall. They were selling for 50 pesos per tab and I would imagine that they get business from not only the Blackbeard's guests, but also the many reported ex-pats who live in the area. Keep in mind that you have to ask for the generic versions since this farmacia also carries the trade name versions for much higher prices - I was first shown a box of trade name Cialis (4 tabs) for 1375 pesos. Blackbeard's also sell what they call 'Vitamin V and C' generics but at slightly higher prices than what the farmacia charges.
The Restaurant
The food was well priced with breakfast at about 235 to 250 pesos and dinner at 400 to 500. I skipped lunch during this trip for some reason but they had lunch fare there like burgers. The meals I did have there were quite good. I had a surf and turf for my first dinner and a smoked pork chop for my other. Both were really tasty and another thing worth noting is that the ice in the drinks were fine and safe. I ended up eating all my meals onsite while I was there.
I took two bottles of water from my room minibar fridge for 40 pesos each. Gatorade was available at 80 pesos a bottle in the room too as well as potato chips, soft drinks and some rum but I didn't take anything else.
My Only Issues With Blackbeard's
During my first evening which was the Sunday, I was still a bit tired from travel and the lack of sleep. Instead of taking on another girl as planned, I decided to catch up on more needed sleep. This itself turned into a bit of a problem for me since the bar area plays continuous loud music during the evening which I heard from my room. If one wanted to nap in the afternoon, there was too much noise from the onsite maintenance staff. Then the evening bar music went on all night that made napping after dinner difficult too. It was only at midnight when things closed down did the music stop and I was finally able to get some real sleep.
If possible, I would like to get a room that is less noisy since I'm use to the quiet Montreal hotel rooms where I have my time with the outcall girls there each year. But as I'll find out later, Sosua would be even noisier.
Because of it's remote location in Costambar, Blackbeard's is quite a quaint resort. However, especially when it rains, there really is nothing else to do at Blackbeard's between sessions with the girls. So guys I talked to were ending up spending a lot of time inside their rooms reading or watching TV. Good thing I brought a book to read.
Tim already confirmed that no scuba tours were available since the local operator in Puerto Plata was not willing to come pick up divers, especially in my case, a single diver. For me personally, I found the 'off-time' quite boring. Even with a walk down to Jenny's, I still had hours to waste.
I might return to Blackbeard's since the system with the girls and meals are quite easy as well as drama free but I would not want to stay for more than say a few days at a time. If they could get a scuba operator willing to pick up there, it would make a big difference for me since there's nothing during the mornings there to do.
I would try a Thursday to Saturday though to catch the evening contest entertainment though as the feedback I got from the other guys was good for these. Another option is to try Field of Dreams for comparison next trip too. I do like the overall concept if a few improvements can be done. But even with that, I'm not sure if I would be willing to spend an entire week there yet.
The transits to and from Blackbeard's are a ripoff in my opinion. I needed to transfer to Sosua for the other half of my DR trip and this would have cost me at least 1,700 pesos or about $55. Fortunately, I got a free ride from a local scuba operator based in Sosua.
I'll have a report on the Sosua portion of my trip soon in that section.
Arrival At The Airport
There was the local band that welcomed the passengers even though they sounded like they were playing an endless loop rather than an actual tune. The first line up was for the $10 US Tourist card with two windows available for payments. I had my two $5 US bills ready (including one which had part of a corner ripped off so I hid that one behind the full bill hoping the gal wouldn't catch it - she didn't). Immediately after you get your paper slip receipt (rather than a real card), there's free rum shots next to the Tourist card windows. I didn't bother since there were already several passengers lined up for the free booze and I wanted to get out of there.
A guy then collected the tourist card portion right before the immigration checkpoint. I was wearing my glasses because of the long flights and my passport photo does not have me wearing any. This apparently caused a problem for the immigration officer as he called for another of his team to verify. They both kept comparing my face to that of the photo and I finally decided to help them out by removing my glasses. Then they promptly stamped my passport but didn't even say one word to me throughout - not even a simple 'welcome' to Dominican Republic which I thought was kind of cold.
My checked luggage was already on the conveyor belt and outside where the taxi drivers were waiting to get business, I spotted the guy holding a Blackbeard's Resort sign with my last name on it. We went over to his parked minivan and started heading out to Costambar, where Blackbeard's is located.
The trip is pretty far out and a good 30 minutes as we went through Puerto Plata. I was kind of shocked at all the motoconchos buzzing around everywhere and I saw only one guy wearing a helmet. No other riders and their passengers, including small kids, wore any helmets. Some bikes had what seemed to be an entire family onboard - disasters waiting to happen.
The gates at Costambar were pretty far into the side road into that area so in hindsight, I don't think it would have been practical at all with my checked luggage, to use a cheap publico (the real cheap, crowded shared taxis the locals use) route to get there. Immediately after getting through the gates, I saw Jenny's market on the right side. I also saw a small pharmacy (called a farmacia locally) across the street with the words Viagra, Cialis and Levitra boldly painted on the wall!
Arrival To Blackbeard's
Once at Blackbeard's, the driver took me to reception where we were met by Tim, one of the gringo managers there. After Tim went through the lowdown on the resort and the process with the girls, I paid for the two nights stay at $70 each night for a standard room as well as the $45 US transfer from the POP airport. I also changed $300 US into DR pesos as Tim claimed that they were offering a rate around 38 better than the bank rate of 40. So the check-in was pretty efficient although I would have felt better if the initial online reservation with my credit card was done over a secure webpage which they didn't have.
It was already about 3 pm on the Sunday afternoon and things were really quiet at the resort. I saw maybe only 6 girls in bikinis sitting around a table near the pool, a group of four guys having lunch sitting at another table and that was all. Of course, the girls were already eyeing me like fresh prey!
My room on the second floor was okay, clean and comfortable with a large step-in shower. The bed was comfortable enough. They provided soap but no shampoo so if you don't want to use soap for washing your hair, you need to bring your own shampoo. A key lockbox was inside the closet for security. For some reason, there was a full length mirror in my room which I thought was probably more useful for the chicas than the guests. Since I had so little sleep the night before, I wanted to catch up and nap for the rest of the afternoon.
After a short nap, I was finally ready for action. Went downstairs to scope out the place which turned out to be quite straight forward. All the guest rooms faced the pool area. On the opposite side was the reception which was next to a pool table room, a small lobby area with free internet computer (which worked great), a bar area and an outdoor restaurant/dining area. Everything was pretty compact so when you look at the photos on their website, you have to realize that the place in real life is not that big.
There is a stairway that went up to the another bar area/dance floor where they have the contests and it's pretty nice although they are in use only Thursday to Saturday nights. There is a separate, hidden large jacuzzi which allows nudity but I never saw it being used once during my stay.
The Girls
The girls mainly hung out either at poolside tables or the open air bar area. They never really went inside the dining area unless accompanied by a guest (which I never saw happen except the odd time for breakfast when a guest treated a chica he had for an all-nighter). Maybe this was a rule they had to follow by the resort as to not bother the guests during their meals or something.
In the pool table room, there were two girls playing there and I recognized one of them from the photos in the Blackbeard's newsletter. It was a little 20 year old spinner named Madelyn, who immediately greeted me. I decided that she would be my first at Blackbeard's.
She met me at my room after she went back to the girls' changing room to get some things - they apparently use their own towel rather than any of your own room towels. She asked me to shower first then she proceeded to have her's. Then it was action time. After a nice first session, I left the standard 1,600 pesos on her purse while she showered again. Spent a bit of time talking - with a combo of my broken Spanish and her broken English - it was quite pleasant. She even did some dancing for me as she was in no rush to leave right away.
The way the DR girls dance is interesting. They do some nice curvy moves but if you catch some of the videos online, they also do this thing where they squat down and do this rapid ass vibration thing. They probably think this is sexy but in my honest opinion, I think this particular move looks more funny than sensual - but that's just my opinion.
After my session with Madelyn, I filled out a comment slip that Tim requested the guests to do on each girl we session with. I actually had Madelyn write her name at the top beforehand so I got her name right and even told her that I would do a nice writeup for her. She appreciated this. The whole session maybe lasted about an hour even though the room info binder stated 1 to 2 hours for 1,600 pesos but after you come (which they call a leche), the action is considered done. But in no way did I ever feel rushed during the sessions there.
The evening shift of about 20 to 30 girls came in about 6 pm while I was having my dinner. I did have initial worries that I wouldn't like any of the girls in DR and although there were girls that were a bit on the chunky side for my taste, there were enough slimmer ones which I prefer, like Madelyn. So it seems that earlier reports that there will usually be something for each guy's taste rings true. I was quite relieved by this. I didn't end up taking any girls for my first evening since I was just too tired but I did see a few I would like for the next evening.
On Monday, there were no girls available until they day shift started trotting in around noon. It was raining on and off the entire day so the bikinis were gone replaced by just street clothes (as explained to me by Madelyn). There were more girls in this day shift compared to Sunday. Some guys seemed to be taking their first girl for the day during the early parts of the afternoon. But activity overall during the day seemed to be quite low key with not much happening.
I found it kind of interesting that the DR girls seem to just hate getting their hair wet from the rain, even if just drizzles. They will wear these hair shower caps outside and even use umbrellas to take a few steps from the bar to their change room or to another room. It must be cultural since a local scuba operator later told me that DR girls tend to wash their hair only once per week and at the salons too among some other quirks they have. Not surprisingly, most tend to be non-swimmers.
For the daytime on Monday, I decided to have Madelyn again since I wanted to see if a repeat session with a chica would be any different and at least with Madelyn, it was. She was more aware of what I liked and didn't like this time around. After the action, she danced in my room some more and even gave me a quick lesson on how to dance the bachatta.
During the evening, I almost chose the mamasan on duty by mistake until I suddenly realized who she was when she asked me why I haven't taken a girl yet for the evening - and yes, she would have been my first choice if she was available! There were a few girls who approached me with a lot of hands feeling me up and this kind of aggressive attitude actually turned me off a bit especially since they tended to be the ones I had no interest in (too chunky, etc.). But I'll soon learn that this would be nothing compared to the aggression of the Sosua girls later on in my trip. By about 11 pm after some nice chatting with the other guys at the bar area, I decided on a slim quiet chica named Chanel.
Chanel turned out to be a real sweetheart and I enjoyed my session with this 22 year old lady who had legs that seemed to go on forever. I was keeping some feedback from other reports in mind that sometimes the aggressive girls do not provide that great service while the quieter ones usually do.
During this time, there were way more girls than guests so I would imagine that for both the daytime and evening shifts, many if not most of the girls, would walk away without earning any pesos. I heard as a rumour that some of them went over to another club in Costambar after the midnight Blackbeard's bar closing. I think I walked by it on the way to Jenny's as there was an apartment/motel complex that did have a pool and open air bar area with a few guys sitting around.
The Surrounding Area
I decided to take a walk outside to check out the beach and it was a quick 3 minute walk after turning left outside Blackbeard's and a quick right. The beach itself was crap. Full of pebbles and some litter. Not much was happening at all there. The weather was nice though at this time of year - not too hot and not too cold but more on this later.
I did see a few open air restaurants but none seemed to be open. In general, there wasn't really anything interesting in the immediate area. Jenny's is an easy 10 minute walk from Blackbeard's. After exiting the resort, go right, then turn right at the first street, then left then right again on the main road towards the Costambar gates. I looked around inside Jenny's but didn't buy anything. I did pick up a few tabs of generic Cialis at the small farmacia across from Jenny's just in case. This was the place where they had Viagra, Cialis and Levitra painted on the wall. They were selling for 50 pesos per tab and I would imagine that they get business from not only the Blackbeard's guests, but also the many reported ex-pats who live in the area. Keep in mind that you have to ask for the generic versions since this farmacia also carries the trade name versions for much higher prices - I was first shown a box of trade name Cialis (4 tabs) for 1375 pesos. Blackbeard's also sell what they call 'Vitamin V and C' generics but at slightly higher prices than what the farmacia charges.
The Restaurant
The food was well priced with breakfast at about 235 to 250 pesos and dinner at 400 to 500. I skipped lunch during this trip for some reason but they had lunch fare there like burgers. The meals I did have there were quite good. I had a surf and turf for my first dinner and a smoked pork chop for my other. Both were really tasty and another thing worth noting is that the ice in the drinks were fine and safe. I ended up eating all my meals onsite while I was there.
I took two bottles of water from my room minibar fridge for 40 pesos each. Gatorade was available at 80 pesos a bottle in the room too as well as potato chips, soft drinks and some rum but I didn't take anything else.
My Only Issues With Blackbeard's
During my first evening which was the Sunday, I was still a bit tired from travel and the lack of sleep. Instead of taking on another girl as planned, I decided to catch up on more needed sleep. This itself turned into a bit of a problem for me since the bar area plays continuous loud music during the evening which I heard from my room. If one wanted to nap in the afternoon, there was too much noise from the onsite maintenance staff. Then the evening bar music went on all night that made napping after dinner difficult too. It was only at midnight when things closed down did the music stop and I was finally able to get some real sleep.
If possible, I would like to get a room that is less noisy since I'm use to the quiet Montreal hotel rooms where I have my time with the outcall girls there each year. But as I'll find out later, Sosua would be even noisier.
Because of it's remote location in Costambar, Blackbeard's is quite a quaint resort. However, especially when it rains, there really is nothing else to do at Blackbeard's between sessions with the girls. So guys I talked to were ending up spending a lot of time inside their rooms reading or watching TV. Good thing I brought a book to read.
Tim already confirmed that no scuba tours were available since the local operator in Puerto Plata was not willing to come pick up divers, especially in my case, a single diver. For me personally, I found the 'off-time' quite boring. Even with a walk down to Jenny's, I still had hours to waste.
I might return to Blackbeard's since the system with the girls and meals are quite easy as well as drama free but I would not want to stay for more than say a few days at a time. If they could get a scuba operator willing to pick up there, it would make a big difference for me since there's nothing during the mornings there to do.
I would try a Thursday to Saturday though to catch the evening contest entertainment though as the feedback I got from the other guys was good for these. Another option is to try Field of Dreams for comparison next trip too. I do like the overall concept if a few improvements can be done. But even with that, I'm not sure if I would be willing to spend an entire week there yet.
The transits to and from Blackbeard's are a ripoff in my opinion. I needed to transfer to Sosua for the other half of my DR trip and this would have cost me at least 1,700 pesos or about $55. Fortunately, I got a free ride from a local scuba operator based in Sosua.
I'll have a report on the Sosua portion of my trip soon in that section.