Sandpiper Bay Vacation

Last week Stephen and I went on vacation and not only could it not have come at a better time, we couldn't have gone at a better time. For our honeymoon, we went to an all inclusive in the Dominican Republic which was great but there were some issues with the food... I got a bacteria on the last day and had to get antibiotics after getting back to America. Needless to say, we love the "all inclusive" aspect but didn't want to leave America. We googled all inclusives in America and found Sandpiper Bay by Club Med only a few hours south of us. We were pumped because not only did it have American food that we'd be used to, but it also had TONS of activities for us to do. A good comparison would be this is a cruise on land that also included free tennis lessons, golf lessons, sailing and paddle boarding. There were a lot of people our ages there who ran all the activities and events and it was great getting to know some of them throughout our stay.

We arrived on Sunday afternoon and left on Friday which gave us the perfect amount of time at the resort. One of the reasons it was a great time to go was because it was the end of their busy season. Sunday and Monday it was crowded at the resort but Tuesday-Friday it was relatively empty which was great because we went from no seats at the main pool to any seat you wanted. There was no line for any of the water activities and the tennis lessons had the perfect amount of people in them.

Now onto the plethora of pictures....

The view from our room

Our room wasn't in the best of shape but it served it's purpose. The website said they had remodeled in 2009 so we assumed there were nicer rooms and we just happened to not end up in one of them. It was also interesting since Club Med is a French company so the room had a European feel to it.

Our room

Stephen already claiming his spot and checking out the TV

After dropping our stuff in the room we grabbed a late lunch which was delicious and headed to the adult pool for some late afternoon relaxing.

They had random areas to relax and watch the bay

The weather was so perfect which made it hard to leave for dinner

The adults only pool: notice how crowded it is here and then notice how no one's there in a later picture

So relaxing

The area for the water activities

Every night they had a different theme and different activity. Most nights they had a show and then an after party. On Sunday night we missed the show because we had a late dinner but we went to the glow party.

Unfortunately, this turned out blurry

Their club/bar. This was before the show was over so it was empty 

They had some LEGIT acrobat people

The next morning we woke up and went to a sailing lesson. It was great and sailing ended up being pretty easy! We sailed at least once a day and some days we sailed twice. Stephen loved sailing.

Pre-sailing lesson

They had delicious food! There was a main buffet restaurant, a small, outdoor restaurant and a reservation-only restaurant. Usually we ate at the buffet restaurant which had a wide variety of different styles of food.

The adults only section of the main restaurant

We took some dessert back to the room for a later snack... so yum

Monday afternoon we took a nap then woke up in time to take a trapeze lesson. Oh boy, scariest thing ever... I literally barley made it up there. Thankfully for my first try, I made it up there with the help of some of the workers but the second time I did it all on my own. I know, totally embarrassing but I'm very afraid of heights and there was nothing to constrain me on the ladder to the top. On the other hand, Stephen was a pro and did amazing on the trapeze and was even qualified to do a "catch" (only people who are successful at the trapeze can do a catch). I'm so glad we learned how to do the trapeze and we planned on continuing this throughout the week but we were so sore there was no way I could've held on. We definitely have a whole new respect for people who do this - especially those who are really good at it!

Practicing the steps on the ground... all fun and games till it's time to climb

One of the professionals - she was AMAZING!

Practicing the trick on the ground before in the air

I ended up not being able to do this once in the air - I was too freaked out

Stephen climbing up the ladder

Ready to go!

He did it!

Um so embarrassing... he had to talk/walk me up the ladder

About to go!

We did it!

Here are the videos of Stephen doing his tricks! The second one is the one of him doing the catch.

Ready dinner that night

They had ice cream sundaes and ice cream sandwiches which were delicious!

We played a game of Boccie Ball before that night's show

 That night they had a show called "Nova". It was a space-themed show with acrobatics and dancing. It was pretty funny/silly but the acrobatics was legit and neat to watch.

Tuesday morning we woke up early, had a tennis lesson then headed over to try out some paddle boarding. Thankfully the bay was super calm which made paddle boarding so much easier!

After paddle boarding, we relaxed at the pool for the rest of the day. Notice how empty it is now...

On our honeymoon, everyone seemed to get the memo that if you brought your own water bottle, they'd fill that up instead of giving out tiny cups. Stephen got me this adorable monogrammed tumbler for my birthday to use for this trip but no one brought their own cups! We were so thankful to have these though during our tennis lessons.

Dinner Tuesday night

 Wednesday we woke up for another tennis lesson then headed right to the pool to cool down and relax.

The lap pool

That afternoon, we participated in a regatta. We won the first heat then lost the final heat. It was fun sailing in a small competition.

We were Team Sailfish

That evening we had dinner then attended casino night. That was a lot of fun and we enjoyed playing Blackjack and even won something small!

Delicious desserts!

Casino Night

On our last full day, we went to our last tennis lesson of the week and Stephen won King of the Court! We relaxed by the pool and sailed the rest of the day. That night we ate at their reservation restaurant which had a nice atmosphere but we liked the food at the main restaurant better. We finished off the night with a trapeze show which was fantastic!

Stephen and his "Aztec Gold" metal

The menus at the restaurant lit up when they were opened

My dinner 

Bummed this turned out blurry but it's the only picture we have 

Trapeze show

Friday morning we woke up and Stephen went paddle boarding one last time. My allergies got the best of me and I wasn't up for it so I just watched. Then we went to the lap pool one last time and ate our last lunch.

It was a great trip and we had a lot of fun! We're so thankful the Lord blessed us with beautiful weather the whole trip! We're glad we ended the trip on a Friday and therefore have all weekend to recover and catch up. I'm definitely enjoying laying in bed and watching TV while it's storming outside.