Corinne's holiday in the Dominican Republic

Two weeks in the Caribbean in april 2005. Page 2

Black and white cocktail.

Two very podgy American women walked past and said "That's a man". It's strange how they are incapable of determining the sex of someone who's wearing a bikini !

I'm really fed up with eating now, and decided to stick to 2 meals a day and dispense with the bacon and egg at breakfast, the cocktails and the desserts. Here I am, however, enjoying my last cocktail with a pretty black waitress ! My little girl was exhausted again so we had to go back to the room immediately after dinner. Her problem is that she's waking up much too early.

Bad news from France.

I put her to bed then, just as she fell asleep, my ex phoned and told me that she had to go into a clinic for 2 months and that I had to fax the social services in France my agreement for our daughter to go into a foster family until my ex comes out of the clinic. This came as a highly unpleasant shock as I was unable to have her live with me since I have 6 weeks of business travel in Scandinavia when we return. It was suggested I don't tell her until the holiday is over but I prefer to tell her tomorrow to give her time to digest it and time to discuss it and lay her mind at rest. Well at least I'll be able to take her at weekends. But who's going to look after our dog ?

I break the news.

I awoke at 06.00 and felt very troubled about giving my little girl the news about having to go to a foster family while her mother is in the clinic. I went out for a short run along the beach, met the dog and her puppies, then returned to find my little girl watching the telly. I told her about last night's phone conversation and she shed a tear then accepted it. She trusts me totally and I said that if her mother ever had to have an extended stay in hospital then I would get an au pair and have her stay with me. She then cheered up and we dealt with the necessary paperwork together and faxed it to France.

We went for a walk along the beach as far as the beachfront shops but it was impossible to look at anything because of the zealous salesmen (just like in Egypt). The puppies were nowhere to be seen so we had a quick dip while she screamed because a large school of tiny silvery fish flashed past !

Sea, sun and laughter.

We spent a lot of time at the pool together, with me picking her up and throwing her as far as possible in the water - it must have looked a little odd, a muscular "mother" doing that but never mind. She calls me "Eh !" to avoid calling me "Dada" or "Mama" ! I received hundreds of orders all day long which was very funny. From time to time I managed to escape and read my book in the shade or go for a short swim and topless sunbathe on the beach but very quickly I got called back ! We must look awfully cute as we are always holding hands and are always nicely dressed for meals in the morning and evening. I'm so happy to be able to spend all this time with her and I know she is as well. We are completely in tune with one another.

Swimming with the dolphins.

Here I am with one of the games organisers, Noel. They are all extremely friendly. Today we took a short open-backed van ride to a beach to swim with the dolphins. It was a horrible gusty, dusty and jerky high speed ride. The driver knew how to drive fast but not which gear to do it in. We then had to fill in disclaimer forms and hang around amongst the coconut palms (complete with hammocks !) until a boat took us to an "island" which was in fact a floating dock.

My little girl joined 5 other people and swam with 2 dolphins for 15 minutes and had a very nice photo taken. She loved it but I was rather annoyed at the way all the clients were treated like cattle. I got cross with a woman "cattle rancher" who insisted that my babe take her hat off while waiting interminably in the queue and wouldn't listen when I explained that she was burnt on the top of her head and that I wanted her to keep it on until the last second. Presumably they are afraid the dolphins will eat the hat. I wished they'd eat the woman.

Topless goings-on in the BBQ restaurant.

We got back to the hotel at lunchtime and spent the afternoon at the pool. At one stage I went to sunbathe topless on the sand within sight of the BBQ. The cook called me over and took me behind the counter and put his arm around me while he served the meals, much to the delight of some of the guests. I thought it very funny although some of the American women appeared quite shocked, probably thinking I was being taken advantage of. I returned to my towel and 2 American men came and sat down next to me. One said "You are fantastic !" I laughed and thanked them.

I walked along the beach to the shops with my daughter but there were high pressure salesmen so we scarpered without even being able to look at anything.

Sailing in a catamaran.

Here I am with another of the events organisers. This one apparently quite fancied me because she proposed we get up to some naughty stuff !

My daughter and I took a catamaran out for a sail on the coral reef in the afternoon. There was quite a bit of wind and some waves which allowed us to surf a bit. It was great fun. Although I can windsurf quite well, I don't have much experience of sailing so it was a bit of a laugh, but very easy. What was slightly disconcerting however was the way the rudder kept hitting the coral over which we were skimming rather fast. My second in command was very worried at first and screamed when we got splashed ! We went out to visit a great big wrecked ship which was stuck on the reef and turning to rust. It was tempting to climb onto it but I didn't want to take any risks.

I hand over the catamaran to my little girl.

Next day consisted of more swimming and sailing. I handed over control of the catamaran to my first officer for a while and she did very well. We didn't crash into anything or sink. I do love being with her all the time.