♦ Punta Cana vacation vlog video

DougAles · Mar 5, 2017

>>> Feedback welcomed <<<

♦Just uploaded our Bahia Principe vacation video.

My DJI Phantom 3 Standard quadcopter was very helpful in creating this video.

Please share your thoughts. If you enjoy my video, I would welcome your like / comment / subscription. Thank you.

phantomAlex · Mar 5, 2017

I truly enjoyed your video, every single moment of it, not only you choose a beautiful country, but you enjoyed and was able to share in your footage the enthusiasm, the excitement, and the fun side of a vacation that you will never forget. These moments have no price, thank you for sharing them with us [emoji4]

DougAles · Mar 5, 2017

Wow Alex. Thank you!

Your reply made me very happy.

EscoBlades · Mar 5, 2017

Enjoyed that, great vlog. Looks like you both had a blast :0

DougAles · Mar 5, 2017

EscoBlades said:
Enjoyed that, great vlog. Looks like you both had a blast :0

Thank you EscoBlades. We did have a lot of fun together. She is a real great sport. Look what she agreed to do in the video at 5:35 ;-)

EscoBlades · Mar 6, 2017

DougAles said:
Thank you EscoBlades. We did have a lot of fun together. She is a real great sport. Look what she agreed to do in the video at 5:35 ;-)

Very Linda Carter-esque

DougAles · Mar 6, 2017

EscoBlades said:
Very Linda Carter-esque

Thank you. We prepaird for the Wonder-Woman spin portion off the video by viewing Linda Carter doing her famous spin just before we filmed this. Glad you enjoyed it.

kbviper · Mar 6, 2017

Great video. I stayed at the Ambar last year and recognized many of the scenes in your video. Took the dune buggy tour to the same beach and cave pond. Didn't have my P4 then. Did you get any trouble bringing your drone into the country of flying it at the resort? I just came back from Cuba last week. No chance of bringing a drone in there. They don't even allow a handheld GPS for geocaching.

DougAles · Mar 6, 2017

kbviper said:
Great video. I stayed at the Ambar last year and recognized many of the scenes in your video. Took the dune buggy tour to the same beach and cave pond. Didn't have my P4 then. Did you get any trouble bringing your drone into the country of flying it at the resort? I just came back from Cuba last week. No chance of bringing a drone in there. They don't even allow a handheld GPS for geocaching.

Thank you for viewing my video and leaving a message for me here.

The Dominican Republic has a permit process. I did get a permit from the IDEC and kept it with me. They emailed me the permit so I could print it in advance of my trip. Their was no permit fee.

Some people on this forum feel a permit is not needed. I decide to not take the risk.

How was Cuba? Can you VLOG in Cuba?

kbviper · Mar 6, 2017

Cuba was great. I've been to DR 3 times and Cuba 6 in the past 8 years. I don't think that there would be any issues VLOGing in Cuba as long as you did not do it in airports, or around police, customs, or military personnel. I take a lot of pictures and the only time I was challenged was when I tried to take a picture of a police officer on a motorcycle. He told me that it was not allowed.

Prices to go to resorts in both countries from Canada are similar. Resort staff in both countries are generally friendly, however I would not feel safe walking around unaccompanied in most areas of DR. In Cuba, you feel very safe as a tourist. I did a trip to Havana that was mainly walking with a guide. Felt very safe. The architecture is incredible, as are the American cars from the 50s.

Thanks for the info on DR. I'd like to take my drone next time I go back and will get a permit.

A bit off topic, but here are a couple of pics from our trip last week.

DougAles · Mar 7, 2017

kbviper said:
Cuba was great...A bit off topic, but here are a couple of pics from our trip last week.

Thank you for sharing photos from your trip to Cuba. Awesome!

We are from the U.S.A. so we have travel restrictions to Cuba. However, from what I have read, these restrictions are much softer then they were in the past.

I'm doing some reading to see if my vlogging would qualify as a cultural exchange to allow us travel to Cuba. Like you stated above, I've read about Cuba not allowing drones / quadcopters so a trip to Cuba would need to be without my drone.

Reguarding getting a Dominican Republic drone use permit, just email [email protected] and they will sent you the application. At this time, it is only available in Spanish so I needed the help of a friend to complete the application. Alternatively, the IDEC who issues the permit has a office at the airport. So you can get the permit after you get to the Dominican Republic. I am just the type of person who prefers to complete as much as possible pre-travel so I'm not standing in lines on vacation. Some people told me to just not worry about the permit. However, the permit it free and I felt more comfortable following their legal process. I went a step further and got a email from the resort complex that I had permission to fly my drone on their property. I kept a printed copy of my IDEC drone use permit and resort permission in my pocket when I was flying my drone.

Thank you for your information on your travels to Dominican Republic and Cuba.

kbviper · Mar 7, 2017

Thank you for the information as well. We went to the DR last year as we were meeting my wife's sister and her husband. Her sister is originally from Canada, but is now an American citizen living in Maryland. While Americans are not yet able to "free range" on the resorts in Cuba, there are thousands a year that apparently book trips to Cuba out of a Canadian Airport and travel there and back with a US passport without any problems. From what I have heard, Cuban officials have no issue with Americans traveling to resorts in Cuba, but US Customs officials do. I read that Americans who vacationed at resorts in Cuba used to get fined if they got caught, but given the new level of access, US Customs officers are now turning a blind eye to these cases, even though it is not yet allowed.

I have been really impressed with Cuba, and how friendly the people are there, and would encourage anyone to visit if you get the opportunity. Your new president has threatened to once again to pretty much shut Cuba down to US citizens if Cuba does not improve their human rights efforts. Cuba has built a number of new resorts over the past couple of years in anticipation of becoming more open to Americans. It will be interesting to see what happens.

You've got some great shots in your video and it convinced my reluctant wife to try parasailing down south the next time we get the opportunity to try it.

Safe travels.

Habanero · Mar 14, 2017

Very nice video and pictures of my 2 favorites places on this planet. Cuba and DR... Im Cuban my wife DR ..... Thank you very much for sharing, I enjoy every bit of it. Very pleasant edition and music. We go every year since we got marry. Been in most of the places on the video and pics but notice new things in punta cana ,,,Great we were planing PC this summer same hotel we are in the privilege club of BP Im sure they try to sell you some ;-)...

Its estimated that ~150K americans visit Cuba every year but no one can tell for sure how many as Cuban government will not stamp any USA passport so no one ever know you where there and you can't have any fines legally. this its the truth I have many friends here in the USA that travel to Cuba on a regular basic from Canada..... Its sad that I won't be able to bring the drone to Cuba

but I understand why, to tell you the true... Maybe we can pass a mavic with other cameras stuff? lol

a little sharing back I hope you don't mine . I wish I had the video editing skills Im still learning...

Habana from the Castillo del MORRO

....
Jardines del Rey (kings gardens) Cuba ( my daughter )

Pristine reef around Jardines del Rey one of the biggest coral reef system of the planet away from Pollution and industrialization . Notice the Elkhorn corals almost estinted in the caribbean.

We finally swim with the dolphins , we never did before because I didn't like how the poor animals had no space etc, but not here in jardines del rey ...

Yes the ocean its our passion. But there its so much more

including the sky....

kbviper · Mar 14, 2017

Some great pictures. We normally go to Cayo Coco, but went to Varadero this year, partially so we could go to Havana. We toured the fort in your pictures before going through the tunnel to Havana. We came back through the tunnel and had lunch at a restaurant just below the fort, overlooking Havana. A beautiful country and the most friendly, hard working people in the world.