Babymoon to Punta Mita, Mexico

Nic and I really wanted to go somewhere just the two of us to celebrate our anniversary. We decided to do the same thing we did when we were pregnant with Hudson and combine our anniversary trip with a babymoon. We knew we wouldn't be able to leave Hud for too long so we needed to go somewhere close. We wanted to go somewhere neither of us had been before and ideally some place tropical. My best friend, Rachelle, went to Punta Mita for her babymoon and so did a good friend of Sabrina's (strangely on the same weekend). We had never heard of the place before, but after hearing all the rave reviews we decided to look into it. When we found an incredible deal on Travelzoo for the Four Seasons Punta Mita, we knew it was meant to be. We had to be a little bit flexible with our dates and took a risk going during the "rainy" season, but it worked out perfectly and we had the absolute best time. 

I hadn't really spent any time thinking about our trip, probably because Hudson and the pregnancy were keeping me extremely busy so when Nic told me the weather forecast called for rain our entire trip, I wasn't even bummed. I figured, whatever, as long as I have a weekend to relax I don't care if I'm sitting in the room reading a book. 

We left on June 5th for our 2 1/2 hour flight (yes, paradise is that close!). We got coffee bean and breakfast at the airport and had an empty seat next to us on our fairly full flight! At the airport, our hotel shuttle picked us up to drive us the 40 minutes to our hotel (this was somewhat pricey, but we figured we had saved so much on everything else and I really didn't feel like dealing with a taxi in Mexico while pregnant). They served us with scented, moist towels and cold waters in the van, which was very welcomed after our "long" flight. ;) When we arrived at the hotel we were greeted with delicious drinks and a bottle of tequila. Nic got to enjoy the tequila in his drink, while I enjoyed my virgin cocktail. When we walked into the lobby, we were blown away with the view! It was stunning. We were checked in and given all the important hotel info while sitting on the lobby couches, then a golf cart took us to our room. In the room, we found a bottle of champagne, chocolate covered apples, grilled fruit, juice and a nice note wishing us a happy anniversary. They also delivered a pregnancy pillow for me. So far we were extremely impressed! We quickly changed into swimsuits and raced off to enjoy the lazy river. It was spectacular. We couldn't believe we had left LA that morning and by the afternoon we were sitting poolside in a tropical paradise. It was a gorgeous, sunny day with no clouds in sight. In fact, when we checked in they informed us that it hardly ever rains during the day, only at night, even though the forecast seems to always make it seem like the weather will be terrible.

That night we went to dinner at Aramara. Our meal was incredible! We got crispy shrimp and chicken and spinach potstickers for appetizers. Both were delicious. For dinner, we shared the grilled filet mignon with mushroom risotto and garlic spinach and the vegetable tempura (the tempura was served with the same sauce as the crispy shrimp and was incredible!). On top of the food being amazing, the restaurant was fairly empty, the view was spectacular and the sunset was stunning! We were seriously in heaven and decided right then and there that we never wanted to leave!! 

As part of our travelzoo deal, we got to have a buffet breakfast every morning. It was delicious! They had an omelet station, all the usual breakfast buffet items, and a variety of Mexican items each morning (the beef burrito with smoky salsa was my favorite). They also had this delicious green juice with pineapple, cucumber, mint and honey in it. Rachelle and Brandon had stayed at a different hotel, Imanta during their trip and told us how incredible it was. It only has about 12 rooms and a huge property so it is very secluded and private. We had originally tried to stay there, but it was out of our price range and kept selling out quickly for dates that worked for us. Rachelle e-mailed the hotel though and arranged for us to go over for a lunch. So on June 6th, we took a hotel car over to the Imanta resort. We sat at the gate for quite a while wondering if they were going to let us in. We were finally granted entrance and welcomed with cold infused towels then whisked off in a golf cart to the beach. We were very graciously greeted and treated like guests of honor. We were the only ones eating at the restaurant on the beach and were immediately served the best guacamole I have ever had! They also gave us a huge basket of homemade chips and salsa to start off. We ordered "aguachile" per the waiters suggestion (our waiter was one of the nicest people ever! He kept calling Nic the captain and treated us like family, telling us we were welcome back any time). It's ceviche with shrimp. Then we had the whole fish, which Rachelle had told us was a must! It came with the most delicious rice, beans, a huge plate of grilled vegetables and fresh tortillas. It was SO good!! We sat there and ate until we felt like we would explode, then we were taken on a tour of the property. 

After the tour, we went back to the beach for a bit before a golf cart took us back to our waiting car. We were so impressed with how beautiful the resort was, but also with how kind everyone was and how special they all made us feel.We owe a huge thanks to Rachelle and Brandon for not only discovering Punta Mita and recommending it, but also for arranging our beautiful day at Imanta. 

When we got back to our hotel, we went to the main pool. We swam, lounged on these water bean bag things and read our books. 


Then we went down to the beach to read, lounge some more and watch the sunset. We ordered small meals off the pool menu and were amazed again with how delicious the food was. I got baja fish tacos and they were easily the most delicious fish tacos I have ever had! Nic got a Mexican burger that was also delicious. After the sun set, we went to Aramara for dessert. We got the bento box, which had a bit of everything: molten chocolate cake, a banana muillet, mango fritters with passion fruit dipping sauce and coconut ice cream. They also gave us mini tiramisu that was our favorite dessert so far. As we ate a lightning storm began. Just when we got back to our room, the rain began. We watched the lightning storm for a bit then headed to bed. 

On June 7th, we enjoyed another delicious buffet breakfast. My new favorite was the french toast with nutella and strawberries! YUM!! 

After breakfast, Nic went kayak fishing. He caught a decent fish, but his line broke pulling it in. He still had fun though. Then we watched a presentation on all the local fish that had been caught that morning. People could select their fish to have prepared in the restaurant for either lunch or dinner that day. 

After that, we went back to our room for a bit to recover from the humidity. It was extremely humid that day! After we had hydrated and cooled down, we went back to the beach and got a free cabana. It was so comfy!! We read our books and lounged for a bit. Then we got snorkel gear and did some snorkeling. My mask kept leaking which made it a bit of a struggle to enjoy, but it was definitely interesting. It was just a rocky bottom, but we saw lots of big blue fish, colorful fish and we saw two yellow and black striped eels. If we ever come back, which I hope we do, we would like to go on a boat snorkeling tour (they wouldn't let me do it this time because I was too far along in my pregnancy). 

After our snorkeling, we read some more, then we walked down the beach to check out all the caves. One of the caves has tons of bats in it, which you can hear from quite a ways away. When we got closer, we could see them flying around inside. We went into the water then went back to lounging and reading. (Our camera lens fogged up from the insane humidity so a lot of our pictures look cloudy and/or spotty. 

That evening we watched the sun set, then we went to the bar to watch the Kings game. I got a virgin lava flow to drink. The game ended up going into double overtime! We left after the first overtime because we were running out of time to get dinner. We went back to Aramara and got the rock shrimp and veggie tempura. We asked if they had any tiramisu left from the night before, they said it would take about 15 minutes and offered to deliver it to our room. We agreed. We had been watching the game update on our phone and tons of the 2nd OT had gone by with no goal. Just as we confirmed our dessert plans so we could get back to our room to watch the game, the Kings scored. We went back to our room to pack and watch the highlights before enjoying our delicious tiramisu. 

On June 8th, we enjoyed our last buffet breakfast. We spent the morning on the other beach, reading and swimming. We took one last trip up to the cliff and squeezed in one last dip in the lazy river before heading back to the room to shower and finish packing. Then we sadly checked out and caught our shuttle back to the airport. We had the absolute best time and cannot wait to come back. We noticed a lot of families at the hotel and think it would be a great place to bring the whole family some day. We aren't sure if it was a Mexico thing our a Four Seasons thing (we usually stay in really budget hotels so we don't know what is "normal" at fancy hotels), but we were blown away with how fabulous the service was. Everyone was so friendly and they all seemed to go out of their way to make our stay exceptional. We had the absolute best time!! We kept joking that thankfully we had Hudson to go home to. We were starting to miss him and were looking forward to getting home to him. If we didn't have Hudson to return home to, I think we might have both cried when we had to leave.