Saona Island

Saona sits off the south-eastern tip of the country inside Cotubanama National Park, and it delivers exactly the Caribbean image most visitors arrive holding: a long white beach fringed with coconut palms, water in graded turquoise bands, and a shallow natural pool offshore where boats stop and passengers stand waist-deep among red cushion starfish. Two small fishing villages share the island with the park, and beyond the tour beaches it stays quiet mangrove and dry forest. It is the Dominican Republic's most popular excursion by a wide margin, and the day usually runs catamaran out, speedboat back.

History

The Cueva de Cotubanamá holds pre-Columbian pictographs and petroglyphs, and the Taíno called the island Adamanay. Columbus landed here in May 1494 on his second voyage and named it Saona, after the Italian city of Savona and his friend Michele da Cuneo of Savona, whom he made its first governor; by 1500 the Taíno of the island supplied Santo Domingo with most of its cassava. In 1502, after a cacique was killed by a Spaniard's mastiff and the islanders rose, Governor Nicolás de Ovando sent a force that killed or enslaved many of them, and the island stayed depopulated for centuries. Several ships were wrecked on it in the early Spanish period, and it had no permanent inhabitants until 1944, when the first buildings went up; the village of Mano Juan grew from them (Wikipedia, Saona Island).

What you'll find

• The palm-lined beaches - the classic wide sand on the western shore.
• The natural pool - the offshore sandbar shallows with starfish.
• Mano Juan village - the small painted fishing settlement on the island.
• Cotubanama National Park - the protected dry forest and mangrove around it.

When to go

The dry season from December to April gives the calmest crossings and best colour. Hurricane season runs June to November, with more rain and occasional cancellations. Trips depart in the morning and return late afternoon; earlier departures mean arriving before the main fleet.

Before you go

It is a mass-market excursion and the main beach can hold many boats at once - the quieter stretches are a short walk from where the catamarans land. Please do not lift starfish out of the water: it kills them, and responsible operators now enforce this. Tours vary a lot in quality and crowding; smaller-boat operators cost more and deliver a calmer day. Drinks are usually included, which sets the tone on the catamaran leg.

Nearby

Bayahibe village, Catalina Island's reefs and the Cotubanama park caves on the mainland.

Key facts