SAONA
How to visit the island yourself
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This is the first report from a trip to the Dominican Republic, which means it will be useful to display a route map of the entire trip to this Caribbean island. We visited many places in the country, and all of it is connected with the coast. Punta Cana and the beaches of Bavaro, Santa Barbara de Samana, Santo Domingo and Bayahibe, as well as the island of Saona, which is part of the huge reserve of Cotubanama, (we jokingly called it "Cat in Panama!").
Today's story will be about how to visit Saona on your own.
Having looked through the Internet reviews about trips to Saona before the trip, we decided for sure that we wanted to visit there, but the offers from local travel companies did not satisfy us. Firstly, the unreal price tag (100-130 dollars per person), secondly, the time we spend on the island (only 1.5-2 hours), and thirdly, the emphasis in the excursion is not on exploring the island, but for food and drink (which is not bad at all, but it is also available in the hotel, but I would like to see nature). Here, imagine that based in Punta Cana, you will be picked up at 6: 00-6: 30 am from your hotel, and you will begin to move towards the island. First, take a bus to the village of Bayahibe, then you will be transferred to a large or not very catamaran, which will sail slowly, making stops here and there, and you will get to the island itself around 12 noon. You will be taken along the short but stylish street Mano Juana - this is "like the capital" of Saona, you will be led into the courtyard where the natives sitting all day near the outskirts "like bred turtles", but in reality tourists 😜, then they will feed you lunch and take you back to Punta Canu on the same route. On the way back, tourists, anticipating the imminent end of the excursion, as a rule, try to "swell" more strongly. And in the end, they return to Punta Cana in the evening well-fed and cheerful, but they haven't really seen Saona herself.
We were not satisfied with this option of visiting a natural "pearl" and we decided that we would get to the island on our own, explore it as far as the jungle would allow, and definitely spend the night there, whatever the cost.
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Before the detailed history of our trip, check out the atmospheric arrivals of several tourist ships returning from Saona to Bayahibe from those paid excursions - note the density of passengers on each of the ships. And the different sizes of these ships, apparently, should justify the difference in prices for excursions from travel agencies 😉
The key question that we want to answer with our reportage - How to visit the island of Saona on your own? Preparing to visit the island, we could not find anywhere Russian-language information on how to get to Saona for individual tourists , how to visit it without the help of a travel agency, and what to see on Saona Island? We have come this way, and we will try to describe it in sufficient detail for those who want to repeat such a journey.
The day before the planned trip, we went to the taxi parking near our hotel in Punta Cana, found out the price of the trip to Bayahibe ($ 120), bargained for a hundred and left the driver with our Wotsap number. This messenger is the most widespread in the Dominican Republic, so be sure to install it yourself when you are going there. Sluggish evening correspondence with the driver lowered the cost of a taxi to $ 80, and the final discount by another $ 5 - persuaded us to purchase this service. If there are 4 passengers in the car, then the cost of a Punta Cana - Bayahibe taxi will be only $ 75/4 = $ 18.75 per person, which by Dominican standards is not bad at all for more than 80 kilometers and this is in an air-conditioned car. Who needs the number of our taxi driver Jorge, write to us on Facebook (link at the top right of the blog) and we will gladly give his contact.
About an hour and a half away on free, and in some places paid, roads, and we are in Bayhibe, where I pose next to the cannon from the ship of William Kidd , one of the most famous pirates of the Caribbean, who landed somewhere in this area in 1699.
The Booking website for a request for accommodation on the island of Saona gives out two hotels: cheaper and more expensive. Since the difference in price is not great, and the more expensive one includes breakfast, we chose it. Writing to the owners of the hotel in Wotsap, we asked them to help us with an inexpensive transfer to the island. Sailing from Bayahibe to Mano Juan is quite far + - thirty kilometers, and earlier we heard that renting a separate boat would cost $ 140-150 for two-way delivery, but we were not at all ready for such costs. The owners of the hotel gave us the contact of a person named Isidro, who, as we understood later, acts as an optimizer for local boatmen, who carry out some of their working routes, and Isidro picks up fellow travelers for a small fee. To take us to Saona and back, he charged $ 30 per person in both directions, this also included the payment of a five-dollar bracelet to enter the Kotubanama nature reserve. (We have kept Isidro's contacts and will share with those who need it).
Important! Foreign travel guides told us that it would be very difficult to get to the island without knowing Spanish. We obeyed before the trip, learned basic Spanish, thanks to which we could communicate with others, for example, with the same Isidro, who never writes in his Votsap, but voices audio messages in very fast Spanish.
Isidro put us in a big Dominican family, which apparently went to Saona to celebrate some of their holiday with a picnic, and the guys were not at all opposed to us sharing the cost of the boat with them. There were 12 of them - of different ages, the mother of the cute gang endlessly "took a selfies", and the youngest member of the family was placed right at the bottom of the boat under the bench, to my right.
The first forty minutes of sailing, we dashingly galloped over the waves. It so happened that my place under the starboard side was the most drenched on the ship. On each of the waves, I got a splash of three liters of spray 😊 and I very quickly turned from a proud "sea wolf" into a sad "wet rag" 😂. And soon, our dreadful captain changed the rhythm, and we began to swim in jerks for 20-30 seconds, followed by a stop. And so, over and over again. It became clear that something was wrong with the boat and we were dropped off in the village of Catuano, on the very edge of Saona Island.
We were a little on the alert when the captain unsuccessfully tried to call one of his colleagues, but then we thought that we were unexpectedly lucky. After all, we planned to explore only one settlement of the island out of two, and fate allowed us to look into the second!
Here are some pictures of Catuano, the second settlement on the island of Saona.
Catuano delighted with a sandy beach like flour, a bounty-style palm tree, and surprised with a gray paramilitary ship near the pier.
About half an hour passed and "rescuers" arrived for us, who were supposed to take us from Catuano to the final destination of our journey - Mano Juan. Our new captain lowered such speed that we almost flew to Mano Juan's pier in a few minutes.
We will remember this short passage forever, because the speed of the boat was so great that it blew off the roof, and the passengers held it with their hands so that they would not fly away. More details in the video.
And so we dock to the paradise island. Inside there is a feeling that we are members of the expedition from the ship "Bounty" from the movie of the same name with Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins , and perhaps a little pirates of the Caribbean 🤘🤘🤘
First impressions of Saona: Caribbean tree, lots of photo shoots around and DONKEYS !!!
We were surprised, but during the two days spent on the island, we found four donkeys that periodically came from their pastures in the yards to the central beach of Mano Juana.
We took a leisurely stroll along the main street of the village, which looked a lot like a small town from an American western and was decorated with festive garlands.
A fragment of the street in the photo is located to the right of the pier, and our hotel "Saona Beach House" , where we planned to stay for the next two days, is to the left of the pier, at the very end of the village, right next to the jungle. Although, it is not entirely correct to call Mano Juan a village. By standards, the village is a small settlement without a church, but here there is a church. And if there is a church, then it is not a village, but a village! 😉
We walked imposingly along the beach to our hotel. Outside, he even looked somehow respectable.
Since the choice of housing on the island is limited to only two offers, we will dwell on this in more detail. A room at our hotel for January 2020 cost $ 34 per person, including breakfast if shared. We decided to "boo" and bought a room "with a sea view" for $ 38 per person. Don't repeat our mistake. The windows of the room were closed with heavy shutters, which were almost impossible to lift. And the windows themselves looked out onto the territory under the palm roof. There was only one opportunity to see the sea from the room - when you walk up to the window and lift the shutters with your hand.
The room itself is spacious, but with some island features. For example, a huge wall-to-wall closet had one solid shelf at the bottom and that's it, no more hook or hanging, just put things in a solid heap on one low shelf. There are also interruptions with electricity in the hotel, since everyone gets electricity on the island himself, as best he can. But the shower room was spacious, but since there is no fresh water on the island, only cold salty sea water flowed from the shower. It was surprising that to turn on this water in the shower, three (!!!) taps were used simultaneously, which had to be turned in turn for the water to flow.
On the first day of our stay in Saona, the island service was very unhurried, in the style of Cape Verde "no stress" , but on the second day, the hostess of the hotel arrived with a friend from Uruguay and the workers accelerated significantly under her supervision 😊
I will especially note - excellent breakfasts that are served on the shore, even for these breakfasts alone under palm trees overlooking the azure sea, it is worth going to Saona.
It's time to tell about the structure of Mano Juan village. A signpost on the second street from the sea described in detail the distribution of social facilities of this settlement: the Lagoon to the left, and the police, hospital, church and school to the right. Immediately behind the sign is a TV tower, which is immediately mobile and powered by solar panels.
Memorable infrastructure facilities include a police station that looks like a sheriff's house and a vintage payphone standing on a beautiful beach (though with a torn wire).
The houses of local residents look quite modest. It is a plywood or plank structure with a tin roof. Sometimes supplemented with 1-2 fragments of a solar panel. But absolutely all courtyards are covered with barbed wire along the perimeter. It seems that the manufacturers of "thorns" have carried out a special rebranding of their products for the inhabitants of the island, since all of Mano Juan's fences are made of barbed wire.
And here is the classic islander's vegetable garden. Here is maize (our corn), planted right in the sand and fenced with the same barbed wire as the yards.
But enough about social life, let's move on to the natural wonders of Saona Island.
Here's a life hack for you - go left from the pier to the farthest beach. It is there that you can take the coolest pictures of the paradise Caribbean nature.
On this beach, two amazing events happened to us. First: during the whole time of exploring distant beaches, only one person passed by us. The tall guy walked along the beach so fast that he overtook us walking slowly. Passing by, he raised his head, looked, saw my Ukrainian cap, said: "Good day," in ukrainian and walked on.
To say that we are crazy is to say nothing ... In the Dominican Republic, in a nature reserve, on a remote island, on the most distant beach, the only person passing by greeted us in Ukrainian and went on about his business. Very cool!
And second: while diving with a mask, I caught a huge egg. I have never seen this size of caviar before. If you know what kind of fish is born from such an egg - write in the comments, since we are still slightly perplexed on this issue.
After walking and swimming in this fantastic place, we headed back to the hotel along the beach. On the way, we looked at the afternoon life of Mano Juan, when tourists are no longer on the island, and the locals play board games under the palm trees, or hand over the fish caught during the day on special scales.
Having reached our home, we settled down in comfortable hammocks between palm trees for a romantic contemplation of the sunset. We arrived here from Punta Cana, and there, on the Bavaro beach (and this is another secret for tourists) it is impossible to watch the sunset with the sun sinking into the sea.
At Saona, we made up for this Punta Cano flaw 😊😊😊
In the morning it was time to go to explore the lagoon. Walking along Mano Juan Street to the left, we found ourselves on the edge of a jungle that had to be overcome on the way to the lagoon.
The vegetation of this jungle was lush. We met here and there young palms that made their way from the coconuts lying on the ground. And a couple of times we even met mushrooms (!!!)
And so, having made our way through the gnarled branches, we came to the shore of the Saonian lagoon, which bears the beautiful name of Los Flamencos Lagoon.
If earlier, at the word "lagoon", some of you had a pleasant azure-blue image from an advertising poster, then Los Flamencos will quickly dispel this romantic flair.
The water in the lagoon is also bright in color, but only reddish-brown, with huge flakes of white foam thrown ashore. It feels like you're not in a nature reserve, but in some post-apocalyptic film. The only thing missing is a chemical protection suit.
Walking around the lagoons, we came across a fragment of the Martian landscape, where evenly scattered boulders lay on the red plain. A little further away, the birds found their food in a muddy brown slurry, leaving hope that the water in Los Flamencos is still not poisoned.
Not far from the lagoon there is a beautiful palm grove. Apparently, the locals do not care for it in any way, but simply collect coconuts from the trees, which are cut right on the spot, and therefore in some places of the grove there are huge heaps of broken coconuts.
But the palm grove was not the further goal of our campaign. One of the local hotel workers told us about the existence of a secret beach, which can only be reached by knowledgeable people. (it looks like a short storyline of the movie "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio , but it was like that 👌)
We "fired up" the idea to visit this mysterious place and included it in the itinerary of the day.
But there was one problem with this beach. It consisted in the fact that most of the way one had to walk along sharp, like a blade stones, which actually sometimes cut the soles. But the main danger was different: when you jump on such uneven ledges, it is easy to stumble and lose balance. And what the fall on a heap of protruding stone thorns could lead to, we preferred not to think.
And here we are on a mysterious beach. It is small, framed by bushes with hanging clusters of fruits. Initially, we planned to swim here, but the suspicious black dots on the bottom seemed to us like sea urchins, so we did not risk it, but headed towards the palm tree at the very end of the beach, which bent to the shore, as if on the set of the Bounty commercial.
Having reached the palm tree, we found ourselves in an unusual place. It turned out that there is a local cemetery behind it. Since we had never seen an island Caribbean cemetery before, it was very curious. Our conclusions will be disappointing - it seems that after the burial, relatives and friends no longer visit the deceased, and the culture of caring for graves, so developed in our country, is absent on the island.
We returned to the hotel from our busy hike and here, out of nowhere, very biting midges flew in. On the first evening, nothing of the kind happened, and on the second, they began to bite us very hard after sunset. We had a bottle of repellent, with which we sprayed each other and wrapped ourselves in blankets, but all the same, especially gifted insects sometimes pierced our chemical-rag defenses. 😜
But in the morning we made new friends in the form of a mother and son of the canine subfamily. They live on an island and apparently do not have dangerous enemies in nature (well, perhaps donkeys 😊). The communication of these dogs is so sincere that it is simply awkward for you to get up, because you do not want to wake up the "comrades" who have fallen apart under your feet. Or, for example, this is how Natasha can pick up her bag when the baby happily climbed onto the sofa with the thought "It's a good thing - I'll sleep on it"?
The day of our parting with Saona has come. As we already wrote, before 12:00 and after 14:00 - the island and all its beaches are practically deserted. So you need to have time to take advantage of this and swim in the morning, before a huge crowd of fast visitors arrived in Mano Juan.
Before the influx of tourist ships, the main beach of Mano Juana looks peaceful. This is how we will remember him. Christmas tree made of rag ribbons, near which a local "art gallery" has already opened. Under the supervision of their mother, the children play a kind of "bottom break". A coconut cocktail seller kneads drinks, waiting for customers, and the smallest islander with a funny hairstyle, cheerfully climbs the coastal sand.
Literally half an hour and the boat will take us back to Bayahibe, but part of our soul will forever remain with this paradise and very different island of Saona.
We hope that our article will help you if you are going to visit Saona on your own. We tried to build a route, walked along it and brought a lot of impressions from this distant Caribbean island. It will be our pleasure if our adventures in Saone were interesting to you.
Our motto is "Be sure to travel!"
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