national park of the east

We took a guided tour of the part and snorkeled in one of the caves. The park is large and has some unique history with lots of diverse plant and animal life. You pay a fee to enter the park but it does not look like money goes back into the park for improvements. That being said, with the help of our guide, we had a very enjoyable and educational hike and swim at the park. I would recommend taking a tour with a local guide to get the most out of the park.

only bad part are the guys trying to sell trinkets and the women masseurs. be sure to book through a reputable company

Great adventure, get repellent!!! or mosquitoes will eat you!!,Something byte me and got skin rash on my arms!!, still had a good time!

you can hike into the park from dreams la romana and follow a trail 3km in to a cave full of bats.We were here in July and it was extremely hot and humid take plenty of water our youngest spotted them first but there were lots of thin black snakes non venomous but really disconcerting none the less, Amazing land crabs and buckets full of birds including some or the islands endemics we walked six hours there and back stopping on the beach and saw no one else inside the park.The hardest thing to organise was buying the arm band from the park office which is in the car park at Bayahibe village its possible to buy for days ahead which we did. But the office has tourist open hours and its no fun to be in that car park when tourists leave or are collected for boat trips carnage and dangerous with small ones.We did this and another hike without a guide following good way marked paths and information boards re the fauna and flora but I guess you would get a lot from a local guide.Either way a real adventure.2013

Great Island. Beautiful beach and not spoilt by commercial development. Trip organised by travel rep at the hotel. A great day out if the weather is good

Nice visit with tour guide, great for exploring the cave. Don;t forget the water as you can get dehydrated!! Wonderfull views!

Peace, serenity, clear water. Minimal amenities - worth the effort. Take speedboat out, catamaran back.

This isn't much to do in this park besides some hikes inland. The beach area isn't very nice and there are tons of bugs

No tourists - the guide and I had the park to ourselves, apart from a stray dog and a "park ranger".Dry, scrub forest cannot compete with the highlands parks in the DR for birding.

It was a beautiful boat ride,along the National Park. All Kinds of coloroful birds,flying around.The water was beatiful,blue ,green ,torqouise colors.Slowly we moved along the indian caves,went thru the mangroves.Just a sight you must see live.,too much too see,you must go and experience this Park. We had a local tour person /guide to take us in the boat,with other people from other local resorts.It is A must see area,also Sanoa Island,food and beverages was included in the trip,barter,and shop around.

Off our cruise ship docked in la Romana and we rented a car and headed up to Bayahibe. What a beautiful place to walk around and relax. The village is small but lots to see. Bring you camera because the views are great!

Cristal Waters, Amazing landscape, great beaches !! There was a beautiful and unique scenery that you could only find here in Dominican Republic !! I love this place .. this is definitely a Must When Visiting DR =)

Trip to Saona Island was great one of the highlights of our trip. A must see!!! A member of our group found a private tour outside of resort, much cheaper than booking with people at resort.

good tour guide, very knowledgable, impressive vegitation, but be wary of the vendors - they decend on you like hawks.

We stayed at Viva Wyndam Dominicus Beach resort. We wanted to go to the National Park of the East and Saona Island on a day trip. We gathered information from the resort ($89 -- no lobster and shorter trip), and then went exploring. I had read about Mariposa Tours on line before we arrived because I was looking for someone we could deal with in Dominicus rather than Bayahibe. Turning right outside the resort gates, we walked down the main pedestrian street. Pierre at Mariposa Tours asked if he could give us some information. We sat down and listened to his pitch. For $80 each (reg. $85), the four of us would have a full-day adventure by motorboat…including an all-you-could eat beach lunch with grilled lobster. For son #2, that was a delicious dream come true. The boat held only 28 passengers plus crew, so it was a small intimate group. It was also partially shaded.At 8:30 the next morning, we arrived at the Dominicus offices and were transported as part of the package to nearby Bayahibe for the boat launch. Roberto was our guide. The Italian owners were an active part of the arrangements. She taking money. He came along on the boat for the day. Our family were the only four English speakers. The rest were Spanish or Italian speaking. Roberto did great switching between languages and making sure we understood what he was talking about.Our first stop was the natural pool – a shallow water area to see starfish. The crew broke out rum & coke and waters as we shuffled around looking for sealife.If you want a water adventure, the motorboat is the way to visit Isla Saona! It was not a calm, boring ride out to Canto de la Playa – the farthest point on the island. We spent about three hours relaxing and swimming there. There was a reef for snorkeling but it was a rough day, so my husband didn’t go out. He had brought his own snorkeling equipment. Women were available for beach massages. A man was selling fresh coconuts for $2. Roberto brought out snacks after we were there for an hour. There were about 8 other motorboats with their passengers on the island at the same time as we were. It wasn’t crowded. This location is too far for catamarans to sail to. The coconut palm tree setting was gorgeous. The warm water was clear and a beautiful turquoise.The photographer wanted to take pictures of our family. OK. But it became a full-fledged beach photo shoot. We were good sports about it, and there were actually some pictures of all of us we ended up purchasing at the end as a souvenir of our beach adventure.From here we went to Manojuan, a small fishing village, for a beachside lunch. We had previously dropped off our cook before we enjoyed Canto de la Playa. He grilled pork & lobster. There were sides of beans & rice, potatoes, raw cabbage/carrot salad, rolls and for dessert, freshly cut fruit. Mariposa has their own picnic tables and bathrooms. After lunch, we could walk the main street and shop at the stores or explore town. It was a relaxing lunch stop.On the way back, we went past the mangroves and met some fishermen with their catch of fresh lobsters. We made another stop at the natural pool. Son #1 loved the warm, shallow water with the soft sandy bottom. We looked for more starfish and saw a stingray.We chose this over a larger party boat catamaran because of the beaches we could visit with the motorboat and the buffet lunch with grilled lobster. The price was good. The boat was full the day we went so be sure not to bring large beach bags since they have to fit on your lap or at your feet. You won’t need to bring much more than sunglasses, a beach towel, lotion, some spending money, and camera. They supplied snorkel equipment if you don’t have your own. We highly recommend Mariposa Tours.