Dominican
Republic Island Activities
There's so much to see and do while on your Dominican
Republic adult vacations,
it would take more than one vacation to cover
it all. Stroll the streets, embrace the ambience.
Spend an hour or two in the ocean or a day on
it. Go snorkelling, diving, sailing, cruising
or fishing. Explore nature. Go shopping. Immerse
yourself in the culture. Smell the flowers, listen
to the birds and soak up the sunshine. The choice
is yours. Below are just a few activities for
your adult vacations:
Watersports
The opportunities for watersports in the Dominican
Republic are excellent. Although some shores are
rough and rocky, there are magnificent stretches
of beach suitable for swimming. For scuba-diving
and snorkeling enthusiasts, there is reef diving,
good visibility, warm waters, wrecks, caverns
and a rich marine life. Good dive sites while
on your adult vacations include
Sosúa (near Puerto Plata); Cabrera (freshwater
cave diving with an underground lake); Las Terrenas;
the Samaná peninsula; Punta Rucia (good
for coral diving); La Caleta National Underwater
Park (accessible by boat from Boca Chica); Catalina
and Saona islands (accessible by boat from La
Romana); and Barahona (an area currently being
developed for ecotourism). Experienced divers
can also join the North Caribbean Research Group
and participate in a government-funded project
to recover and remove artifacts from sunken ships,
some dating back to the 16th century. Snorkeling
and diving equipment can be borrowed or hired
from dive operators and adult vacations
resort hotels. Small sailing craft are available
through hotels in Santo Domingo and most other
resorts in the country. Boat trips to the marine
caves of the Gri Gri Lagoon near Sosúa
are a popular tourist attraction. Adult
vacations hotels also organize charter
boats for offshore fishing for marlin, sailfish,
dorado, benittos and other game fish. River fishing
in flat-bottomed boats with guides can be arranged
at La Romana, Boca de Yuma and on the north coast.
Windsurfing is particularly good at Sosuá,
which also hosts the Professional Windsurfing
Association World Cup.
Adventure sports
The Dominican Republic was quick to jump onto
the adventure sports bandwagon and, hence, has
well-developed facilities for the usual range
of adrenalin-generating sports. Whitewater rafting
is available on the Río Yaque del Norte
in Jarabacoa. The best places for tubing, in which
participants on their adult vacations
individually float down the rapids in oversized
rubber tubes, are on the Río Jamao del
Norte, the Río Yaque del Norte and the
Río Isabela in Santo Domingo. Cascading
involves climbing up to the top of a waterfall
and rapelling down the cascade tied to a rope;
the best places to do this are Cascada del Limón,
Cascada Ojo de Agua, El Salto de Baiguate and
El Salto de Jimenoa. Canyoning, which is cascading
minus the rope (meaning that practitioners climb
up a river gorge and then jump into the river
below), is popular at La Madajagua in Imbert and
the Jarabacoa area during your adult
vacations.
Trekking and hiking
The best places for trekking are Jarabacoa, the
Constanza Valley, and the Nuevo Valley. Hiking
and climbing enthusiasts may join the locals’
annual pilgrimage to the Caribbean’s highest
mountain, the Pico Duarte (3210m/10,700ft), which
they can conquer either on foot or by riding a
mule while on their adult vacations.
Similar tours can also be made at El Mogote, Mount
Isabel de Torres, Pico Yaque and, in the southwest,
the Sierra de Bahoruco.
Horse riding on your adult vacations
Dominicans love horseriding and their country
offers some of the best riding in the Caribbean.
Regular polo games are held at Sierra Prieta in
Santo Domingo and at Casa de Campo near La Romana,
where guests can join in the twice-weekly competitions.
Golf
There are a number of golf clubs and golf courses
for your Dominican Republic adult
vacations, many of which are bordered
by the ocean on one side and the mountains on
the other. Following on from the 42nd Caribbean
Golf Championships, which were held in the Dominican
Republic in 1998, the country continues to actively
promote itself as a major international golf destination.
Some of the best courses can be found at Casa
de Campo, Dientes de Perro (Teeth of the Dog),
Gran Diablo Links (the planned location for the
country’s first Golf Academy) Playa Dorada
(designed by Robert Trent Jones), La Romana Country
Club, and Santo Domingo Country Club. For more
information, visit www.golfdominicano.com.
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for your adult vacations
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island information
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