Every year, 6 million people visit the Dominican Republic, and about 2 million of those come from the United States. The reasons why they come are pretty obvious. First, it’s connectivity. Just about every U.S. airline flies here. The second—just as obvious—the sun, great beaches and a large number of all-inclusives with a wide variety of price packages.

 

Here’s the problem. Most visitors never see the Dominican Republic. They never leave the hotels. If you’re looking for a truly great experience, bathed in rich culture and amazing history, you’ve got to sneak away from the resorts, even if it’s only for a few hours a day. If you’re willing to do that, let me share with you some more of my hidden gems of the Dominican Republic.

 

Located in the Greater Antilles on the island of Hispaniola, the Dominican Republic is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and the Caribbean Sea to the south. The resort town of Punta Cana sits on the easternmost coast of the island, and with 35 miles of beach, it’s easy to see why it’s one of the most popular destinations in the country.

 

One of the cool things about Punta Cana International Airport is if you’re like me, it’s nirvana. You get to be a plane spotter. You just come up to the VIP lounge. It’s not expensive (just $50 to get in), but there are other perks as well.  You better bring your bathing suit because it’s not just plane spotting, it’s people spotting.  Name one other airport in the world that’s got an outdoor pool! If you’ve got some time to kill before your flight, why not grab a glass of champagne and hop in the water?  Even if you don’t want to swim, let’s face it: when else are you going to have a chance to do this?

 

With hundreds of resorts in Punta Cana, there’s literally something for everyone.  You’ll find plenty of family-friendly hotels, smaller boutique places for romantic getaways, and of course, lots of great golf courses. There’s one resort property here that’s doing some pretty cool conservation work, and you can come check it out, even if you’re staying elsewhere.

 

The Punta Cana Resort and Club is home to the Center for Sustainability, a research and education facility that’s the only place of its kind in the Caribbean. It’s dedicated to finding solutions to ecological and social challenges related to tourism development.

 

Jake Kheel is the Director of the Center, and the Vice President of the Grupo Puntacana Foundation, which focuses on programs to improve the health and wellbeing of the local community.

 

“This is really cutting edge work,” Kheel said. “This is coral restoration in land-based nurseries. This is a new technique developed in the last five years called micro-fragmentation. The whole idea is we collect corals that have fallen off the reef and we save them before they die—then we cut them in really tiny pieces. When you cut the corals, that motivates growth, as opposed to having them dedicate their energy to reproduce sexually.”

 

Not only do they grow, but also the rate of growth is actually much faster.

 

“In the wild, a brain coral might take 50 to 100 years to grow to full mature size, but with this technique, we can accelerate that growth up to 200%, if we’re able to do this well,” Kheel said.

 

The technique allows them to grow up to 26 species of coral to help restore the nearby reef, and they’re working to educate the locals about the reef restoration and dangers of overfishing.

 

“We’ve actually hired the fishermen,” Kheel said. “One of the best ways to not have to patrol and police fishermen is to hire them, and find new types of jobs for them. We’ve turned them into coral restorers, we’ve turned them into boat captains, we’ve even had them helping us maintain barriers to protect our beaches from sargassum seaweed.”

 

This is not the only conservation work going on here. There is also ornamental fish breeding and turtle conservation. Elsewhere on the property, the group has instituted an aquaponics program as part of its sustainable agriculture initiative, growing both tilapia and vegetables. The site also has a beekeeping program.

 

In addition, the resort sports 12 freshwater lagoons on the property, which are swimmable and crystal clear. It’s free to come into the 1,500 acre park if you’re staying at the resort. But even if you’re not staying at the resort, the reserve is open to the public for a fee, and you can spend the day here hiking in the rainforest and swimming in the lagoons.

 

Just a short bike ride from the reserve, you’ll find Punta Cana Village. It’s a neighborhood gathering place for both residents and visitors—with bars, restaurants and a number of small shops and unique boutiques. One setup contains local women who crochet handbags from recycled plastic shopping bags. It’s another conservation project that benefits not only the environment, but it also benefits the community.

 

One of the great experiences in Punta Cana is actually 60 miles outside of Punta Cana. That’s where you’ll find the small fishing village of Boca de Yuma. What do the locals do here? They fish, everybody fishes, including me.

 

This sleepy little town sits at the mouth of the Yuma River near the Caribbean Sea,  with a ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ main street. It has a few seafood restaurants and watering holes, and a small community park next to the remains of a small historic lighthouse and a couple of old rusty cannons.

 

You can catch some small fish in the river—or even right in the harbor—but I was looking for something a bit bigger. For that, we needed to head to the sea. I didn’t end up catching a fish, but I did get to still eat some.

 

Just about a mile west of the village, you’ll find Cueva de Berna. As you’d expect, it’s filled with stalactites and stalagmites, but the real reason to come here is for the taino petroglyphs. There are more than 300 of these caritas, or “little faces”, on the walls, which is why this is considered one of the most important caves in the area. The faces were created by the ancient Taino indigenous people, thousands of years ago.

 

While you’re here, it’s just a short drive from Cueva de Berna to the former home of Spanish explorer, Juan Ponce de León. The nearly 500 year old estate, built by Taino slaves, was a working farm and sugar plantation. The building has been restored to reflect the 16th century style, and the way it may have looked before the conquistador moved on from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico… and later to Florida.

 

One of the best ways to see Punta Cana is to wake up very early and then get up very early… in a hot air balloon! Not difficult to find. Just ask for Luis Leonardo. He’s the only balloon pilot on the island. This is the only balloon. It’s the best way to see the region.

 

Luis and his family started the company, Dominican Balloons, in 2002, and very surprisingly, they’re the only professional hot air ballooners in the Caribbean. The balloon is inflated by two enormous fans. Then, that air is heated—and before you know it—you’re heading off into the sky.

 

Of course, tourism is a huge part of the economy here, but there’s another export that’s easy to see from up above.

 

“The main important thing here is the sugar cane,” Leonardo said. “Sugar cane was brought by Christopher Columbus when he came on the first trip. On the second trip, he brought sugar cane. Around 1500, we already had our first industry. By the year 1970, sugar cane was the main income and the main product we were exporting.”

 

What goes up, must come down, so we headed toward a sugar cane field. As promised, it was a perfect landing, and a pretty good way to start the day.

 

 

Click play on the photo to watch.

 

Hidden Gems of Dominican Republic: Part 1