Punta Cana Excursions: Bayahibe Diving, Catalina Island, Altos de Chavon Concert, Coffee Estates, and Cayo Levantado
The excursion circuit from Punta Cana reaches the finest reef diving at Bayahibe, the Catalina Island catamaran snorkel day, the dramatic Altos de Chavon canyon amphitheater concerts, the highland coffee estates, and the Bacardi Island of Cayo Levantado in Samana Bay.
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Bayahibe Village: The Dive Base
Bayahibe, the small fishing village 80 kilometers west of Punta Cana at the edge of the Cotubanamá national park, is accessible from Punta Cana as a day excursion and is the finest dive base in the Dominican Republic, with the offshore reef of the national park, the shipwrecks of the Hickory and the St. George, and the La Caleta coral gardens providing the complete diving experience in the warm, clear water of the southeast coast.
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Isla Catalina: The Day Trip Reef
Isla Catalina, the uninhabited island off the La Romana coast accessible from Punta Cana by excursion boat, combines the beach day on the perfect white sand with the snorkeling over the extensive coral garden in the shallow water on the reef-protected northern side of the island. The catamaran excursion from La Romana to Catalina Island, with the rum punch bar on board, is the most popular single excursion from the La Romana and Punta Cana resort area.
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Altos de Chavon Amphitheater: The Concert Experience
The Altos de Chavon 5,000-seat amphitheater on the cliff above the Chavon River, accessible from Punta Cana in 60 minutes, hosts the most dramatic concert setting in the Caribbean, with the medieval Italian village backdrop, the canyon view, and the Caribbean night sky creating an atmosphere that Frank Sinatra recognized as incomparable when he performed the inaugural concert in 1982. The contemporary programming brings international artists to the Punta Cana resort circuit.
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Punta Cana Coffee: The Arabica Estates
The small-scale coffee production in the Cordillera Oriental highlands north of the Punta Cana resort zone, where the arabica varieties grown at altitude in the forest shade produce the premium Puerto Rico and Dominican highland coffee, is accessible as a coffee estate tour from the resort area and provides the agricultural and artisanal context that contrasts with the industrial tourism infrastructure of the coast.
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Cayo Levantado: The Presidential Island
Cayo Levantado, the island in the Samana Bay accessible by boat from Las Terrenas and from the organized excursions from Punta Cana, was used as the Caribbean island set for the Bacardi Rum advertising campaigns of the 1970s and has since developed a small resort and the day-visitor beach experience that combines the genuine island isolation with the accessible catamaran service. The island is also known as Bacardi Island in the tour operator literature.
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Punta Cana Historical Context: Before the Resorts
The Punta Cana peninsula before the resort development of the 1980s and 1990s was a nearly uninhabited area of coconut plantations and fishing communities, with the Grupo Puntacana pioneers who built the first resort in 1971 having to construct the airport, the roads, and the basic infrastructure from scratch in a coastal wilderness that had no public services. The transformation of the peninsula in 50 years from coconut farm to the busiest airport in the Caribbean is one of the most extreme examples of resort development in history.