Off the southeast tip of the Dominican Republic, where the Atlantic and the Caribbean go head to head, lies the incarnation of the tropical island idyll. Its curves of white sand fringed by swaying palm trees, green against the azure sea, combine in a single image celebrated by millions of Europeans as the setting for the Bounty (chocolate) Bar TV commercial. Saona is the notion of paradise made manifest - and it looks even better than on film. There are just two tiny settlements on the 25 km (15 mi) by 5 km (3 mi) island. Punta Gorda and the picturesque fishing village of Mano Juan are sleepy relics of the trading stations established after 1493 by Colombus, who bullied the Taino chieftain Cotubanama into an unequal partnership.
Cotubanama's descendants now appear to be exacting an exquisite revenge. After centuries of subsistence fishing, in just ten years they have become unofficial beachmasters to the fleet of speedboats and catamarans that each day bring over hundreds of day-trippers from every major resort on the mainland, to bear witness to the existence in fact of a television dream. But Saona is part of a National Park and Marine Reserve with no amenities except in the tiny, restricted areas allotted to each resort group - where the islanders ply the by now rum-happy tourists with trinkets, curios, 'personalized' photos or video clips and 'massages' to the thumping beats of a beach boom-box.
You can walk away along equally fabulous but empty beaches, to lagoons full of flamingoes and mangroves stirred by pelicans, red-footed boobies, and Hispaniolan lizard-cuckoos and parrots. You can snorkel or dive among giant sponges and teeming fish on the reefs where manatees float in languor and dolphins somersault. The serenity of wonderland is still there - if you want to find it.
WHEN TO GO
November to June
HOW TO GET THERE
By catamaran or speedboat from the beach at Bayahibe or Dominicus on the mainland. Most of the boats are pre-booked to resort groups, but there are some independent excursion sellers.
HIGHLIGHTS
Getting there - with or without the rum-fuelled party boats, the speedboat/catamaran trip across the currents of the Paso de Catuano, from the limestone cliffs of the mainland to island romance on the horizon, is huge fun.
Laguna de los Flamencos near the mangroves in the southwest.
The amazing Arawak and Taino rock art in the Cueva Cotubanama - the cave in the island's west where the Chief hid before his capture by the Spanish.
'La Piscina Natural' - underwater · sandbars hundreds of metres out to sea, where you jump into waist-deep water to drink, party, and frighten the lovely fish. Or just swim.
The photo you take home showing you at the Bounty Bar beach, yes, really!
YOU SHOULD KNOW
On the big catamarans, someone will come round putting a little hat on your head. They are not being kind - unless you reject it immediately, you will be charged at least US$4 for it on leaving the boat.
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