With lots of well-liked tourist locations, it would be challenging to pin-point one specific thing that made the region rise in appeal. Not so with Punta Cana. On the Punta Cana shore, which stretches for about 39 miles from Bavaro in the north to Cap Cana in the south, there is one easily recognizable event that happened in 1984 that transformed literally everything and totally transformed this region into the mega-popular vacation paradise it is today.
Do I have your curiosity stimulated yet? Keep reading ...
Punta Cana is absolutely gorgeous. It provides expansive sleek white sandy beaches with a warm shimmering blue sea lapping along its coastline. It is so welcoming it calls you in - some say it even "seduces" you. When you include in this the thick grove of coconut palm trees persuading in the tropical breeze along the entire shore in this region, you have the famous Caribbean haven printed on post-cards sent to those back home who just weren't lucky enough to embark on the travel.
Nonetheless, prior to 1984 only a handful of people actually found out about this tropical gem. It stayed mostly unexplored by most world vacationers till the building of the Punta Cana International Airport (PUJ). In Spanish, the main language of the Dominican Republic, this international airport is called, "Aeropuerto Internacional de Punta Cana."
You see, no matter exactly how incredible an area is, if you have no hassle-free and fairly valued means to reach the area, it won't be seen by many individuals. Prior to the Punta Cana International Airport was constructed, the tiny air strip that had been around 1971 could not deal with the large size jet airplanes.
Moreover, in order to get there from an oveseas nation, you needed to fly into Santa Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, and afterwards endure a 4 hour rugged bus or taxi trip to Punta Cana. The unpaved road was slim and filled with enormous gaps. The road would also wash out in hefty rains and motorized vehicles were sometimes delayed by horse traffic, making the speed unpleasant for fatigued vacationers wanting to get to their resort.
The air traffic of the PUJ has grown by leaps and bounds and is on course this year (2014) to serve more than 4.5 million people! It now obtains far more traffic than the next busiest airport in the capital of Santo Dominigo. There is no other independently financed airport in the world that also resembles this degree of business success.
Visitors visit Punta Cana from around the world now. International airline companies that offer the Punta Cana Airport are Air Canada, AirTran, American Airlines, British Airways, Continental, Delta, JetBlue, KLM, Spirit, United, US Airways, and Westjet. Canadian charter airline companies to the Punta Cana consist of Air Transat, Sunwig, Skyservice, and Canjet. They run throughout the cool bleak Canadian winter seasons.
So, an area that started with very simple beginnings about 4 decades earlier, now commonly offers beds for more than 70,000 people at one time. Punta Cana has most definitely developed itself as one of the leading areas vacationers think of going.
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And ... there's no end in sight for the growth of this detination. The around 39 mile Punta Cana shore has basically been a "gold rush" for the significant resort firms, especially the Spanish owned ones, since the area was opened up by the international airport terminal. Classy high hotels, flawlessly sited to make use of the view, have actually emerged almost over night. The infrastructure has likewise vastly enhanced as money for large projects has gathered.
One tourist attraction of Bayahibe is the rare opportunity to see one of the most lovely and rarest flowers on the planet! This vividly pink floral belongs to a cactus variety that is now noted as seriously endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The scientific name is Pereskia quisqueyana and there is a little grove of 17 Pereskia quisqueyana "trees" behind the regional college. This cactus generally flowers from April through September.
The "Parque Nacional del Este" In the Dominican Republic is also known by its English name, "East National Park" or "National Park of the East." This huge park is found in the southeastern corner of the Dominican Republic in the province of La Altagracia, less than an hour from the Punta Cana airportcoast. The location makes it a simple target for visitors staying in Punta Cana resorts. They could go there in the morning, have a rewarding day of exploration, and afterwards return to at night for dinner and leisure. For many, actually, these
The Parque Nacional del Este is also riddled with cave systems carved out of limestone, sinkholes, and underground lakes. The caverns consist of many Taino artefacts and there are unspoiled instances of Taino art work on the wall surfaces of the caverns. The Taino indians were the indigenous people who prospered in the region prior to 1492 when Christopher Columbus and other Europeans arrived. They were a fairly peaceful people and had a complicated society. There are still numerous Taino archaelogical remains to be discovered in the caverns and elsewhere within the Parque Nacional del Este.
From the late 1800's, Bayahibe has been a beachfront community of hands on hard working fishermen and farmers. The Dominicans in Bayahibe work hard and play hard. They know how to live off the land and they have a certain vision for how they desire their town to grow (and not to grow).
The most popular destination for a short break from the United States is the Caribbean. Tourists flock en masse to the Dominican Republic. This is partly due to how popular it has become as a tourist destination. And with reason!. The agricultural sector of the Dominican Republic is going strong but probably the segment of the economy that is most responsible for the for the prospering economy is the tourism sector. In the last 10-15 years, investors have come into this country and improved virtually every aspect of the tourism industry. The cluster of resorts that you'll find on the east coast in Punta Cana and Bavaro are top rate resorts with many amenities that will make anyone smile. Of course there is also Sosua and Puerto Plata. On the Caribbean south coast you have growing tourist areas like Bayahibe which serves as the gateway to Saona Island.
For the top resorts and accommodations in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, click on the link. To me, this makes these resorts the best resorts in the world. Of course, there are other advantages to staying in Punta Cana too. Some of the resorts in this region are all adult resorts. There are other resorts that cater to families and have special activities planned for the kids that are supervised so the parents can get a break and some alone time. There are also additional seafood restaurants right on the beach. Still other resorts target families with kids. Some of these activities are loved by the kids such as when they camp out in tents on the beach.
Uvero Alto: Our favorite but a bit out of the way to get to. The area outside of the resorts and hotels is relatively undeveloped and with nowhere else to eat or shop. The beach is very wide, with lush green coconut forest leaning onto it. With the exception of a couple of folks on horseback riding tour, you may be the only people on this long, wide, beautiful beach.
Cabeza de Toro: Playa Cabeza de Toro is the perfect place if you want to be surrounded by the natural beautiful forests and wildlife of Punta Cana. If you like you can take a horseback riding excursion through the forests at the Natura Park Eco-Resort. South of the Barceló Bavaro golf course, along the Bulevar Turistico del Este, you will see a road with a sign toward Cabeza de Toro. At the end of the road, you will pass through a military area and then come to a parking lot. Walk north pass the Dream Palm Beach Resort to get to the more secluded and natural area.
A desolate area on the southerly side of the Sahara Desert supplies 45 million tons of dust that naturally feeds the Amazon rainforest yearly. Experts have just discovered how such a remarkable quantity of dust arises.
Each 'perfect storm' picks up over 700,000 tons of dust, consisting of the diatomite, and forms a discrete cloud traveling westward. The dust clouds typical 370 by 700 kilometres (230 x 435 miles) in size, extensive enough to show up plainly on satellite photos. Most of this continues across the Atlantic Ocean on westward trade winds.