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Monte Cristi is a rustic and hot territory, filled with buckthorns. Its weather is hot and humid.
The city of Monte Cristi is located almost under sea level, which permits the water to enter and settle in the terraces built to capture the salt of the evaporating waters, making it one of the main salt producers in the country.
Fishing is another source of livelihood within the population, as well as buckthorn coal and sheep livestock.
It is a city of history and courageous and valiant figures. It is the location of the Máximo Gómez museum, the house where he and Cuban leader Jose Martí had their famous encounter.
It possess scarce tourist development; there are only a few hotels in the city and some cabins in the surrounding areas.
Tourist Interest
The Monte Cristi National Park is located at the extreme northwest of the country, in part bordering with the Republic of Haiti and includes marine areas, coastal lagoons and the Siete Hermanos Keys.
Manzanillo is the beautiful bay formed by the Haitian and Dominican lands. It was an important port of the Cibao region during colonial times and until 1890, when the railroad that joined the north provinces and the Cibao region with Samana was built.
Pepillo Salcedo bears the name of the first Restoration president, who died when he was executed by the following government. It is a town located at the end of Mnazanillo, very near the border.
Presidente Point and Manzanillo Point are protrudign formations that protect the small bay.
Estero Balsa Beach is also a rudimentary fishing dock where small boats ("yolas"), which until recently were moved by oars, are now powered by small motor engines.
The Monte Cristi Bay is a beautiful bay crowned by the Siete Hermanos Keys, with beautiful virgin beaches. Here, the residents provide superficial diving equipment to visitors so that they may enter the transparent salt waters that bathe the reefs.
The Morro is a hill shaped like a stretched camel, like an old bloodhound guarding the dock of Monte Cristi city.
Monte Cristi Beach, with rough, red sand and strong waves that hit the shores is behind the El Morro hill. The beach itself is an impressive spectacle due to the majestic bravura of the sea.
Puerto Plata is an immensely rich province due to its land and cattle production and developed tourism industry.
It is a land of sugar cane, rice, rum and tobacco. It also has the most important amber mines. Practically all of its coast has been included in ambitious tourism projects.
The city of Puerto Plata is the province capital. It was founded in 1496 by Bartholomew Columbus, at the foot of Isabel de Torres Hill.
It is a city with a strong Victorian style. The San Felipe Fort is one of its colonial relics. Among its other attractions is the cableway that rises to the top of the Isabel de Torres Hill and an important Amber Museum. It also has the second most important airport in the country.
The weather is humid, very good in the summer and fair in the winter. There are remnants of the forest vegetation, the most relevant are located in the Septentrional Mountain Range and the groves at the mouth of the Caño Orí. The fringe of the Puerto Plata coast was declared the National Park of the Puerto Plata Coast; the Isabel de Torres Hill was also declared a National Park.
Tourist Interest
The Isabel de Torres Scientific Reserve is located to the south of Puerto Plata city and is made up by the Isabel de Torres Hill, which rises to 800 meters.
The ruins of the first city in the New World are found in La Isabela, named in honor of Isabel the Catholic.
The Luperón Bay, surrounded by groves, has shallow waters and offers beautiful views.
Costambar possesses many resources for tourist infrastructure.
Playa Dorada is another tourist pole in the region as well as a pioneer in Dominican tourism. It has important hotels, restaurants, stores, shopping centers, and companies throughout its area.
Sosúa is a community that has developed a particular tourist offer. It possesses numerous small hotels as well as small and medium sized businesses and services.
Playa Cabarete is one of the main windsurfing spots in the world due to the conditions of the coast and the blowing winds. Its tourism development has been successful and offers a variety of bars, taverns, small coastal restaurants, and local hotels.
Samaná is the most exotic province in the island. Its extensive coconut trees and palms cover the landscape.
The songs of birds are mixed with that of men and women who busily roam while they cultivate minor fruits, fish and hunt at the beat of the Bamboulá, a native rhythm made from the blend of songs brought by the blacks, Anglo Saxons, French and Spanish that settled in the area.
The weather is very humid, good in the winter and bad in the summer, with a natural forest vegetation almost totally gone or substituted by coconut or pasture land. The groves are abundant in the Bay and in the North coast of the peninsula. This area is highly valued for its fauna, the presence of whales in the bay, as well as seals, turtles, and a variety of bird species.
There is a proposal that wishes to declare the area as a "Biosphere Reserve" due to its high ecological value. It is easy to visit Los Haitises National Park and the Humpbacked Whales in the Banco de la Palta Sanctuary from Samana.
Tourist Interest
Sánchez is the first town found on the north highway and is characterized by its small, Victorian houses. It was formerly an important commercial port connected to La Vega through a railroad. Currently, it is a fishing town that wakens with the movements of net-aided shrimp fishing.
Las Terrenas is the first beach to be found towards the north of Sánchez, passing through the mountainous peninsula of Samana. It is through here that access is gained to Portillo and El Limon, famous for its impressive cliff. Portillo has a local airport. A very particular European-based tourism has developed here, where one can find very comfortable small hotels, villas and summer cabins, as well as restaurants almost within the waters, a tradition in the old coastal towns.
El Esterillo and Punta de los Casquillos are rocky hills above the coast that form watering spots, small beaches and coves, which are populated by a wildlife of dreams and fantasy.
El Limón Puerto Escondido is plain land over adjacent cliffs and begins in Limon Key, where there are small ranches with cattle and minor fruits, bordered by coconut trees.
Rincón Bay is formed by the two keys of Cabrón and Samaná, its shape similar to the figure made by one's thumb and index finger when put in a pinching position.
Las Galeras is a fishing town next to an extensive white sanded beach with small hotels. It has the Galeras Caves and the Cabo Samana Caves, which are filled with pictographs.
Monte Diablo, Monte Pan de Azúcar and Monte Mesa are found at the end of the Septentrional Sierra, which crosses through the north coast and has important marble mines in Samana.
The Samaná Bay has large fishing and tourism appeal due to its islets or keys and immense beaches. Whales can be watched at the mouth of the bay between November and March. Another of its attractions is a visit to the keys in Los Haitises National Park, with its exotic vegetation, fauna and calm waters.
The mouth of the Yuna River is important due to its extensive groves and its condition as a fishing area. Los Haitises National Park is found to the south.
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