Saona Island, planned from a home in Cap Cana

Saona Island is a protected island in Cotubanamá National Park whose nearest shore lies about 25 miles from Andara in a straight line, yet the usual way there is a road transfer of about 49 miles west to Bayahibe followed by a boat crossing, so it takes a whole day. This guide is for owners, and for the guests they host, planning that day from Cap Cana: how long it runs, which kind of trip to book, what the park asks of visitors, what cancels a crossing, and how the island fits a stay at Andara.

Where is Saona Island, and how far is it from Cap Cana?

Saona lies off the south-eastern tip of the Dominican Republic, across the Catuano passage from the mainland. It covers about 42 square miles and runs roughly 15 miles from end to end, with two permanent settlements: the fishing village of Mano Juan and a naval post at Catuano. It is not a stand-alone attraction, either. The island belongs to Cotubanamá National Park, declared in 1975 as Parque Nacional del Este and renamed by Law 519-14 in 2014, so you will meet both names. The park lies in La Altagracia, the same province as Cap Cana, along the coast between the towns of Boca de Yuma and Bayahibe.

Measured on a map from Andara's published coordinates, the nearest shore of the island is about 25 miles away. Read as a journey, that number misleads. The standard excursion does not sail from Cap Cana: the presidency's own newsroom describes Bayahibe, at the park's western end, as the main departure point for Saona excursions, and Bayahibe is about 49 miles from Andara by road, measured on a public routing engine along the Coral highway. So the usual route heads west first, to the far end of the park, and reaches the island by boat from there. No drive time is given here, because none is published for this address and a tour's own pickups decide it.

How long does a Saona day take, and which trip fits it?

Plan on the whole day. One long-running Punta Cana travel resource, updated in January 2026, puts a standard group tour at about 10 to 12 hours, smaller explorer-style and premium tours at 8 to 10, and a private boat at 7 to 9. It allows 60 to 90 minutes for the road from the Punta Cana area to Bayahibe, and warns that a cheaper tour making several pickups can stretch that leg past two hours. The crossing takes about 45 minutes by speedboat and about 90 by catamaran, and standard tours usually go out on one and come back on the other.

From a Cap Cana address, those hours are the real price of the day, and they are what separates one format from another. A group package normally bundles the transfers, a guide, the national park fee, food, drinks and the boat rides. Most itineraries pause at the natural pool, a shallow sandbank offshore where passengers step down into clear water and sea stars lie on the sand, and then spend the middle of the day on a Saona beach. Some go further: to Mano Juan, the island's fishing village, which has a turtle sanctuary, or to the quieter beach at Canto de la Playa. Before you pay, ask three things: where the vehicle collects you and how many other stops it makes, which boat carries you each way, and whether the day includes Mano Juan or only the beach.

What does the national park ask of visitors?

Saona is protected land and sea, and the rules that reach a visitor are few but real. In May 2023 the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources signed Resolution 0024-2023 on the beach at Mano Juan. It set out to rid Saona and Catalina of foam and single-use plastic within Cotubanamá National Park and the Isla Catalina Natural Monument, giving local authorities, fishermen, tourists, tour operators and residents 60 days to put it into practice. No compliance report has been published, so read it as what the ministry ordered rather than as a description of the beaches today. In practice that means a refillable bottle, and leaving the island with everything you brought onto it.

The second rule concerns the operator rather than you. Tourist excursions need permits and authorisations from the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Environment and the Navy, and at a meeting in Bayahibe on 14 November 2024 those authorities agreed to step up inspections of them and set up a joint working group to reorganise the departure area. Asking a seller to show its authorisations is a fair question, and one it should be able to answer.

The rest is conservation sense. The sea stars at the natural pool are animals, not props: photograph them where they lie and leave them on the sand, under the water. Saona's beaches are also turtle-nesting ground, which is the work behind the sanctuary at Mano Juan. And give the sea its due: Canada's travel advice for the whole country says coastal waters can be dangerous and that lifeguard and rescue services do not always meet Canadian standards.

Saona or Catalina: which island day suits you?

Catalina is the other island day sold along this coast, and from Cap Cana the two begin the same way, with a long drive west. They differ in what waits at the end. Catalina is a much smaller island, protected as the Isla Catalina Natural Monument, a separate protected area rather than part of Cotubanamá. The same travel resource says its tours usually leave from the harbour at La Romana and run about 8 to 10 hours from Punta Cana, and cruise ships call there occasionally, anchoring offshore and ferrying passengers in by tender, so on some days the island is shared with a ship. Saona is the larger island, with a village, the natural pool and a national park around it.

The road makes little difference between them: La Romana is about 54 miles from Andara by road, a few miles beyond Bayahibe, and a trip's length depends far more on its pickups and its boat than on those extra miles. Both islands fall under the same 2023 plastic resolution.

What cancels a crossing, and how should you schedule the day?

The island is there all year; the boats depend on the sea. On 15 March 2026, well inside the drier months, the Emergency Operations Centre (COE), acting on a bulletin from the national weather institute (Indomet) that warned of rising swell and strong winds, ordered small, medium and fragile vessels to stay in port along the Caribbean coast from Isla Saona to Cabo Engaño, a stretch that takes in Saona itself and the Cap Cana shore. A trip that depends on such a boat waits until the order lifts. The storm months bring a harder form of the same risk. Hurricane season officially runs from 1 June to 30 November, and on 25 October 2025, as Tropical Storm Melissa approached, the Navy moved 98 people off Saona to the port of Bayahibe.

Two habits follow. Schedule the island near the start of a visit, so that a weather call leaves room to rebook, and read the cancellation and rescheduling policy before paying rather than after. The COE's restrictions are public and reported in the national press, so the evening before you can check whether small boats are being kept in port. If dry days matter to you, aim for the drier season, which runs roughly from the end of December to the end of April, and remember the March order above: dry is not the same as calm. From December to March the sea averages about 79 to 81°F; those are modelled averages, not a promise for any given week.

What does Saona mean for owning or letting at Andara?

Andara is a pre-construction community of 175 residences on the Las Iguanas golf course inside Cap Cana, priced from $280,600, with delivery scheduled for Q4 2028. Its published distances are short and local: about 10 minutes to Juanillo Beach and 15 to Punta Cana International Airport. Saona sits well outside that circle. It is a day out in the same province, not an amenity of the development, and an owner reaches it by the same road and the same boats as any visitor.

What ownership changes is the planning. You are not tied to the one free day of a short holiday, so you can wait for a calm forecast and choose a format with fewer pickups. If you let the residence, a one-page brief in the unit spares a guest who wants to see the island a wasted day: the departure from Bayahibe and the hours involved, the question about the operator's permits, the plastic rule and the sea stars, and the pickup arrangements. That last point is particular to a gated address. Cap Cana's published access rules make the owner register guests in advance, with a full name, a copy of an identity document, a destination and a duration, and they say nothing about excursion pickups. Settle with Cap Cana's customer service and with the operator whether the vehicle will be admitted or should meet your guests at the entrance.

Then let the days on either side of the trip do their part. After a standard tour's ten hours or more on the road and the water, the adults-only rooftop infinity pool, one of the development's 7 pools, is a better plan for the next morning than another drive west. Treat every figure on this page as a planning frame rather than a promise: the distances are measured, the trip lengths are one publisher's ranges, and the sea has the final say.

Common questions

How far is Saona Island from Cap Cana?

In a straight line, Saona's nearest shore is about 25 miles from Andara's coordinates. The journey is longer, because excursions leave from Bayahibe, about 49 miles from Andara by road, and the crossing from there takes about 45 minutes by speedboat or 90 by catamaran. Plan the island as a full day, not a morning out.

Where do the boats to Saona Island leave from?

Mainly from Bayahibe, at the western end of Cotubanamá National Park, which the presidency's newsroom describes as the main departure point for Saona excursions. Tours from the Punta Cana area drive their passengers there first. Excursions need permits from the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Environment and the Navy, and it is reasonable to ask an operator to show them.

Is Saona Island part of a national park?

Yes. It belongs to Cotubanamá National Park, declared in 1975 as Parque Nacional del Este and renamed by Law 519-14 in 2014. Under Resolution 0024-2023 the Ministry of Environment set out to remove foam and single-use plastic from the park and from Catalina's natural monument, so bring a refillable bottle and leave the sea stars in the water.

Is a Catalina trip shorter than a Saona trip?

Usually, on the figures one travel resource publishes: about 8 to 10 hours from Punta Cana for Catalina, against 10 to 12 for a standard Saona group tour, although a private Saona boat can take 7 to 9. The road from Andara is similar, about 54 miles to La Romana against 49 to Bayahibe, so the difference comes from the boats and the stops.

What happens to a Saona trip when the sea is rough?

It may not sail. When Indomet warns of rising swell and strong winds, the COE can order small, medium and fragile vessels to stay in port, as it did on 15 March 2026 for the Caribbean coast from Isla Saona to Cabo Engaño. Read the cancellation and rescheduling policy before paying, and keep a spare day in your stay.