Bahía de las Águilas

Over the long MLK weekend, R and I ventured to the southwest part of the Dominican Republic with our friends from A-100. We left the traffic and chaos of Santo Domingo after work on Friday afternoon and by dinnertime we were safely tucked in to Casa del Mar, a wonderful "eco-lodge" about 16 km from Barahona. Side note: We HIGHLY recommend Casa del Mar as a place to stay. The rooms didn't have telephones or televisions, and we didn't even try the wi-fi, but the staff was amazing, the rooms were great, and the view to the ocean was spectacular. We fell asleep each night listening to the waves.

On Saturday, I rose early and watched the sun rise over the ocean.

Just steps from our room.

We had decided to drive the two hours to Bahía de las Águilas (Bay of the Eagles), lured by the promise of white sand beaches and potential eagle sighting. The drive itself was pretty amazing. We drove through four completely different ecosystems, ranging from dry desert to lush palms. It's a rural area, so we ran into cows (almost quite literally), too.

There was enough ocean breeze to warrant windmills, something I hadn't seen since leaving Wyoming.

We drove down a red dirt road, heading for the water and the promise of the beach. Even though it was Saturday, there weren't many people around. We saw a few buildings that are probably well-used during peak season (although I can't imagine when that might be if it isn't January), but were deserted when we went by them.

We didn't actually see any eagles the entire day, but we did see this guy and a few of his friends hunting for fish:

The final push to Bahía de las Águilas can be made by either hiring a boat to take you, or by braving the rocky, steep road. The boatmen hanging around the entrance to the national park warned us that our car would never make it. We laughed and decided to risk it in our 4-wheel drive.

Before tackling the road, however, we stopped in to the Casa Chiquita restaurant and ordered lunch for later. We told the wait staff we'd like to have fajitas ... in about two hours. They were very accommodating and promised it would be ready when we returned from our excursion.

After a bumpy but completely passable drive, we made it to the bay.

This shows the rocky part of the bay, but mostly it was pure sand.

We wandered up and down the beach, looking for shells and wading in the water.

The water was an amazing turquoise, and there were only about 10 other people there.

After a couple of hours of Caribbean relaxation, we ventured back to Casa Chiquita and ordered a beer. Our fajitas arrived, hot and delicious, about 5 minutes later.

More to come about our trip to this part of the island!