Travel Eye on Boca Chica (Dominican Republic, Caribbean)

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Overview:

Once a favourite spot for prosperous Dominicans to have a summer home, Boca Chica is now a bustling but shabby seafront town, measuring around 1½ mls across and sandwiched between the main coastal highway to the N and the sea to the S. It comprises narrow, sometimes steep, potholed roads, colourful but faded Caribbean-style houses and a motley collection of concrete hotels and pensions; its chief attraction is the beach with its fine, white sand and clear, calm water. Being the closest resort to the capital and the principal international airport, it is always busy and the beach is often overcrowded at weekends and holidays, when the locals descend.

Locality:

Boca Chica is on the island's Caribbean S coast (Domican Republic), 25 mls east of Santo Domingo, 10 mls E of its international airport. It is situated on a nondescript, flat coastal shelf of coral, indented to form a bay facing 2 small islands. Sandwiched between the sea front and the busy Santo Domingo/La Romana coast road.

Entertainment/Facilities/Attractions/Things to do:

Boca Chica is a popular destination for budget to middlemarket younger couples and groups wanting a short transfer from the airport and close proximity to city facilities. Accommodation consists of a full range of budget guesthouses and an increasing number of older all-inclusive properties of average quality. There is very little here in the luxury bracket.

The beach is a flat bay of fine, white sand, ranging from 40 yds to 100 yds wide, backed by some tropical vegetation and palms; not far off shore are a pair of small islands which you can wade out to at low tide. Shallow, clear waters with the reef acting as a natural breakwater. The beach gets very lively at weekends, with hawkers and loud music. Entertainment revolves around the beach and a choice of water sports including windsurfing, PADI diving, jet-skiing, paddle boats, water-skiing, banana-boat rides and sailing. By night the atmosphere is lively due to generally younger clientele and nightly influx of local residents from the city. Numerous unsophisticated discos, late-night bars (most with music) and some rather seedy-looking local drinking joints, mainly concentrated around Calle Duarte, the Boca Chica "strip". Home-grown live shows and bands at bigger hotels. Excursions here tend to consist of glass-bottomed boat tours; yacht charter; scuba diving and snorkelling trips; deep-sea fishing; Santo Domingo for sightseeing and shopping; Los Haitises National Park.