Bayahibe

People have lived at Bayahibe since prehistoric times, drawn by freshwater springs, a good sheltered anchorage, coral reefs full of fish and shellfish, and mangroves and land that could be farmed. The name is Taíno, and although its meaning is uncertain it may combine baya, a clam-like shellfish that clings to rocks and mangrove roots, with jibe, a sieve of sticks used to sift cassava flour.

The first Europeans arrived on 14 and 15 September 1494, when Christopher Columbus, returning from Cuba and Jamaica on his second voyage, explored the south coast of Hispaniola. He named the island the Taíno called Labanea Catalina, and his companion Michele da Cuneo named the larger island Adamanay Bella Savonese, the origin of the name Saona. In 1699 William Kidd left a captured merchant ship anchored off Catalina; the men he left to guard it later burned it, and its remains were found in 2007.

The modern village was founded in 1874 by Juan Brito and his family, who came from Puerto Rico, and for a century it lived from fishing. The national park beside it was declared in 1975, large resorts were built along the beaches nearby, and Bayahibe grew into the departure point for Saona and the country's leading diving centre. Administratively it is a municipal district of San Rafael del Yuma.

Bayahibe still has the feel of a fishing village. Boats are pulled up on the beach, the fishermen's catch supplies the village restaurants, and life centres on the shore, the colmados and the small streets behind the beach. Locals use Bayahibe Beach, while the resort guests stay mostly at Dominicus.

The sea defines the town's identity. Diving is the most popular activity, with dive schools and boats working more than 20 sites, and there are shipwrecks, recreated 18th-century galleon wrecks and an underwater living museum built around the remains of Kidd's ship off Catalina. Deep-sea fishing and stand-up paddleboarding are also popular.

Bayahibe also has its own emblem from the land: the Bayahibe rose, a leafy cactus with pink flowers found only around the village and now threatened by the loss of its habitat. As in the rest of the east, the feast of the Altagracia in January and the baseball season mark the year, and merengue and bachata play from the colmados in the evenings.

The municipal district of Bayahibe had 5,618 people at the 2022 census, with just over half living in the town itself and the rest in the surrounding countryside. Many residents work in tourism: on excursion and dive boats, in the resorts at Dominicus, and in guesthouses, restaurants and shops in the village.

The harbour south of the village beach is the centre of working life, as the departure point for the excursion boats to Saona and Catalina and the base for the dive boats and the fishermen who still land their catch there.

The town lives beside a large protected area, and much of its income depends on the health of the reefs, beaches and islands of Cotubanamá National Park. Tourism has brought work but also pressure on the coast, water supply and housing, as in much of the east, and the rare Bayahibe rose is strongly threatened by the destruction of its habitat.

Fish and shellfish are the heart of the village table. Seaside fishing villages across the country offer a wide variety of seafood, most often shrimp, marlin, dorado and lobster, and tostones, twice-fried slices of green plantain, are a common side. Coconut water is sold fresh on the beach.

In the comedores, the everyday lunch is la bandera, the Dominican plate of white rice, red beans, stewed meat and salad, and sancocho, a thick stew of several meats and root vegetables, is the dish many Dominicans see out the old year with. As across the country, fried snacks such as empanadas and yaniqueques, crisp rounds of fried dough, are everyday street food.

The resorts at Dominicus serve international buffets, while the village's small restaurants are the place for local fish. Presidente beer, rum and mamajuana, rum, red wine and honey steeped with bark and herbs, are the everyday drinks of the beach bars.