The document summarizes the sporting activities available in the Dominican Republic beyond beach relaxation. It describes the various water sports included with resort packages, such as kayaking, sailing, and snorkeling. It also discusses excursions for scuba diving, zip lining, golfing at renowned courses, and attending baseball games featuring future major league stars from the Dominican Republic.

1. This Caribbean country attracts the active crowd with everything
from watersports and zip lining to scenic and challenging golf courses
to baseball games that might just feature a future major league star.
By Theresa Gawlas Medoff
THE
SPORTIER SIDE
THE
OF THE
If you ask most people to picture a vacation in the Dominican Republic, the first image that springs to mind
is likely warm turquoise waters washing up on long stretches of straw-colored beaches. Or perhaps, if they know
that all-inclusive resorts dominate in this island paradise, they’ll think vacation days spent lounging by free-form
saltwater pools, meals at a tantalizing array of restaurants, and evening entertainment ranging from nightclubs to
cabaret shows. But those who’ve been to the Dominican Republic know that this Caribbean destination—number
one among AAA Mid-Atlantic members—also offers a host of opportunities to get active on land or on the water.
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2. WATERSPORTSWONDERLAND
The most obvious attraction for the active set is that
beautiful sea, and most of the all-inclusive resorts make it
easy and affordable for you to get on the water by including
non-motorized watersports as part of your vacation package.
A stay at Dreams Punta Cana, Dreams La Romana or
Dreams Palm Beach, for instance, includes use of snorkeling
equipment, free scuba classes in the resort pool, and use of
kayaks, kite surfers and catamaran sailboats. IBEROSTAR’s
six resorts in the Dominican Republic also include surfing
among the resort’s free offerings. You can even learn to sail,
too, for a fee.
For those with a need for speed, at many resorts you
can ride a banana boat or go water-skiing or Jet Skiing for
an additional fee. Visitors can also book an excursion to
go deep-sea fishing for marlin, mahi-mahi, tuna, sailfish,
barracuda and more.
The sport and your personality will determine whether you’re
looking for waves or calmer waters, but that is something to take
into consideration when determining where to stay. The calmest
year-round waters are found in Bayahibe, making the area perfect
for snorkeling or kayaking, according to John Long, vice president
of sales and marketing with IBEROSTAR. Resorts in Punta Cana
and Puerto Plato, on the other hand, are more likely to have waves
in the winter months.
SWIMMINGWITHTHE FISHES
A popular excursion for those staying at all-inclusive resorts is
a trip to the Marinarium near Punta Cana. Guests at the ecopark
can snorkel on their own or with a guide in a 40,000-square-meter
protected coral reef with a variety of colorful fish such as blue tang,
butterflyfish, needlefish, horse-eye jacks and yellowtail snapper.
Other activities at the Marinarium include kayaking, stand-up
paddle boarding, snorkeling with sharks, and ray encounters.
There are many other sites for snorkeling and scuba diving in
the Dominican Republic, too. You can snorkel a little bit right from
your resort, but to view more sea life, snorkel or dive near Catalina
and Saona Islands on the southern side of the island, recommends
Francois Mariotti of Sea Pro Divers, watersports provider to many
of the all-inclusive resorts. “The area has calmer water, and it’s
more like a natural park, so the coral is much better,” Mariotti says.
The reefs of Catalina include the impressive drop off of “The Wall”
as well as “The Aquarium,” where you might see lobsters, yellow
stingray or a moray eel.
“Catalina is a gorgeous island…. It’s unknown to many tourists,
and the beach is completely protected from the wind, leaving the
Caribbean Sea calm for divers,” Long notes.
The waters surrounding the Dominican Republic also feature
wreck diving. Just off the village of Bayahibe, for example, you’ll find
the Atlantic and St. George shipwrecks, both of which are filled with
marine life.
“St. George wreck is probably one of the most favorite dive sites
in the Bayahibe area,” says Maroš Grajcar, manager of Diving
Dominican Republic, aka Sharky’s Crew, a dive company based in
Bayahibe. “Some of our clients do two or three dives … to explore
the whole wreck and see every little detail…. It’s a great artificial
reef, home to schools of many different fish, especially barracudas.”
A bit further out to sea you’ll find El Peñon, a long, untouched
coral reef divided into three dive sites 39- to 75-feet deep. “You
never know what you can find there—eagle rays, a nurse shark and
occasionally even a hammerhead,” says Grajcar.
Zorbing at Bávaro Adventure Park
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AAA.com/world AAA World • November/December 2015 49
COURTESYOFMARINARIUMEXCURSIONSSnorkeling at the Marinarium

3. 50 AAA World • November/December 2015 AAA.com/world
ONTHEWILD SIDE
If zip lining and other adventure sports
entice you, you’ll want to book an excursion
to Bávaro Adventure Park, a 110-acre park
in Punta Cana where you can go mountain
biking, make your way across sky-high
hanging bridges and zip over treetops,
among many other escapades. The park also
boasts a “climbing garden” comprising 26
challenges, the highest of which is 49 feet.
If you’ve gotten into the trampoline craze
here in the U.S., take it a leap further with
the adventure park’s jumping trampoline in
which you’re harnessed to bungee cords so
you can jump, flip and tumble at heights of
up to 32 feet. If all that isn’t enough to get
your adrenaline going, try “zorbing.” First
made popular in New Zealand, zorbing is
best compared to rolling down a giant hill
in a human-sized, cushioned hamster ball.
There are also Segways to ride as well as a
paintball field and a pirate ship where kids
can climb the ropes.
Check out Scape Park, which has an
adventure course composed of eight
zip lines. Visitors to Scape Park can also
choose to go horseback riding through the
countryside or to ride off-road buggies from
the tropical forest to the shore. On the park’s
Caving Expedition, you’ll hike through
jungle and up the slopes of El Farallon
Cliff before descending a staircase into the
mouth of a cave to explore its mysterious
chambers and tunnels. Or remain outside
in the beautiful sunshine to take the Hoyo
Azul Eco Tour, which finishes off at the
bottom of a 246-foot cliff where you can
swim in a cenote filled with crystal-clear
water that appears ethereally blue. It’s an
experience you won’t soon forget.
HITTINGTHE LINKS
The Dominican Republic is a golfer’s
paradise, or so say the people behind
the World Golf Awards, who heralded
the country as the Caribbean’s Best Golf
Destination in 2014. And it’s not just the
year-round sunshine and warm temps—and
the challenge added by the trade winds—
that attract golfers. The Dominican Republic
boasts 28 designer golf courses, many of
them with amazing ocean views. The links
have been devised by the likes of Pete Dye,
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4. Jack Nicklaus, Robert Trent Jones Sr., Tom Fazio and Greg Norman.
The best known of those courses is Pete Dye’s Teeth of the Dog at Casa de Campo,
which was recently named “Golf Resort of the Year” outside the U.S. and Europe. “The
Teeth of the Dog course has seven holes edged by the ocean, and golfers are able to take
in spectacular Caribbean Sea views from 14 holes,” says Gilles Gagnon, director of golf
for Casa de Campo. “The fairways are generous, and every hole has several tee options,
so you can play from the length that is comfortable for you.” With four additional Pete
Dye-designed courses at the luxury resort, Casa de Campo is a big draw for golfers.
The IBEROSTAR Bávaro Golf Club, designed by P.B. Dye, is ranked the second best
golf course in Punta Cana by TripAdvisor. It has hosted the Copa del Rey Tournament,
the Dominican National Golf Tour, and the U.S. Kids Tour. The course features more than
100 white silica sand bunkers—a striking contrast to the manicured green fairways—
along with lakes, streams and large sand dunes on a number of holes.
The AAA Four Diamond Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, popular with families for
its many pools and kids programs, attracts golfers with the Hard Rock Golf Club at
Cana Bay, adjacent to the resort. Planned by Nicklaus Golf, the par 72 course meanders
through landscapes of tropical flora. If you’re a newbie, you can take advantage of a free
20-minute class with a golf pro.
If you’re staying at a resort that doesn’t have a golf course, no worries; the concierge
can easily make arrangements and provide transportation to a nearby course.
BATTER UP!
Sammy Sosa, Pedro Martinez and his brothers Ramón and Jesús, Jose Bautista,
Maikel Franco, David Ortiz and Johnny Cueto. What do all these baseball players have
in common? They all got their start in their home country of the Dominican Republic.
So popular is baseball in the Dominican Republic, and so skilled are the players, that
all 30 U.S. major league ball clubs run academies there for players ages 17 to 19. Since
1991, most of the 500 Dominican players who’ve signed with the majors have come
through these academies, according to ESPN.com.
If you’re visiting the Dominican Republic in late fall to early winter, you can cheer on
the home team at a game in the Dominican Republic Professional Baseball League (Liga
de Béisbol Profesional de la República Dominicana, or LIDOM), which plays regular-
season ball from mid-October to mid-December, with playoffs from late-December to
late-January.
So enjoy lying on the soft sands and lazing by the pool on your trip to the Dominican
Republic, but don’t forget that there’s also a wonderful world of sports awaiting you
there, too. <<
Teeth of the Dog golf course
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