Ilha Catalina

Catalina is a small uninhabited island off La Romana, inside Cotubanamá National Park, ringed by powder-white beaches and crowned by one of the Caribbean's best-known dive and snorkel sites. Reached by boat from Bayahíbe or La Romana, it pairs an idyllic empty beach above the water with a vivid reef below — 'The Wall', a dramatic vertical drop-off beloved by divers, and 'The Aquarium', a shallow coral garden where snorkellers drift over eagle rays, moray eels and barracuda. It's a classic southeast day trip and a two-worlds photo subject. Our photographers capture both the bright sand and turquoise above and the festive catamaran scene, with the clearest water and easiest crossings in the December-to-April dry season.