A little while ago my parents came down to visit and enjoy the Dominican Republic. On their check list of things to do was to go to Montecristi, located about three hours West of Cabarete. Yay for road trips!

Almost arriving my dad starts craving a ham and cheese melt with a milkshake so we begin the search. In and out of neighbourhoods, asking local colmados (essentially corner stores with a twist) as well as the locals playing dominoes on the street corners and finally, after 20 minutes, someone sends us off in the right direction. We find the place and sit down to enjoy a pretty good lunch.

Off we go to our first destination and now the mission is to find out where they rent boats so we can go to La Isla De Cabra. After a couple of misleading hand directions (he says go left and points right) we made it to a small mom and pops locale. We negotiated prices (a must here),  hopped on a boat, and headed out. On the boat ride there the driver fills us in on a little history of the island and its use.

The island is called Isla Cabra, in English, Goat Island. This is because when it was first discovered the farmers would put their goats on the island so that no one could steal them, and if they tried they could be spotted easily. Also, there are a couple of salt-works which are very cool.

So, we circle the island and he drops us off on the backside so that we can swim to the front side with our snorkel gear, just keep swimming, just keep swimming. The reef here isn’t spectacular but for those who haven’t seen a reef system before it is pretty cool. You can see many diverse fishes in all different colors as well as other reef organisms.

After about an hour of snorkelling we make it to the other side and we all sprawl out in different parts of the beach. My dad finds a nice table to take a nap on while Jade perches up in a tree and falls asleep.

My mom and I go explore the island a little bit and run into some salt-works as well as a random bathroom in the middle of the island. You’ll understand why I say random when you see the picture of the bathrooms below.

(Like the signs really matter at this point)

 We spend a good amount of time on Isla Cabra and then we head off to our final destination, Playa El Morro.

Ohhh Playa El Morro, this beach is hands down the most beautiful place that I’ve been to in the DR. I look back at the pictures and they look great but still don’t do the place justice. You walk down a rocky path and end up in between two huge mountains at a desolate beach. There where some people but they came, grabbed some pictures and left right away. We, on the other hand stuck, around for a bit, took some shots, a dip and a quick nap. I had my zoom lens on me so couldn’t grab the entire landscape but thankfully my mom had her point and shoot and grabbed these:

On another note I also found this really cool looking shell so I picked it up, only to find that something was actually in it. As soon as I flipped it upside down it went inside and covered itself to reveal a really cool pattern.

If you’re ever in Monte Cristi or close I definitely recommend checking this beach out. Bring a cooler with some food and drinks and enjoy the afternoon here. The Goat Island is pretty cool too but I’d recommend going anytime that isn’t midday.