Ask most visitors what Bayahibe is, and they will describe a lively harbor full of catamarans, dive boats, and day-trip departures to Saona and Catalina islands. But long before any of that, Bayahibe was something much simpler: a small fishing settlement on the southeastern coast of the Dominican Republic.
The name itself comes from long before European arrival — Bayahibe is a Taíno word linking water and land, and the area once belonged to the cacicazgo of Higüey, where local communities gathered mollusks and fished along the coast.
A Village Founded by a Fisherman
The modern town traces its founding to 1874, when Juan Brito, a fisherman of Puerto Rican origin, settled in the area with his family after his boat was wrecked along the coast. What began as a single family’s settlement slowly grew into a small fishing community.
An Isolated Life Built Around the Sea
For decades, Bayahibe remained an isolated village. The sea was not just a source of food — it was the town’s main connection to the outside world. Local families built their own sailboats and relied almost entirely on fishing to sustain themselves, in a place with no roads connecting it to the rest of the country.
Next Door to a National Park
In 1975, the Dominican government declared the surrounding area Parque Nacional del Este — known today as Parque Nacional Cotubanámá — protecting hundreds of square kilometers of forest, mangroves, coastline, and the waters around Saona Island. Bayahibe, sitting right at its edge, became the natural gateway to the park and everything inside it.
A fishing village became the doorway to a national park it never asked to guard.
A Fishing Town That Still Feels Like One
Tourism transformed Bayahibe, but it did not erase what came before it. Walk along the harbor early in the morning, and you will still see fishing boats heading out before the first tour catamarans do — a reminder that this is a working coastal town first, and a destination second.
Discover Bayahibe with Perico Ripiao Tours
Today, Bayahibe is the starting point for some of the most popular excursions in the Dominican Republic, from speedboat and catamaran trips to Saona Island to diving and snorkeling around Catalina Island’s coral reef.
At Perico Ripiao Tours, we believe it is worth knowing a little about the town before you leave from its harbor. Bayahibe was not built to be a gateway — it became one.