Saona Island lies eighteen nautical miles southeast of Bayahíbe, a limestone-shelf landmass enclosed within Cotubanamá National Park since 1975. The island measures twenty-five square kilometres, its eastern shore fringed by eight kilometres of unbroken white sand and shallow lagoons no deeper than one metre at low tide. Spanish cartographers charted the island in 1494, naming it after the Italian city of Savona, though the Taíno had settled its interior centuries earlier. The surrounding reef supports over three hundred coral species, and the western mangroves host nesting colonies of frigate birds and brown pelicans between March and July each year. Bayahíbe, a fishing village of four thousand residents, evolved into the primary departure point for Saona Island excursion from Bayahíbe tours during the 1990s when the national park system opened controlled tourism corridors. The harbour sits inside a protected bay, reducing crossing times to under fifty minutes aboard twin-hull catamarans. Operators depart between eight and ten each morning, crossing open water before entering the Catuano Channel, a shallow corridor where starfish congregate on submerged sandbars. The natural pool—locally termed *la piscina natural*—anchors most itineraries, a waist-deep lagoon three hundred metres offshore where silt suspension creates a milky-turquoise effect visible from passing aircraft. Cotubanamá National Park enforces a ten-dollar conservation fee per adult visitor, collected at the Bayahíbe dock before boarding. The fee funds reef monitoring and waste-removal infrastructure on Saona itself, where no permanent development exists beyond two park ranger stations and seasonal beach pavilions. Palm groves dominate the interior, and the absence of roads preserves the coastline's pre-colonial profile. Catamaran routes vary by operator—some transit directly to Saona's northern beaches, while others detour through Palmilla Bay to observe mangrove tunnels. Return crossings typically pause at the natural pool for thirty to forty minutes, allowing passengers to wade among the starfish colonies before the final leg to Bayahíbe. Departure schedules align with Caribbean trade winds, which rise after noon and complicate small-craft navigation during the wet season from May through October.