Isla Saona is situated in Parque Nacional del Este, a protected park. The island is easily accessed by boat, as it isn’t hard to find locals eager (€€!!) to drive tourists there. Anyway, you'll probably find a lot of offer in the resort concerning organized tours, so everything is arranged for you, no need to worry.
Isla Saona was discovered in 1494 by Cristovão Colombo and it was named after the first sailor who saw the island - his name was Savones and the island was called Savonesa. Its previous name (in Taino) was Adamanay. The island is about 110 square km (around 25 km long and around 5 km wide) with around 3000 inhabitants, and the main localities are Mano Juan and Catuano, the former a fishing village and the later a Marine location. The island's beaches’ sand is very white and the water is warm and blue. With an average temperature of 26ºC all year round and 13 hours of sun every day...I guess I wouldn't mind living there!
Parque Nacional del Este is not only this little bit of sea that we visited plus Isla Saona: it's an enormous area also on the main island of about 430 square km! Hot climate and dry weather...no water streams due to the high porosity of the soil, and the park is covered with a subtropical forest, a dry forest, and a transitional forest. Oh, since it's a protected place is not populated. When traveling by boat to Isla Saona we visited a part of this protected park - the swamps.
While in Isla Saona we took the afternoon to enjoy its sandy beaches and warm sea. It was a fantastic afternoon, preceded by a nice meal - fish and sea food - in the restaurant by the beach.
From journal Relaxing in Punta Cana