Marine Life and Coastal Restoration

Arrive at Miami International Airport (MIA) where you’ll meet your Rustic Pathways Flight Leader, who will help get you checked in and through security before traveling with your group to the Dominican Republic. Get acquainted with fellow Rustic travelers before boarding your flight.

Arrive at Santo Domingo Airport (SDQ) and meet your Program Leaders who will be with you for the duration of the program. Head to the hotel and settle in, relaxing after your long flight. Join the group for an orientation discussion about the week ahead, expectations for your adventure, and an introduction to the local culture.

After breakfast, get ready to head out to your new home in the small beach town of Bayahibe. Get settled in, but don’t take too long – you have a bay to explore! Stroll around this gorgeous paradise so you and your team can become familiar with the area. Formerly a small fishing village, this area is now internationally known for its crystalline waters and stunning sunsets. In the afternoon, you’ll have an introduction to marine conservation and the impactful work you will be doing during your time in the Caribbean.

Settle into your base for the next seven nights. Students will stay in shared rooms, separated by gender; private bathrooms with Western-style toilets and intermittent hot water.

Begin your hands-on marine training out in the water right away as you familiarize yourself with the tools and techniques of marine life conservation. Today, the group will divide up to accomplish two different projects. Spend the morning working on either coastal cleanup or marine monitoring. Have lunch back at the base and get right back out there for more service in the afternoon. Enjoy an evening getting to know your group and your beautiful beach town over dinner and a gorgeous sunset.

Work with Fundemar, a local NGO dedicated to marine life conservation, to better understand the importance of coral. Spend the morning learning about fish species that are critically important to reef health and working on various projects that encourage coral reproduction, and in the afternoon, you will get in the water to clean buoys, identify parrot fish and collect data on a reef in the area. You’ll also build buoys out of recycled materials that will serve as moorings for fishing boats and keep fishermen from dropping anchors on the fragile coral reefs. After dinner, begin planning a summer camp that you’ll put on for local children interested in preserving their precious coastal environment.

This morning, hike out of Bayahibe on the beautiful Padre Nuestro trail. Work to help local environmental groups maintain and reforest the preserved area. Have a picnic lunch before taking some time to hike the trail yourself and enjoy some swimming. You will pass tropical plants, cacti, crabs, and climb down into an underwater cave to explore and swim alongside your group.

After the weekend, get back to work with Fundemar by creating large grid structures that will be submerged along the coast to help rebuild the damaged coral reefs. As you know by now, the reefs are habitats for marine fauna and are important to helping increase populations of indigenous sea life, from baby fish to giant manatees. This project is very important for the region and goes hand in hand with your previous efforts creating buoys to keep boats out of the delicate reef systems. Organizations like Fundemar operate on a holistic scale, restoring species across the ecosystem, repairing damage and working to prevent these damaging incidents from occurring in the future.

Spend the morning learning about coastal ecosystems and working on coastal cleanup. In the afternoon finish cleaning up the coast before enjoying some snorkeling on Magallanes beach.

Take a boat ride to the beautiful Saona Island where a group of community members have joined forces to protect the sea turtles that breed on the island. Hear directly from them how you can take initiative at any level, and how communities contribute to large-scale projects through local initiatives. Enjoy dinner with ocean views before heading on a short hike to a salt lagoon. Here you can enjoy a beautiful sunset over the lagoon before resting up for your turtle walk in the morning.

Tonight, stay on the beach at a small rustic hotel on Isla Saona. Rooms separated by gender. Basic bathrooms with flushing toilets.

Participate in a beach walk to look for turtle nests and help preserve the eggs mama turtles lay, and hopefully catch a glimpse of a turtle laying her eggs! When you return, spend the morning enjoying this island living and the delicious seafood that comes right from the water where you have been working. Late in the afternoon, board the boat. On the way back to Bayahibe, stop at a natural pool before joining your group for a post-service debrief in the evening, discussing what you experienced and learned through hands-on work in the community.

Return to into your base for the next three nights. Students will stay in shared rooms, separated by gender; private bathrooms with Western-style toilets and intermittent hot water.

Enjoy an hour-long bus ride out to Punta Cana. In the morning, spend time enjoying Hoyo Claro. Cool off in this beautiful natural lagoon and take in all the sites around you. In the afternoon, head back to Bayahibe and spend all afternoon relaxing on the beach.

Work alongside Fundemar and learn about the history of the lionfish in the Caribbean. This invasive species poses a significant threat to the ecosystem of the Dominican coast. You’ll get a chance to work with a taxidermist to learn about lionfish anatomy and physiology, and hone your own recipe for cooking this fish – a project that has been taking off in recent years to encourage restaurants to help control the populations of this destructive (yet delicious) species.

Your group will create jewelry using lionfish fins, as well as other prizes for the annual lionfish fishing tournament. After your tasty lionfish lunch work on your service projects with Fundemar which may include wrapping up data collection and beach cleanup projects.

After breakfast, head out to Sabana de La Mar where you will stay at an eco-hotel nestled on the borders of the park. Take in the sights of Los Haitises National Park, one of the jewels of the Dominican Republic and home to a high percentage of the biodiversity and fauna indigenous to the country. Enjoy an afternoon hike and once you return, take a dip in the natural pools at your eco-lodge!

The next two nights will be spent at a unique ecolodge for two nights. Rooms separated by gender, private bathrooms with Western-style toilets, hot water. Various natural pools and common areas for unwinding.

Work alongside park rangers, Green Brigade volunteers and other environmental groups in Los Haitises National Park. Contribute to the restoration of mangrove eco-systems and the marine life that rely on them, including local dolphin populations that feed in the Samaná Bay. Practice your Spanish with local volunteers and get your hands (and everything else) dirty on this project. In the afternoon, complete your final coastal clean-up.

Head back to the capital for a tour of the Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to the first university, cathedral, and hospital in the Americas. Take a tour of the walled city and learn about the deep history of the first European settlement in the Americas. After touring the Colonial Zone, head over to a special dinner and dance show at a typical Dominican restaurant.

At the end of each program, students reflect on their experiences and the issues they engaged with, and talk about how to apply this new understanding to their own worlds. During or after their closing discussion, groups participate in Rustic Ties, a unique and powerful activity that allows students to capture the memories and learning moments of their program to process and share with their communities back home.

Spend your final night in a hotel with shared rooms with private bathrooms.

Your Program Leaders will take you to the airport for your flight home or to your next Rustic program as you say goodbyes and reflect on your adventure.

If you’re staying in the Dominican Republic, your Program Leaders will take you to your next accommodation to meet your new group. If you’re continuing on to another Rustic Pathways destination, you’ll board a connecting flight to that country.