Saona Island
| Native name: Isla Saona | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Saona Saona Island (Dominican Republic) | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Caribbean Sea |
| Coordinates | 18°09′20″N 68°41′58″W / 18.15556°N 68.69944°WCoordinates: 18°09′20″N 68°41′58″W / 18.15556°N 68.69944°W |
| Area | 110 km2 (42 sq mi) |
| Length | 25 km (15.5 mi) |
| Width | 5 km (3.1 mi) |
| Coastline | 47 km (29.2 mi) |
| Highest elevation | 35 m (115 ft) |
| Administration | |
|
Dominican Republic | |
| Province | La Altagracia |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 300 |
| Pop. density | 2.73 /km2 (7.07 /sq mi) |
 | |
| Location |
Isla Saona Dominican Republic |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 18°06′43.9″N 68°34′25.5″W / 18.112194°N 68.573750°W |
| Construction | concrete tower |
| Markings / pattern | white tower |
| Height | 12 metres (39 ft) |
| Focal height | 32 metres (105 ft) |
| Light source | solar power |
| Range | 16 nautical miles (30 km; 18 mi) |
| Characteristic | Fl W 10s. |
| Admiralty number | J5446 |
| NGA number | 14304 |
| ARLHS number | DOM-009[1] [2] |
Saona Island (Spanish: Isla Saona) is a tropical island located a short distance from the mainland on the south-east tip of the Dominican Republic. It is a government protected nature reserve and is part of Parque Nacional Cotubanamá. It is a popular destination for tourists from all over the Dominican Republic, who arrive in fleets of catamarans and small motorboats on organized excursions every day. The Island is known for its beaches, and has been used on a number of occasions by film-makers and advertisers looking for a stereotypical "desert island" setting for their film or product. It is promoted amongst European visitors as the setting for the Bounty chocolate bar advert.
History
The island was baptized "Saona" by Christopher Columbus, who discovered it in May 1494 during his second voyage to the Americas. The name was meant "... to honor Michele da Cuneo, [Columbus'] friend from Savona."[3] Columbus named Michele da Cuneo the first governor of the island.[4]
By 1500, the Tainos on the island provided Santo Domingo with most of its cassava.[5]
Saona Island and Savona (now part of Liguria, northern Italy) still have twinning relationships. The small power plant in Saona Island is a gift of Savona.
Geography
The seas around the Island are rich in wildlife, with many species of birds and tropical marine fish, and there are large areas where natural sandbars offshore bring the depth to just a few feet. Smaller speed boats stop for tourists to relax in the waist-deep shallows where they snorkel, and explore the fields of starfish indigenous to the region.
Near and around Saona island are coral reefs ecosystems with impressive marine diversity that attract snorkelers and scuba divers alike.
Twin towns
See also
References
- ↑ Dominican Republic The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 8 September 2016
- ↑ List of Lights, Buoys and Fog Signals Atlantic Coast. Retrieved 8 September 2016
- ↑ Paolo Emilio Taviani, Columbus the Great Adventure, Orion Books, New York (1991) p. 185
- ↑ Felipe Fernández-Armesto, Columbus, Oxford Univ. Press, (1991) pp. 103-104.
- ↑ Floyd, Troy (1973). The Columbus Dynasty in the Caribbean, 1492-1526. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. p. 57.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saona Island. |