Domes Beach

playa-domes

Domes is the number one surfing beach in Puerto Rico

Domes is the num­ber one surf­ing beach in Puer­to Rico

Domes Beach is in the north­west cor­ner of Puer­to Rico in the munic­i­pal­i­ty of Rincón, about 78 miles west, south­west going in a straight line from San Juan.  And if you’ve ever been in surfer cir­cles you know that Rincón is one of the great­est surf­ing areas in Puer­to Rico.  So this is not the beach for you if you’re look­ing for that tran­quil, one-inch surf.

The sign when you arrive at Domes Beach tells the story

The sign when you arrive at Domes Beach tells the sto­ry. Click on image to see it larger.

But Rincón isn’t known only for its surf­ing.  This is actu­al­ly one of the most beau­ti­ful places in Puer­to Rico.  Peri­od!!!  The Island of Desecheo, almost straight to the west, is home to a Wildlife Refuge that is closed to the pub­lic. But about twelve miles away from Desecheo is one of the great­est div­ing spots in the Puer­to Rico.

Domes Beach has fluffy light tan sand, crys­tal clear turquoise water and a per­fect cli­mate all year ’round.  It’s also a nat­ur­al beach.  That means no park­ing, show­ers, restrooms, life­guards, safe­ty buoys, con­ces­sion stands, gaze­bos, recy­cling bins, sig­nage or writ­ten material.

And guess where it got its name?  It sits right next to a nuclear pow­er sta­tion cov­ered by a blue dome that the Puer­to Rico Elec­tric Pow­er Author­i­ty tried to build dur­ing the six­ties.  Pub­lic out­cry was so intense that the Island’s gov­ern­ment aban­doned the project.  But don’t wor­ry.  You won’t see any two-head­ed fish in the water because there’s no evi­dence of radi­a­tion here.

From the nearby lighthouse you can see a panoramic view of Domes Beach, watch the whales and Desecheo Island.

From the near­by light­house you can see a panoram­ic view of Domes Beach, watch the whales and Desecheo Island. Click on image to see it larger.

What you could see is the occa­sion­al hump­back whale in the dis­tance.  Why?  Because Rincón is also famous among whale watch­ers that come here every year, from Jan­u­ary to March, to wit­ness migrat­ing whales as they pass by the Rincón coast­line, mate and give birth on the way back to New Eng­land, Ice­land and New­found­land.  It’s a nature lover’s paradise.

You can watch the show from the near­by light­house area or you can rent a boat that will take you right next to the whales.  Appar­ent­ly they don’t mind.

And what can I tell you about the sun­sets?  Well, let’s just say that they’re among the most spec­tac­u­lar in the world.

So there you have it: swim­ming, surf­ing, scu­ba div­ing, whale watch­ing and spec­tac­u­lar sun­sets.  What more can you ask?  Rincón has it all!!!

Enjoy Puer­to Rico!!!

Orlan­do Mergal

Orlando Mergal buys all his photo equipment at B&H

Dis­clo­sure of Mate­r­i­al Con­nec­tion: Some of the links in this post are “affil­i­ate links.” This means that if you click on a link and pur­chase an item, I will receive an affil­i­ate com­mis­sion. Regard­less, I only rec­om­mend prod­ucts or ser­vices that I use per­son­al­ly and believe will add val­ue to my read­ers. I am dis­clos­ing this in accor­dance with the Fed­er­al Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Con­cern­ing the Use of Endorse­ments and Tes­ti­mo­ni­als in Advertising.”

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