In January 1493, sailing along the north coast of Hispaniola, Christopher Columbus wrote in his journal that he had seen three "mermaids" rising out of the sea, and that they were not as beautiful as they were usually painted. Historians agree he was looking at manatees. More than five centuries later, the descendants of those animals still live along the Dominican coast, but there are far fewer of them, and they are very good at staying out of sight.

So let us answer the question we hear most often first: no, you will almost certainly not see a manatee on a dive in Punta Cana. This post explains where the Dominican Republic's manatees actually live, why they are in trouble, and how to see them without harming them, plus the big animals you can realistically meet on our reefs.

Quick Facts

Name: Antillean manatee, Trichechus manatus manatus, a subspecies of the West Indian manatee
Size: West Indian manatees are typically about 3 m (9–10 ft) long and weigh around 450 kg (1,000 lb); the largest exceed 4 m
Diet: strictly herbivorous; seagrasses and other aquatic plants, roughly 10–15% of body weight a day
Breathing: a resting manatee surfaces every three to five minutes and can stay down for up to about 20 minutes
Reproduction: one calf after a pregnancy of about a year, typically every two to five years
Habitat: shallow coastal water, bays, mangrove lagoons and river mouths, moving between salt, brackish and fresh water
Range: the Antillean subspecies lives in the Greater Antilles, along the Caribbean and Gulf coasts of Mexico and Central America, and in northern South America
Status: Endangered (IUCN, assessed at the subspecies level); considered critically endangered nationally in the Dominican Republic

How to Recognize a Manatee

Nothing else in Dominican waters looks like a manatee. It is a large, grey or brownish, torpedo-shaped body with a small whiskered face, two paddle-like front flippers and a broad, rounded tail shaped like a spoon. There is no dorsal fin. Many adults carry pale scars from boat propellers.

From a boat or the shore, you usually see much less: a nose breaking the surface with a soft puff of breath, a flat swirl on calm water called a "footprint", or the top of a broad back. Dolphins, by contrast, have a curved dorsal fin and move fast; manatees rarely seem in a hurry.

Behavior: Slow by Design

Manatees belong to the Sirenia, an ancient order of marine mammals whose closest living relatives on land are elephants and hyraxes. They are grazers that spend much of the day eating, resting and travelling slowly between feeding areas, sheltered water and fresh water.

Mothers and calves are the strongest social unit. A calf nurses and stays with its mother for a year or two, learning her routes through lagoons and channels. Because each female produces so few young, a population that loses even a few adults a year can shrink steadily.

Manatees and Punta Cana: An Honest Answer

Our local dive sites are open, sandy and coral reefs facing the sea. Manatees prefer calm, shallow water with seagrass, mangroves and fresh water nearby, which is why they are essentially never seen on Punta Cana dives. Anyone who promises you a manatee in Punta Cana is being very optimistic.

What we can offer is great big-animal diving that is genuinely likely. Park Reef, at about 12 m (40 ft), is one of our best sites for hawksbill sea turtles. Our local reefs and sand channels are also home to the southern stingray. Certified divers with Advanced Open Water or 20 logged dives can join our shark dive in Punta Cana, where nurse sharks, blacktip sharks and Caribbean reef sharks live on a deep reef, with no cage and no bait. And if marine mammals are what you are after, the Dominican Republic's humpback whale season runs from January to March; ask us about our seasonal whale-watching adventure.

Where Manatees Live in the Dominican Republic

A 2019 review of manatees in Hispaniola, published in the journal Oryx, found that recent Dominican sightings cluster in a handful of areas:

The northwest coast, from Monte Cristi to La Isabela. This includes the Estero Hondo Marine Mammal Sanctuary in Puerto Plata province, a protected area of mangroves and a shallow lagoon behind a sand bar, where manatees are present all year. It is the best-known place in the country to look for them, with a visitor center reached from the road to Punta Rucia.
Samaná Bay and the Samaná peninsula, including the bay of San Lorenzo inside Los Haitises National Park.
The southeast coast around Bayahibe, where researchers have used drones to monitor a small number of manatees, often a mother with her calf.
Stretches of the south and southwest coast, from Nizao and Puerto Viejo to Barahona and Pedernales.

Nobody knows exactly how many there are. Published estimates for the whole country have been in the low hundreds or fewer, and the population is thought to be declining. The main threats are illegal hunting for meat, entanglement in gill nets and seine nets, boat traffic, pollution and the loss of coastal habitat to development.

You can find the manatee on our species guide alongside the animals our guides see more often.

How to See Manatees Responsibly

Go with the sanctuary or an authorized local guide. At Estero Hondo, visit through the official visitor center and follow the rangers' rules.
Watch from a distance. Never chase, touch, feed or offer water to a manatee, and never separate a mother from her calf.
Keep boats slow in shallow lagoons and seagrass. Propeller strikes injure and kill manatees.
Be patient. Sightings are never guaranteed, even inside the sanctuary. A calm, flat surface makes the puffs and swirls easier to spot.
Report problems. If you see an injured, stranded or entangled manatee, tell your guide or the Ministry of Environment rather than trying to help it yourself.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are there manatees in Punta Cana?

Practically never on our dives. The reefs around Punta Cana are not manatee habitat, and the animals live mainly in sheltered lagoons and bays elsewhere in the country.

Where is the best place to see manatees in the Dominican Republic?

The Estero Hondo Marine Mammal Sanctuary in Puerto Plata province, on the north coast, is the best-known site. It is several hours by road from Punta Cana, so plan it as part of a trip to the north coast.

Can you swim with manatees in the Dominican Republic?

Manatees are protected in the Dominican Republic, and the right way to see one is from a distance, following the sanctuary's or your guide's rules. Do not get into the water to approach one.

Are manatees dangerous?

No. Manatees are peaceful herbivores with no defenses except size and caution. The danger runs the other way: people, boats and nets are the biggest threat to them.

Manatees may be a long drive away, but turtles, rays and sharks are not. Join us for a two-tank reef dive in Punta Cana and meet the big animals that do call our reefs home.