Playa Sosúa (Sosúa Beach)

The main attraction of Sosúa, and the site around which most of Sosúa’s day-to-day activities revolved, was the beach. Sosúa Beach is a crescent-shaped bay located between “El Batey,” the town built by the Jewish settlers and “Los Charamicos,” an existing town where Dominicans resided before 1940. From the very beginning of the settlement, the beach became the place for gathering. The settlers used the beach for swiming and family reunions, so that children could play together and to relax and speak about the latest events in their lives. Sosúa beach was a truly idyllic setting: the water was placid, almost lake-like, with pure white sand, set against a mountain backdrop and a deep blue sky. A reef, named “Los Cabezos,” was located in the middle of the bay, protected the beach from large waves.

As the beach is quite large, several sites are worth mentioning. “Los Pilotillos” is located on the east side of the beach and was the site of an early 1900s port from where bananas were exported to the USA. The remains of the port, six big cement posts, provided a structure from which children could dive into the sea and play.

“El bañadero,” located in the middle of the beach, had several cement benches and was the main gathering place. It extended to the west until “La mata de uva,” a sea grape tree were children played games like Tarzan and cowboys and Indians. Also “La Islita,” a large algae-covered rock close to the shore, was an exciting place to swim and dive.

“Los Charamicos,” the neighboring Dominican town, was located on the west side of the beach. Because the cliff on that side of the beach was very rocky most of the kids stayed away from there.

“Los Cabezos,” the beautiful reef in the middle of the bay, was only visible during low tide. The region surrounding “Los Cabezos” had many coral, fish, and algae that lived together in a strange but wonderful harmony. However, it was risky to swim so far out because of sharks.

The Sosuans also enjoyed the many different type of trees that provided shade. “Moreno,” a coconut seller, would climb the coconut palms for their fruit, open them with his machete, and then sell them to beach-goers. During the summer he would also sell “limoncillos,” a lychee-like fruit with a tart taste.

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