Our family loved watching the surfers at Domes. We are used to surfing at home in NS, but the waves here are incredible! No services right on the beach, but there are washrooms nearby in the lighthouse park. We want to come back when the museum in the Dome is finished!

Visited Domes Beach during our first full day in Rincon. Their are two parking lots: one for locals and one for visitors. The morning that we were there the beach and ocean was packed with surfers. We took a walk to the south and north of Domes. To the north of Domes are trails and some beautiful isolated beaches.

Bring a chair or blanket and sit on the beach where you can watch the surfers ride some of the best local waves.

SUMMATION: Odd surfing spot since it usually has wimpy waves suitable for amateurs, but difficult entries and exits for pros. Too dangerous for swimming; no large shells, but many tiny ones; too short for walking and the sand is uncomfortably soft; only good for laying on the beach and watching surfers.

NAME: Domes Beach

DESCRIPTION: Highland of Lighthouse Park blocks beach to south and rocky outcrop to north; around 100 yards long and usually broad beach. Yellow or tannish sand. No sea shells of any size, but lots of tiny gastropods (univalves), no sea glass. Coconut Palms and Indian Almonds [A] shade the beach. See PR Tourism video online, also surfing discussions online.

MY RATING: Good (3.4/5)

SIZE: around 100 yards long and usually broad, even in the winter

TITLE: “Surfing Fame” [TripAdvisor, my review #562 [1], 17 February 2016]

LATITUDE, LONGITUDE: 18°16’54.96”N, 67°21’10.80”W

DIFFICULTY LOCATING: easy

DIRECTIONS: Take PR-413 out of the town of Rincon, then left to “El Faro” on PR-4413. Dead-ends at Dome of old Nuclear Power Plant. Beach is below

PARKING: Paved parking road on left of dead-end road (4413) by Dome on north end of beach, parking in dirt to right, dirt ramp down to fairly solid parking by beach, on the south end there is the Lighthouse parking lot, also a ramp down there, but on softer sand.

OCCASION: Stopped to pick up small shells for jewelry making. We usually do not find many shells here, but there were many and varied small, univalves (gastropods) including a few we had not seen before [B].

HOURS OF OPERATION: No gates, no authorities, 24/7/365

FEES: none

VIEW: Excellent of beach, rocks, lighthouse, surfers, Desecheo Island, and in winter Humpback Whales, occasionally (better view from Lighthouse Park).

AMINITIES: No bathrooms, no food and drinks, no vendors

CELEBRITIES: Corona Extra Pro Circuit held at this beach every February

ANIMALS: no one to restrict

RECOMMENDATIONS:
(I) Intolerance for amateurs at this site has been rumored.
(II) Not a beach recommended for children.

DANGERS:
(I) Waves, undertow, rocks, submerged beach rock
(II) You are on-your-own

AWARDS: Certificate of Excellence (2016, TripAdvisor)

REVIEWS: rated Very Good, 4.41/5, 157 reviews (TripAdvisor); Very, Very Good, 4.56/5, 3 mini-reviews, 6 votes (Google)

HISTORY: The 1968 World Surfing Championship put Rincon on the map.

FOOTNOTES:
[1] Plus thousands of unnumbered, critical article and book reviews for hundreds of journals. TripAdvisor, 22,000 points, detailed reviews

SPECIES:
[A] Indian Almond, Terminalia catappa, is from Asia, but has been introduced throughout the tropics. Its nut is eatable, but acidic, and leaves are used to treat aquarium water and fish parasites.
[B] Shells new to us:
West Indian Bulimulus, Bulimulus guadeloupensis, 26 specimens, 2 brown banded. This is a land snail, which washed down to the sea.
West Indian Cup-and-saucer, Crucibulum auricula, 1 large and 1 small.