White guaguas rattle along the Bávaro road, stopping for anyone who waves, while shuttles and taxis roll past rows of palms. On the water, catamarans and fishing boats share the shallows behind the reef, and at El Cortecito wooden boats still get hauled onto the sand beside the beach bars.
Away from the resorts, families cool off in the clear freshwater lagoons of Ojos Indígenas, and surfers wait for the bigger Atlantic waves at Macao. The heat holds all year, with a drier stretch from December to April and heavier showers from May to November. A Local Friend keeps the plan loose, so a rainy hour turns into lunch and a calm sea turns into a boat ride.
