This documentary is a journey through all the park’s areas. It showcases its forests, the rocky surfaces, its many reefs of karstic topography, with countless embedded marine fossils. It also exhibits the numerous fantastic caves and underground springs. We see its walls filled with thousands of pictographs and petroglyphs carved by the island’s first inhabitants, the Taíno people.

As we penetrate the park’s waters, we will be treated to images of old colonial galleon remains, sunken among the breathtaking coral reefs. Likewise, we will see life forms in corals and mangroves.  

This documentary provides a very complete view of the most spectacular areas in the Parque Nacional del Este (East National Park).

Produced with funding from the European Union, with the intention of using it as a UNESCO document, in a move to promote the declaration of the park as a biosphere reserve, as well as World Heritage Cultural Landscape.

Roberto Llerena was born in El Salvador, Central America. He studied communication sciences, advertising and journalism. At present, he works as a television producer and an underwater explorer.

In the Dominican Republic, he has worked as creative director in several advertising agencies. He has also been a scuba diver on numerous underwater archeological shipwreck excavations, under the direction of Tracy Bowden, discoverer of galleons such as El Conde de Tolosa, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, Nuestra Señora de la Limpia and Pura Concepción.

His work in television includes:

Jorobas que Cantan en el Mar. Documentary on the life and death of humpback whales, and the first documentary on these fascinating cetaceans to be entirely produced in the country, for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Las Venas de la Isla Española. Documentary on rivers and springs in the Dominican Republic, produced for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Las Barreras de Coral. Documentary filmed in the coast of La Hispaniola Island, on coral reefs, and their flora and fauna, also produced for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Los Tesoros Submarinos de la Isla Española. Documentary produced for the Office of National Underwater Cultural Heritage, of the Ministry of Culture.

Los Caminos del Agua. Documentary on the nation’s potable water sources, their riverbeds, and the possibilities of sustainable use by the population. Produced for Corporación del Acueducto de Santo Domingo.

Ballenas de Plata. Documentary on humpback whales in the Marine Mammals Sanctuary, filmed in Banco de la Plata and produced for Banreservas.

Dominicana Bajo el Mar. Documentary on underwater protected areas in Parque Nacional del Este. Produced for the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources.

Dominican television show called Bajo el Mar. Associate producer for CDN, a television channel of Grupo Multimedios del Caribe. The show is currently on the air, Saturdays at 10:00 AM.

Llerena was also the editor of Dominican Republic’s first official scuba diving guidebooks, which were a private initiative sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism.