Boca de Yuma
| Boca de Yuma | |
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Harbour of Boca de Yuma
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 Boca de Yuma
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| Coordinates: 18°22′48″N 68°36′0″W / 18.38000°N 68.60000°WCoordinates: 18°22′48″N 68°36′0″W / 18.38000°N 68.60000°W | |
| Country | Dominican Republic |
| Province | La Altagracia |
| Population (2008) | |
| • Total | 2,342 |
Boca de Yuma is a village in the province of La Altagracia, in the Dominican Republic. It is situated west of the mouth of the Rio Yuma, near the Caribbean Sea.
The word Yuma is an indigenous Taíno name.
The village has a pleasant climate. It is peaceful and tranquil. A few miles west of the village is the Del Este National Park, one of the largest national parks in the country, with an area of 310 square kilometers. The bay of Boca de Yuma is used for fishing and boat trips.
The first families that settled the village of Boca de Yuma came from various regions of the Spanish colonial Captaincy General of Santo Domingo on Hispaniola. Perhaps one of the first persons to settle here was Pedro Sifuentes, nicknamed the Portugalete. He has also been referred to as the Dominican 'Robinson Crusoe' due the many years of living alone here after the sinking of his ship in adjacent Yuma Bay.
Boca de Yuma had a Spanish colonial fort overlooking the Yuma Bay. The fort held a highly defensible position, with the cannons as the main defense.
The remains of a cannon is on the coastline, that is believed to be the same as the Archbishop Fernando Navarrete asked the King of Spain for, for the defense and protection of the Shrine of Our Lady of La Altagracia in Higüey. In 1877 an expedition organized by the baecista of Curaçao found cannons left underwater in Yuma Bay. They were placed as monuments on an ocean cliff where the community park and the historic lighthouse are located. Other guns and battleships remain on the Playa Blanca (White Beach).
One of the great pirates of those times, who defended the poor, was a man named Roberto Cofresi Ramirez de Arellano, born in the coastal town of Red Cape. Deep below the river mouth there is a cave, where according to tradition the pirate ship "Cofresi" sank. In 1824, Roberto Cofresí engaged with a U.S. Commander in a fierce battle, after which Cofresí and his crew were captured. His death sentence took place on the morning of March 29, 1825, on the fields of Castillo San Felipe del Morro in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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Wikipedia