About Us / Contact
About Us
Visit Cabo Rojo was created by a pair of seasoned travelers who fell hard for one of the Dominican Republic’s most remote and rewarding corners. We built this site because when we first visited the southwest DR in April 2025, we couldn’t find the kind of reliable, on-the-ground travel information we were looking for. So we did the research ourselves, and then we built the guide we wished had existed. From the flamingo-dotted shores of Laguna de Oviedo to the cloud forests of Sierra de Bahoruco and the wild, empty beach at Bahia de las Aguilas, the Cabo Rojo region is extraordinary. It’s also genuinely off the beaten path, and it deserves better than a few scattered forum posts. We work with local guides and tour operators to bring you the most accurate, useful, and honest destination guides available for this part of the DR. We hope you find exactly what you’re looking for.
The Team
Daniel Mode
Co-Founder / Writer / Editor
Daniel is a web creator, novelist, writer and editor who has visited over 45 countries across five continents throughout his life. Since becoming a full-time international traveler and resident in 2013, Daniel has lived in Asia, Central America, and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. He previously worked creating content for the Discovery Channel in the United States and then operated an adventure tour company on the wild east coast of Taiwan. Daniel first visited the southwest Dominican Republic in April 2025 and was immediately struck by how little reliable travel content existed for a region so worth exploring. His passion for travel and the “Island Life” led him and his partner, Laura, to found Island Life Guides in 2020.
Laura Schulthies
Co-Founder / Writer / Editor
Laura has over 15 years of experience in journalism, travel writing, and travel content creation. Her passion for exploring the world came early in her life, and she never looked back. Laura has traveled to and lived in over 40 countries worldwide and studied in places such as Guatemala, Mexico, and Thailand, always seeking to immerse herself in the local culture. She first visited the southwest Dominican Republic in April 2025 and was captivated by the region’s raw beauty, from the otherworldly lagoons of Jaragua National Park to the dramatic peaks of Sierra de Bahoruco. She is constantly curious and seeks to experience the incredible people and places of the world while sharing those adventures with her readers and helping them curate their own unforgettable journeys.
Vanessa Howard
Writer/Editor
Vanessa Howard is a digital nomad and freelance writer with over 8 years of experience within the travel writing community. Some of her favorite international travel destinations include Costa Rica, Mexico, Iceland and Scotland. When she’s not freelance writing, Vanessa enjoys traveling the United States in her RV with her fiancé and their three crazy dogs. She is slightly obsessed with travel, National Parks and sunsets. Researching destinations, collaborating with local experts, and providing first-hand recommendations to help fellow travelers curate their dream trips are huge passions of hers.
Tim Rompfer
Fact Checker
Tim has been based in Cozumel, Mexico since 2011, having spent a lifetime exploring the Caribbean, North America and Europe extensively. As a well-traveled and seasoned divemaster, Tim has accrued thousands of dives throughout the world over the years. Embracing the digital nomad lifestyle, Tim has merged work and wanderlust, crafting a life of perpetual exploration. Tim’s attention to detail and fluency in Spanish and English ensures his accuracy as the fact checker for Island Life’s travel guides.
The Island Life Promise
Throughout Visit Cabo Rojo and our other online guides, you may find affiliate links to businesses where we collect a small commission if you click on them. This is how we keep the lights on, but it does not influence our recommendations in any way. We would never recommend something we don’t personally love and trust. If you ever find a recommendation in any of our guides that you think isn’t up to par, send us an email below and let us know. We’ll check it out, and if you’re right that something we recommended has fallen from grace, we will swiftly take it down. A few dollars in commission is not worth losing your trust. You are why we do this. That is the Island Life Promise.
