Some pictures of the beach and hotel here. http://destinations.neilsedinburgh.com/DR/HotelTour.shtml

Being on the Atlantic side of the island the sea probably won't be as calm as in Alcudia or as clear in my experience. Trees in close proximity usually mean leaves and seed pods in the sand but that's the same in the south and east too, something I don't remember from Alcudia.

I'm finding it actually quite difficult to compare a very commercialised beach in Majorca with the basic beauty of one in the Caribbean the only thing I can say is that I was more impressed by the beaches in the south and east of the DR because the sea was warmer, clearer and calmer. The Atlantic can be pretty wild at times.

HI. I thought that the beach along the stretch of the Riu hotels in Baiha Maimon in the North was lovely. The sea was a beautiful blue and quite calm for the 2 weeks we were there in the month of August. The sand was clean and there were palm trees dotted around. The beach in Mexico, however was more picturesque (sand was white like talc) but compared to Europe, I think you'll have a pleasant surprise. I can only speak for the stretch we visited though and it may be different by the hotel where you're staying.

i stayed at the holiday village which is in the north of DR. here are two pictures of the beach we had use of, taken on a bit of an overcast day but we thought the beach was nice & the water wasnt that rough or anything.. we went last october
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e314/ladykicz/DSC00106.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e314/ladykicz/DSC00242.jpg