trip report Bayahibe, Dominican Republic

[jomcclain]

My husband and I were looking for somewhere new to go for scuba vacation. We chose Bayahibe in the Dominican Republic because we had never been there and because we were able to get a great deal on airline tickets and an an ever greater deal on week in an AI. It was a good choice because we discovered Sharky's Dive Shop! They only take private groups, but the prices no higher than you would pay for a typical, non-cattle boat operation. Because my husband and I were the only divers on the boat other than the guide, we could go where we wanted, do what we wanted, dive our tanks. There are not a lot of beautiful dive sites in the area, but there are some, plenty to fill a 5 day diving trip. My favorites were Viva Shallows, the Aquarium, and St George wreck. Because most of the sites (other than St George) are quite shallow, they make for long dives. We've not been to a lot of places before, so I can't make many comparisons, but to compare it to Coz: you won't get the huge dramatic reef formations or many big animals, but you probably will see some things that we, at least, never saw in Coz. We saw seahorses, pink frogfish, scorpion fish, and a school of about 20 squid. The town itself is just a small fishing village, nothing whatsoever like Coz. But that can be good. We got to go to a local bars and party with the dive crew, met lots of interesting people. Divers are allowed to spear lion fish there, so that's another plus. I didn't get to go on carvern dive but my husband did said it was great. He went to Padre Nuestros and El ChiCho, and saw some interesting stuff including cave art by the PreColumbian Indians. Really Cool. Highly recommended overall!

 

[PeterNBiddle]

Thanks for the review! We're heading to the DR for a non-scuba trip next week but we might get a couple of days of diving in.

 

[jomcclain]

If you try to get in a couple of days of diving, go to Bayahibe, Don't waste your time around Punta Cana.

 

[NYCNaiad]

I have always heard that the reef was dead there, but no one I knew had ever been. So glad you made your trip report. I'll actually consider DR now when I wouldn't have before.

 

[jonhall]

Thanks for the report. I've been trying to convince my buddy to go to DR, as it's always available with our timeshare, but haven't been able to yet. He's worried about safety. The more good I can tell him about, the better.