Dominican Republic

[ScubaJae]

Anyone know the best dive sites in the Dominican?
:drown:

[DocVikingo]

Down south out of La Romana are the high points in the DR's lackluster to outright poor diving. Make sure you get out to Catalina Island.

Best regards.

DocVikingo

[ScubaJae]

By the sounds of it you don't like the diving there, Is there any reason or is it just boring? I've never been so I don't know what to expect. Thanks for the tip on Catalina Island.

[DocVikingo]

Don't mean to spoil your excitement.

The real problem is off the north & east coasts, where the reefs have been badly damaged by trash, pollution, runoff, heavy diver pressure & overfishing.

Down south is much nicer, and decent Caribbean diving, which means no thrills & but worth getting wet for. Dive ops largely serve mixed groups with newbies, and this means strict limits on diver freedom & frequent inability to do the more challenging, and to my mind more interesting sites.

The DR is a substantial sized island & you haven't said where you'll be located. If it's north, you can't make southern dive sites on a day trip. If you're west, some dive shops will arrange a day trip south--you'll be bussed down in the early AM.

Do take your golf clubs.

DocVikingo

[ScubaJae]

Don't worry, you haven't spoiled it for me I am just curious as to what I am getting into. We will be staying in Punta Cana for a wedding and I beleive it wouldn't be a problem to travel south for a day or two. I did notice they had a couple of wrecks on the south side, is that near Catalina Island? Are they worthwhile?
Thank you once again for all the info, it has been a great help.

[DocVikingo]

Yes, they are worth it. The recently sunk St.Georges, about 290' long & at about 110', is rather nice. Not yet covered with coral & whathaveyou, but can be big schools of fish.

Enjoy.

DocVikingo

[Dectek]

The diving near Punta Cana was a big let down. Hell...All of Punta Cana was a big let down. We had folks that were bragging that they only had to spend $100 to go home early. If you like to lay around the pool or beach for days on end or dive and snorkel on the same gray dead reef time after time......this is the place for you.
You must go to catilina island. The Wall was Excellent and we went to a place called the Aquarium. That is where the dolphins came to check us out. The day that we took the trip to Iberostar hotel in LaRomana was the highlight of the trip. There was also some excitement when a waiter stole a dive shop boat, loaded it with 18 people at $500 a clip and headed for the US. (Puerto Rico)
Yes...there were some good things about the trip, but after visiting the Costa Rico and Mexico....we felt a little disappointed.
If you need any heads up about excursions available in the area just give a shout

[ScubaJae]

Thanks for the input on Punta Cana, We have a wedding there other wise I probably wouln't have picked that area. If you have any leads on what to do there it would be much appreciated. I think I will plan most of our diving on the south side of the island, I would like to check out the wrecks, and you said the wall is good.

If you have any pics I would like to see them or any other suggestions.

I have been to mexico a few times and liked it very much, very colorful and lots of fish etc. in the bahama's, where we were, it was very grey and dull. I prefer more visually appealing scenery.

I am getting excited to go because I have never been there before and I like to see everywhere at least once, its good to know ahead of time what areas we might not enjoy.

Thank you very much for your input.

:tree:

[Dectek]

If you are staying in Punta Cana then you are looking at an Hour and a half bus ride to La Romana or BAYAHIBE. Some dive shops in Punta cana will sell you the trip including transportation. The roads and transportation are not too great there. In a sense...Punta Cana is sort of secluded away from everything and the main way to do any activities is to book it through your hotel or tour operator. I will list what most of the hotels offer and you can message me if you want detailed info on any of it.
Jungle tour rides in the back of a truck... motorcycle tours in the jungle.(one operator has quads and one has 95cc dirt bikes) horseback riding in the jungle... twilight horseback riding on the beach. (This is a MUST) Ask if you can pay a few extra dollars for a private quide if you are experienced and you won't have to ride with a group of hackers. Snorkeling RAFT Excursions " big floating dock with a motor. Snorkel and booze it up at the same time. I think everyone on this board would agree that we would not go on that one. There is also another outfit that takes it's snokelers and divers to a shark pen were they have 10 sharks and a couple of rays caged up.
There is one wreck right off the beach in punta cana...the Amstron. I really liked it. It was a very relaxing dive and the max depth was only 46 feet so there should not have been any air consumption issues in the group. (but a so called rescue diver was out of air while this fat air hog had 1500psi) There is an ezotic zoo like animal park package that all the hotels try to sell $25.00 park or $79.00 to swim with dolphins. Everyone that we talked to felt they were ripped off and our Apple Vacation rep refused to send any more people there.
As far as the diving right off Punta Cana... It seems that all the hotel based dive shops in that area dive the same sites and use the same type equipment and boat types. Gear up at the dive shop and walk down the beach until you are standing in the surf line. (That is wear the waves are breaking) Now take your whole rig and toss it over the side of an 18 to 20 foot V bottom skiff with a 75 horse outboard. The captain stands your rig in the center of the boat and everyone that has not yet been bashed by the boat, other divers, or loose gear in the waves can now jump in and start licking their wounds. The boat ride will take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes depending on the dive site and your hotel. When seated you face each other and have little room for your feet. After the captain sets his anchor (and destroys another 25 years worth of coral growth) you turn sort of sit sideways and put on your fins and kind of sit with one foot on top of the other while a mate lifts your kit from the center of the boat and help you don. TIME TO GET WET!!!! BTW...your heart jumps up into your throat everytime you see your equiptment being slung over the side and tossed onto the tank holders at mid beam. (that is if you are not renting and have a computer attached) At the end of the dive you hand your weight belt and bc to the mate and start to drag yourself over the side because some boats have ladders and some don't. The whole way back to the hotel I asked myself why I enjoyed diving and kept thinking that I never wanted to dive with these people again. As soon as the boat gets back to the beach and we play in the surf line again to re don the equipment for the hike back up to the dive shop you start thinking....hmmm I think I will book two dives tomorrow. Most of the reef near Punta Cana is colorless and dead and the cost of the dives are a little more expensive than Mexico. There are no night dives or snorkeling off Punta Cana because the boats were getting stolen while divers were in the water. It is fun watching the guys beach the boats at night like you see in the movies or with the air boats in florida. They drive them 75 to 100 feet up onto the beach and then remove the props. One more thing... Ask about the location and depth before booking your dive. We got short changed one two dives that were max 14 and 19 feet.
ok..ok.. way too long and often mispelled. If there is anything left out just ask.

[oreillyk]

Dectek - OH MY - can you please tell me which dive shop you used? I can't believe how bad that sounds!! We are going in February and staying at the Barcelo Bavaro Beach resort and were planning on using Red Coral Divers (dive shop at the hotel) however we will need to pick another operation if that is who you used!! Thanks in advance for the information!!

[ScubaJae]

Hi Oreillyk,

We just got back from Punta Cana and we stayed at the Barcello Bavaro Beach Resorts. Overall the diving wasn't too bad and some of it was eeven good but the Red Coral dive shop is very disorganized and they never seem to know who is supposed to be diving. That was probably the worst thing about diving there.

on the other hand I do recommend Catalina Island and if you can, visit the St. George Wreck, I got some good pics of both. Be prepared for the lack of colorful fish and coral.

If you can the best way to dive would be if you could find someone from the diveshop (Red Coral) to take you places on their day off. I did this to the St. George and it worked very good there was just a small group of four of us and two guides. It is a bit more expensive but then again you do have more say on where you want to go.

To find another diveshop you may have to look as far away as Higuey (45min) but they will pick you up.

Right off the beach at the barcello the diving is pretty bad unless you can go to the wrecks ( Astrom and Monica) which were not bad. If the weather is a little windy they might want to take you to a shallow dive ( 25feet if your lucky) with nothing to see. I also have a map of their dive sights and you should have a decent dive if they take you to one of them.

If you have any other questions about the resort or diving just reply back.:diver:

[ScubaJae]

I just wanted to add that the dive boat is infact a dive boat with seating for about 15-20 and a ladder. They tie off to a line that is properly anchored but I think they started doing that way too late.

[Titletowndiver]

Hey Doc-

Have you heard anything about the Diving near Sousa, DR?

Thanks
:cheers:

[bridgenet]

My wife and I were in the Dominican Republic 2 years ago on a stop over to Curacao (TWA flew direct and it was cheap). Will never go there again but that is another story. What we did enjoy was the cave diving, that was awesome! If you get a chance and you have AOW you can do some easy cave dives that you will remember forever...

Kev
:)

[MaresMan1]

Bridgenet,

What was so wrong about Curacao? We are planning a stop there on the way back from St. Vincent. Please let me know if you had any issues.

:mean:

[bridgenet]

Sorry if what I wrote was a little confusing, what I meant was I would never go back to the Dominican Republic, Curacao was OK. Dominican was extremely poor and you never felt safe walking around, constantly hit on by vendors, even came down the street to find you to bring you to their shops. Ocean diving somewhat lame, but cave diving was great. Recommend you bring your own equipment, (at least regs) that supplied by the dive shops (at least the one's we saw) were questionable.

Curacao is fine, although stayed at Habitat Curacao which is far from everything and very quiet. Williamstad was somewhat disappointing, looks great on a postcard and the shops along the water are colorful and quaint but go one row back and you'd think you were back into the states. Didn't matter as our vacation on that trip was Dominican Republic to Curacao to Grand Cayman, 2 1/2 week dive vacation :). Grand Cayman still favorite.

Was in Bonaire last September with Natasha and like it more than Curacao but worth visiting Curacao at least once. Diving was good, make sure you dive the Superior wreck if you like wreck diving.

Let us know how St Vincent is, one of the islands we have yet to visit.

Kev

[ScubaJae]

Here is a pic of my trip, the best diving that I found is by far the wrecks. In particular the St. George wreck off Bayahibe, that is where this is from. If anyone wants to see more let me know but I don't know how to put up multiple shots.

[ScubaJae]

ScubaJae once bubbled...
Here is a pic of my trip, the best diving that I found is by far the wrecks. In particular the St. George wreck off Bayahibe, that is where this is from. If anyone wants to see more let me know but I don't know how to put up multiple shots.


It looks like the picture isn't working so if anyone has any ideas on how to get it to work I am all eyes, Please let me know.

[Titletowndiver]

Nice Pic! I would love to see a few more! PM or email them (tminsart@new.rr.com) if you have time.

Thanks

:cheers: