Update on Trip to Dom. Rep

Hey everyone,
Just got back for Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. We stayed at the Natura Park Resort and everything was excellent!!! This was the wife and my first blue water dive and you couldn't tear the smiles off of our faces. We did a total of 4 dives at different sites. The dives off of Punta Cana are shallow and some would say not that great, but we saw tons of stuff at around 60ft.

The first was on Monday at El Ancla (The anchor), about 60ft max depth. Lots of good sea life, some large rays and other great marine life. The dive ended at the huge anchor that is its namesake. Perfect dive!!

Our second dive, Wednesday, was at an old wreck site called the Monica (SP???). Not much see life at this site but some great scenery. The wreck is a 120 year old steam ship which was carrying railroad cars and track construction materials. Great site.

On Friday we took a day trip to the Carribian side of the island to a small island off the coast called Catalina Island, and all I can say is WOW!!! Beautiful coral and sea life. We did two dives there one wall dive and another reef dive.

We had absolutly no complaints. For an experienced diver these sites might not be exactly what you are looking for, but for us newbies it was awsome!!

I can't finish this post without mentioning the best part, Scuba Caribe (the dive shop). The were outstanding!!!!! Not only did we have some great dive masters but we also made some new friends. Mark, Lika, and Ben were the best. Mark and Lika are instructors for the Scuba Caribe shop that supports Natura Park, Allegro, and Sun Scape in that area of Punta Cana. And what a wonderful couple they are. Lika was our guide for the first two dives, while Mark was training a new dive master (Javier, who was also really cool). They were all very knowledgable and patient. We had not done a boat dive and they took a great deal of time giving us instruction and guidance on what to do. Mark and Ben were our guides on Friday at Catalina and again were awsome. I would highly recommend Scuab Caribe if you plan a trip to Dom. Rep.

I know that I really didn't cover all the basis here but please post questions. I will be posting some pictures later in the week, either on this post or new thread.

WOW sounds great! Did you see anything 'ultra' interesting that you hadn't seen on previous dives?
I notice your from Texas, how was the flight to Dom Rep?
I'm in AZ and we tried to go there once but the flight process was ridiculous and would've taken us 2 days to get there. I hear that Dom Rep is awesome diving.

I know that I really didn't cover all the basis here but please post questions. I will be posting some pictures later in the week, either on this post or new thread.

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Glad you had a great time!! A few above-water questions. How were the prices (diving, food, accomodations)? How was the food (is it like cuban kind of?)? And was there much to see where you were on the island?

Dave

Glad you enjoyed yourselves. Why did you choose the Dominican Republic?

This was our first clearwater ocean dive so everything we saw was 'ultra' interesting. If there was one thing I had to complain about it was the flight. Allegro airlines is the worst, more than a 2 hour delay both coming and going. But the trip was cheap. For myself and the wife, 7-nights, all-inclusive, excluding dive, it was $1603 through Fun Jet.

The food and diving was great. There are somethings that I should point out though. This is not like Cozumel, the Punta Cana area is simply that an area. It is where several resorts are located on the eastern side of the island. So that mean that there is not a lot to do outside the hotel area. The wife and I are cool with that because we dove and sat on the beach. We did hear rumblings that there wasn't much of a night life (all I can say is do your homework). There are some excersions from the resorts which we heard lots of good things about. We went on a diving trip to Catalina on the south side of the island the Friday before we left. It was a 1.5 hour bus ride to catch a boat, dive, hang out on an island just off the coast, boat ride to dock, and a 1.5 hour bus ride back to the hotel. What sounds like a lot of traveling was made very enjoyable by the drinking that went on on the way back. VERY COOL TRIP AND GREAT DIVING (we definatly saved the best for last).

We choose this place because of budget reasons and a little research. The travel agent we went through gave it to us as an option and we took it. And we are happy we did. One thing to keep in mind when thinking about Dom. Rep. is that it is a big tourist place for Europeans. Americans were in the 1 to 2 percent range, mostly Germans and French. Which was something the we read about before we left, but everyone was very nice (even the Frogs).

On the diving front, I should say that an experienced diver might not like the diving here as much as we did. The dives are very shallow and the reefs are heavily fished and deteroating. There is a deep wreck dive that sounded really great but the money just wasn't there for it, called Bayahia.

Hope I answered all of your questions...If not ask'm again.

Jimbob

jimbob once bubbled...

There is a deep wreck dive that sounded really great but the money just wasn't there for it, called Bayahia.

Jimbob

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Just for the record the wreck is called the St. George and it is located near the small village of Bayhibe near the city of La Romana. It gets as deep as 150' but a good multi profile dive for an advanced diver.

We stayed in the Bayhibe area and did all our diving there. There is plenty of great diving in Bayhibe and flying into La Romana will let you avoid that bus trip you mentioned

You are absolutly right, bridgediver. I couldn't remember the name of the town. Thanks for providing a little more info.

AND NOW YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN: Baggy Speedo wearing old man on the beach who did the marangay for us everyday. The wife just loved this guy. He was there by himself and was just having a ball. In the afternoon the resort would have marangay lessons, we always happend to be sitting in the vicinity of him. When they would start the lessons he would stand up by his beach chair and start doing a cross between the marangay and the hussel......ENJOY!!!

Can only agree with the posts above, I'm from the UK but have been to Dom. Rep. twice. Stayed at the Casa Del Mar Hotel Bayahiba, and had a fantastic time. Food, Drink, Entertainment and Excursions were all very good. We were there just after 9/11 so there was a very surreal feel about the place, but everything was done to a very high standard and everybody was working extra hard to make sure they made it a holiday to remember.
This is were I did my O/W course after a couple of years just doing basic Discover Scuba courses at every resort I went to, and I have to say all the guides and Instructors were excellant. Sometimes we don't expect to find the same level of professionalism in these sort of resorts as we find elsewhere but I could not fault anybody.
Having travelled alot since then and expanded my dive education (about to do my DM) I would say that Dom. Rep. has a lot to offer the newer diver, not sure just how much it would impress the more advanced diver, but when I was there, there were a lot of more experienced guys around and diving daily.
We did the Catalina island dive from our hotel by speed boat it was about 25 minutes away, and yes there was good diving there definately. Two Hammerheads were seen at the island many times while I was there.
So there you go recommend the place try it out.
Off to Cuba next tell you what its like when I'm back

jimbob once bubbled...
AND NOW YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN: Baggy Speedo wearing old man on the beach who did the marangay for us everyday. The wife just loved this guy. He was there by himself and was just having a ball. In the afternoon the resort would have marangay lessons, we always happend to be sitting in the vicinity of him. When they would start the lessons he would stand up by his beach chair and start doing a cross between the marangay and the hussel......ENJOY!!! [/B]

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You're right on the money though LOL