Arubandi07
Contributor
Finally got around to posting some of the pics from our April trip. We actually stayed at an apartment near the Bavaro area and did all our snorkeling off that east-facing shoreline.
Since all the better spots are about 500-900m out, we did our stints by boat, first afternoon, I went down to the beach and talked to a couple of guys, who worked for the resort tour ops, to hook up a private boat. First trip was a little more expensive, after that we cut out the middle man and got the price down to $50/3hrs, definitely worth it, if you wanna stay away from the resort snorkel tours/trips(cattle boat city) and do your own thing. Eligio, the guy we connected with, had been working the area for about 15 years and knew all the go-to spots. Once he had figured out, that we knew what we were doing, he took us further out, and based on the low expectations I had after reading some of the comments re PC, things actually turned out ok. Visibility was pretty good, and in terms of photography, due to the lack of coral etc., backgrounds are a little bleak, but the UW landscape was pretty interesting, and the fish are there(just need to look a little harder). As a word of caution, depending on wind direction/strength, the water conditions can be a little rough, and if you're only doing surface, there may be some days, you need to skip.
Overall, not a bad trip, and since I didn't get around to doing any of the wrecks in the area, I wouldn't mind giving it another go.
Since all the better spots are about 500-900m out, we did our stints by boat, first afternoon, I went down to the beach and talked to a couple of guys, who worked for the resort tour ops, to hook up a private boat. First trip was a little more expensive, after that we cut out the middle man and got the price down to $50/3hrs, definitely worth it, if you wanna stay away from the resort snorkel tours/trips(cattle boat city) and do your own thing. Eligio, the guy we connected with, had been working the area for about 15 years and knew all the go-to spots. Once he had figured out, that we knew what we were doing, he took us further out, and based on the low expectations I had after reading some of the comments re PC, things actually turned out ok. Visibility was pretty good, and in terms of photography, due to the lack of coral etc., backgrounds are a little bleak, but the UW landscape was pretty interesting, and the fish are there(just need to look a little harder). As a word of caution, depending on wind direction/strength, the water conditions can be a little rough, and if you're only doing surface, there may be some days, you need to skip.
Overall, not a bad trip, and since I didn't get around to doing any of the wrecks in the area, I wouldn't mind giving it another go.
