Dominican Republic trip Report (La Romana/Bayahibe)

[RussR]

We spent Thanksgiving week in the Dominican Republic and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. After reading the reviews of both the diving and the resorts I did not have high hopes.

We arrived in Santo Domingo, if you can get a direct flight to La Romana do so, and was met not by a mob of “helpers” as I was led to believe, but by the representative of our transfer operator and after a short wait were loaded into our bus for the 2hr trip to our hotel. It was either a 2 hr layover in Miami or a 2 hour bus trip so I chose the direct flight and bus trip (less chance for things to go wrong I thought)

We arrived at out hote Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach (Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach) and were shown to our room, a beach front bungalow – an upgrade thanks to a last minute sign up onto “Wyndham by request”. If you are staying at a Wyndham you HAVE to join this, it makes things much eaiser especially in these all inclusive resorts. (https://www.wyndham.com/wbr/join.wnt)

The resort was perfect as I was traveling with my non-diver girlfriend. The food was OK, the drinks tasty and the service was the best of any all-inclusive I have been to (Sandals Jamaica, Maeva Tulum Mexico ). Never were we left waiting for service. They had a main restaurant tht was buffet and 4 or 5 restaurants that were specialty and needed reservations (again Wyndham by request made this easier)

We ate at each of the restaurants and the food was good, service was great. Not 5 star dining by any account so if you are a foodie I would suggest somewhere else.

The beaches are gorgeous and water was warm and clear – the Dominicus also has a house reef for snorkeling where we saw baby eels, scorpion fish, lots of reef fish, juvenile spotted drums, lizard fish, and a few creepy crawlies that I have no idea what they were…

Diving….

Again I was not expecting much so I booked a six pack of dives (3 day x 2 tank diving) with Scuba Fun in Bayahibe (SCUBAFUN Bayahibe, Dominican Republic), The shop/boat were a 5 minute ride from the hotel and Scuba Fun arranged transportation to and from.

The diving was much better than I expected. We saw lots of juvenile fish and a bunch of macro subjects

I spotted my first unassisted nudibranch and Pipefish on this trip!!

We saw stingrays, Spotted Drums (juvenile and adult), Scorpion fish, Arrow Crabs, Cleaner Shrimp, Puffers, trunk and cow fish and many others along with the usual reef suspects (surgeon fish, tangs, snapper etc) the coral were healthy and pretty colorful, vis was approx 30-50’

All in all this was a good trip, I don’t think I would go for an exclusive “dive trip” but for a relaxing vacation with decent diving this was a great spot

Did I mention that the price could not be beat?!

I have a lot of places still to go and dive but I will return to the Dominican Republic some day

[ozk]

Hi RussR, please find liks to videos of Bayahibe...hope you like it. cheers!
YouTube - El Peñón, Bayahibe

YouTube - St George, Bayahibe, República Dominicana

[Kat]

Thanks for your trip report, RussR.

I just returned from a short trip to Bayahibe, Dominican Republic. (Will post my trip report later)
My boyfriend & I also dove with Scuba Fun and were very pleased with the diving too. After reading nothing but negative reviews, I was not expecting much. Much to my surprise, the diving was very good. We even saw 2 large eagle rays on one of our dives. The biggest I have ever seen.
The owner of Scuba Fun, John, was terrific. He was personable and friendly. We had alot of non-diving questions about the area (good restaurants, bus etc...) and he was always very helpful. His DM's were great too.

[ozk]

Thanks Kat,
Wrong impressions happen mainly because people dive with the wrong Dive Centers.
I don't know if any of you saw the videos of Bayahibe I posted!
Here they are again!
Thanks!

YouTube - El Peñón, Bayahibe

YouTube - St George, Bayahibe, República Dominicana