Hi M_B, I was there last week with my family, choose R.D. because was cheap in an all inclusive hotel and went with my 13 year son, PADI Junior, that only can dive up to 36 ft. Stayed at Punta Cana, rather far away, so we traveled almost every day about 1 hour to reach Bayahibe or La Romana, where the best dive sites are. Surelly you´ll find lots of dive ops., can´t tell you since I was rather far and decided to hire Aquatrack, his owner is a german, Mr. Herbert Mohr, very professional, friendly and has excellent gear, expert in cave and tech diving. He takes you in his van, with a customized service or shared, he hires the boat service and tank fills of other dive shops but charges the same, the difference is that goes along with you, taking special care and renting his own top quality equipment, since I had to specially care about my son, this was great for us. One tank costs about USD 45, cave 65, my daytrips with Aquatrack were expensive due to distance, payed 75 per person, including van, boat and meals, this means that for 4 tanks at Catalina, plus the 4 daytrips with snorkeling for the girls, payed USD 480. Boats leave from Chavon river at La Romana and reach Catalina island in few minutes. It´s a nice place to dive, with a wall and coral reef, lots of life but small fish. The island is also nice to spend the day at its beach, specially with your family, they can also snorkel in a shallow reef near the shore. There are some interesting wrecks, some quite deep at 120 ft. Bayahibe is also worth to go, good beach for the family, quite safe but always full of peddlers. At Bayahibe best dive sites are the wreck of 1715 "Siglo Guadalupe" galeon, at only 15 ft, only see cannons and the anchor, the nearby reef is not very good, the night dive is better there. Other interesting wreck is "Atlantic Princess" at 36 ft, can go inside and take good pictures, it´s safe since it´s not very old, nearby there´s a healthy reef and sand field full of eels (see my youtube channel Enersys Uy), visibility is about 60ft, water temp near 90ºF, don´t really need a wetsuit. Both wrecks and reefs are only 5 minutes boat trip. Don´t miss the cave "Chicho", although I´m not a cave diver, dove the cenotes in Mexico and had some experience, If you have more than 20 hours in you log book, you can go there with a guide. Is very near from the beach, about 15 min by car. The first stage of this cave, has a 900 ft tunnel, can be done with a 1/3 tank breathing carefully, water temp is not as cold as in Mexico. At the end of the first tunnel you find the entrance for Chicho II, only for cave fans with lots of tanks, the entrance is scaring... We hired the tanks at Casa Daniel dive shop, in front of the Bayahibe bay, the owner is from Swiss, they have quality gear, the rest of the gear was Aquatrack´s.
D.R. is not a very good diving destination, but enjoyable if you combine diving with other activities, it´s a good option for a family trip. Sorry for my poor english. B. rgds from Uruguay
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