Diving in the DR

[SaltyKSue]

I recently joined a travel club and get one week of a "free" vacation- I am HOPING to be able to go to the DR
I have very few options of places and times of year though.
If I have to choose a month somewhere between September and Dec. Which month would be best for diving and it calmness of the water, visibility and lots of marine life?
Also, the places I MIGHT have options for are very limited too. As far as I know right now (until I can actually speak personally with an agent, and who knows if THAT will EVER happen) the places they have to offer are: Puerto Plata, Sousa, and Juan Dolio~
Any suggestions on which spot and which month I should shoot for?

Thanks for any help or suggestions that any of you can give me!

 

[mcohen1021]

I dove in the Punta Cana area in 2011. Nice easy beginner diving, nothing to write home about, but it was a nice 1st scuba trip for the wife. Even got to dive with wild manatees on the last dive of the trip in a sand flat.

One thing they all try to sell you on is diving at the wall @ Catalina Island. It’s a full day trip, cattle boat catamaran with 50-60 people – a real clusterf… And it’s expensive... I would check the weather closely – very closely. If there has been a lot of rain, there’s a river that empties out into the wall dive area and that run off ruins the visibility to about 5-10 ft and it won’t be diveable. The alternative then becomes 2 shallow dives that are on the same level as you get back in Punta.

Just hope this advice saves someone else the full day aggravation and $150 pp I wasted.

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

The diving around the Punta Cana area (Sousa, Puerto Plata) is bad. They both face the Atlantic Ocean. The best diving is out of the village of Bayahibe (about 1 hour east of Juan Dolio). It is on the the south coast and faces the Caribbean Sea, so you will have the calm, clear warm water. There is reef diving, wall diving, wreck diving and even cave diving if you are so certified. We always stay at Dreams La Romana as it is only a 10 min walk from the village. Other resorts in the area (closest to farthest) are Iberostar Hacienda Dominicus, Catalonia Gran Dominicus, Dreams Dominicus La Romana and Be Live Collection Canoa. I always dive with John from ScubaFun | Dive Center Bayahibe If you want private diving contact BAYAHIBE’S MOST EXCLUSIVE DIVE CENTER

 

[SaltyKSue]

Thank you ontwreckdiver- that info helps quite a bit! I just hope I have the opportunity to actually TALK to one of the agents so I can try to request the south coast- Any idea if there is any good diving out of Juan Dolio or should I not bother diving from there too?

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

I have never dove near Juan Dolio but it's still in the Caribbean Sea, so it can't be too bad? If the diving isn't any good there you are only an hour from Bayahibe.

 

[SaltyKSue]

Yep- You have a point there!

 

[gcarter]

I did Juan Dolio a couple of years ago in September. The diving off of there was decent, I would not dismiss doing a few there. The shop was going to take me east for some better sites but I wound up getting sick.

Edit: I lie. Juan Dolio was a March trip. The September trip was Las Galeras, nowhere near where you have available/ The rest is true though

 

[jonhall]

Having stayed on the Atlantic side, I can speak to the choices you've been given and opine about the other.

We stayed just east of Puerto Plata in Playa Dorada. There is some sightseeing in the city and land excursions that you can do nearby. As I was told there are a couple of places that dive ops take divers if staying in PP: one is someplace west of PP and the other is east of PP in Sosua, which is where most ops seem to go, and where we went. Sosua is about a 30 minute ride as the dive ops will pick up/provide the transportation. We were there for 2 weeks at end of April and first of May (sorry I can't help regarding your time frame) and were in the back of an open air truck enjoying the scenery everyday we dove. So if you stay in PP, the diving will probably be in Sosua.

If you stay in Sosua, that would be convenient for diving. There are some nice resorts in the area. Sosua has a protected cove, so the water should be calm because of that. Plenty of beach along the cove and great views. We did 12 dives, the Airport Wall being the best, with most of the sites being similar and only a few minutes from shore. We did see plenty of marine life and viz was good for the time of year we were there. The diving is nothing like diving Cozumel or Grand Cayman, but if you stay there, you can get some pretty easy diving in. Plus you're still close to and able to do excursions into PP.

Now for what I know nothing about but can opine about. Juan Dolio is on the south coast, Caribbean side of the island. If I were given a choice now (I can get JD through a timeshare) I would go there just to go someplace different. I would research dive ops there and then hope there was some good diving. As for Bayahibe (which is said by most on SB to be the best for diving in DR), I might travel there one day from JD for the experience but wouldn't want to do it every day because of the travel time. Not sure about land excursions, but there probably are some.

Think you will have a great trip no matter where you wind up.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

Puerto Plata and Sosua aren't really "punta cana" area, Punta Cana is on the far eastern tip and it's a town created for tourists... POP and Sosua are on the northern central area, they are quite a long drive away from Punta Cana.

There is some ok diving in both areas, I think Sosua would be better than Puerto Plata, but Juan Dolio is going to be better than both of them. I prefer the beach in Sosua for swimming, but the water is not incredibly clear there. Airport wall in Sosua is a good dive, for example.

The entire island has the same issue with rainwater leaving quickly, and reducing visibility. I would go closer to September, than December, but buy trip insurance if it's during hurricane season.

The clearest water in DR is in Bahia Las Aguilas, on the West tip closest to Haiti, but it's remote and there are no dive shops. Like the previous poster said, diving in DR is not like diving in a diving resort, but it is a great place to vacation. Absolutely beautiful country, but if I were diving, I would prefer Bonaire, for example.

 

[SaltyKSue]

Thanks so much for all the input. Now I'm just waiting to hear back for the travel agent to see what options they are going to give me.
I wish I had more say in when and where I'll be able to go! The places I "requested" to go are St. Kitts, the DR or Barbados. Lets see if ANY ONE of those will be given as an optin to me!