Well got back from our trip down to Punta Cana. Loved it. June 8 to the 15. Went down for my wife's birthday so it was not a diving vacation but hoped to get out a few times.... We stayed at Bavaro Princess All suites a 5 star resort..so we were lead to believe..
However. We were given the wrong room, went to see the manager about it - they found us another room. All was good. BUT.
---Sorry if this may be long winded...
Nice resort. Not a true 5 star. more of a 3.5 - 4. We liked it because it was off season and not to busy. ..Monday nights sleep was well..not so good. I woke up Tuesday morning to find little blood spots all over the sheets....as my wife turned around to look at me, her eyes went wide and the look of shock came over her...I was bitten 32 times by bed bugs... never felt anything. So during the day the bite welts began to itch and burn...went to the clinic on site and had to get 4 injections to fight the allergic reaction I had to the little bastards...We complained to the resort manager right after my stay in the clinic and they upgraded us to a honeymoon suite...oh what joy. They gave us some freebies...like a better bottle of wine with dinner, a few bottles of rum....fruits brought to our room almost everyday, but no refund or reduction. Still I am sending them a nice letter.
I lost three days of vacation time. The meds I got to fight the infections and allergic reactions made me drowsy and left me feeling like crap for a few days. I was unable to dive for this reason so had to stay indoors, sleep and try to get over it. The resort staff was actually really nice, they did everything possible to help me feel better..Come Thursday I was feeling much better so we went around to explore Punta Cana, walked the beautiful white sandy beach...it was nice not to be harassed by the locals selling stuff. Except when you came upon the vendors and they wanted you to come see there shop...all in all they were very nice when you said no thanks...multiple times. They do have to earn a living.
The diving excursion.
I was able to book a trip out to Catalina, last minute deal. Since we wanted to do one excursion, my lovely wife insisted on Catalina..so I booked with Scuba Quatic through our tour rep on the resort. Scuba Quatic was going out Saturday. We were picked up Saturday morning by Domingo our tour guide for the day...a really nice guy and bent over backwards to fix a problem created by Scuba Quatica. They refused to accept a credit card because they did not have a machine...Long story short it worked out just fine. The trip out from Punta Cana to La Romana/Bayahibe was nice...we went to the Harbor to be met by the Dive boat which was to take us to Catalina.
When I booked the trip out, I was told that there was going to be some great wall diving, and such, plus my wife, not being a good swimmer would be well taken care of while she snorkeled and they would make sure she had a good time while I was diving. Plus we would visit the island relax a bit and then go have lunch at the resort after the diving was done.
This was not the case what so ever. Scuba Quatic was the worst ever tour operator I have ever dealt with. They did not take care of my wife so she could go snorkel as they promised. Instead the DOMINICAN PLAYBOYS were paying attention to the 4 young American girls in bikinis. They were all over them helping them in and out of the water..while my wife was just handed the snorkeling gear and said you can stay close to this area here....One woman was throwing up due to sea sickness...they did not help her in any way. My wife did not go snorkeling because she felt unsafe and felt the staff to be very unprofessional.
Diving
We were told to set up and get ready for the dive - asap. We were still motoring to the island in choppy waters...keep in mind these were big waves, boat bouncing up and down so kind of difficult to set up gear...I was never asked my certification level, never had to show my C card they just said you 4 go with this DM and he will take you out...We were 7 divers. The other two were with DOMINGO, which I would have rather been with. I felt pushed to get set up and get in the water. As I turned to the DM and said stop pushing me and to get his hands off my gear and that I would take care of it..he kinda slowed down and turned to the other clients to help them out with the rental gear. I was getting hot and bothered at this point. My dive group were in the water with the DM Andre, I turned to my wife gave her a kiss and off I went.
The wall dive was nice. Vis was crappy not too clear due to the weather the day before, but I liked it none the less. We ended the dive, 49 minutes, got back on the boat, had a VERY short SI, were told to stay dressed and get ready for the next dive.Did I mention it was freaking hot.... They were bringing the non divers to Catalina drop them off and then we would go out for the second dive. A 25 minute SI then back in the water. The second dive showed the true UNPROFESSIONALISM of the dive crew. Aside from Domingo, whom mentioned to me to slow down and to take my time as he seen what the CREW was doing. I did just that. The NEW DM, a second dive leader, came to me and the three other guys I was with and made the buddy teams up and he jumped in. Waited for us and off we went. This DM was the worst I have ever seen. A side from being a dive leader in the water...he did not take the time to show us much. he did show us a few little things but were were finding stuff ourselves. We went around looked at stuff on our own. We kept an eye out for the Dive leader, as he was always way ahead of us, as we were coming around to turn to go back the way we came, the Dive leader was not to be found. He had taken off ahead of us, and due to the poor VIS it was hard to keep him in view. The 4 of us looked at each other and gave the sign to keep going in the general direction we came from - we would make our own way back, I had taken a compass bearing prior, so I had a good idea where we were going. So we were basically diving for ourselves and we made the best of it. FINALLY we came around to the mooring where the boat was, we found our DIVE leader heading up the ladder...So we remained under for about 15 minutes more making our safety stop and looking around. Dive time was 52 minutes. The three guys I was with were great buddies. They were showing me stuff and inturn, I was showing them stuff, it was nice dive. Domingo, our original organizer, showed up with his gang and made a sign as to where the DIVE leader was..I pointed to him to indicated he was up and out....Domingo shook his head. As everyone got out I remained under to avoid teh choppy water as the gang got up and out. Bing the last one to exit I got a few more minutes under.
We were then off to Catalina, thinking we would be picking up the gang on the island and head back to the hotel for the nice lunch and cold drinks. This again was not the case. We were told to get off and head up to an area where there were tables and lunch would be served. This was by far the crappiest lunch served. Dry sandwiches, a pasta salad and warm soda or water. That was it. Nothing like having a lunch served to you in the hot sun with the black flies. We stayed on Catalina with the black flies taking some skin as they feasted. You could not relax because you were fighting off the black flies.
This was by far the crappiest excursion I have been on. SCUBA QUATIC is not on my list of recommended operators for the tour excursion to Catalina. DOMINGO, whom picked us up was great, we talked about diving Canadian waters etc and tried to make us feel better about our trip out. The ride back was informative and Domingo gave us some history about the areas we past.
I would dive again with DOMINGO, but never again would I take an excursion with SCUBA QUATIC. Especially with that crew on board the dive boat. They did not have fresh water to rinse gear with either. Nor did they have a professional ENOUGH crew. The Dominican Playboys were more attentive to the young single women in little bikinis. And did not bother with the other folks ...we all paid to be there. At 250US$( included the diving, trip out for two of us). It was not worth the money. we did feel like cash cows. The crew did not get any tips from most of the folks on board. As I was going to drop a few bucks in the pot, I heard the word CHEAP, I turned and walked away not leaving any tip. The one that did get a tip was DOMINGO, he deserved it the most.
I would go back, but not with SCUBA QUATIC. I would look more into other operators whom would stick to there promises and be more professional towards there paying clients. Ensure the safety of those under there charge during there excursion and diving operations. If I do ever end up going through Scuba Quatic, I would only use Domingo as a trusted dive leader and do only dives and no excursions.
However. We were given the wrong room, went to see the manager about it - they found us another room. All was good. BUT.
---Sorry if this may be long winded...
Nice resort. Not a true 5 star. more of a 3.5 - 4. We liked it because it was off season and not to busy. ..Monday nights sleep was well..not so good. I woke up Tuesday morning to find little blood spots all over the sheets....as my wife turned around to look at me, her eyes went wide and the look of shock came over her...I was bitten 32 times by bed bugs... never felt anything. So during the day the bite welts began to itch and burn...went to the clinic on site and had to get 4 injections to fight the allergic reaction I had to the little bastards...We complained to the resort manager right after my stay in the clinic and they upgraded us to a honeymoon suite...oh what joy. They gave us some freebies...like a better bottle of wine with dinner, a few bottles of rum....fruits brought to our room almost everyday, but no refund or reduction. Still I am sending them a nice letter.
I lost three days of vacation time. The meds I got to fight the infections and allergic reactions made me drowsy and left me feeling like crap for a few days. I was unable to dive for this reason so had to stay indoors, sleep and try to get over it. The resort staff was actually really nice, they did everything possible to help me feel better..Come Thursday I was feeling much better so we went around to explore Punta Cana, walked the beautiful white sandy beach...it was nice not to be harassed by the locals selling stuff. Except when you came upon the vendors and they wanted you to come see there shop...all in all they were very nice when you said no thanks...multiple times. They do have to earn a living.
The diving excursion.
I was able to book a trip out to Catalina, last minute deal. Since we wanted to do one excursion, my lovely wife insisted on Catalina..so I booked with Scuba Quatic through our tour rep on the resort. Scuba Quatic was going out Saturday. We were picked up Saturday morning by Domingo our tour guide for the day...a really nice guy and bent over backwards to fix a problem created by Scuba Quatica. They refused to accept a credit card because they did not have a machine...Long story short it worked out just fine. The trip out from Punta Cana to La Romana/Bayahibe was nice...we went to the Harbor to be met by the Dive boat which was to take us to Catalina.
When I booked the trip out, I was told that there was going to be some great wall diving, and such, plus my wife, not being a good swimmer would be well taken care of while she snorkeled and they would make sure she had a good time while I was diving. Plus we would visit the island relax a bit and then go have lunch at the resort after the diving was done.
This was not the case what so ever. Scuba Quatic was the worst ever tour operator I have ever dealt with. They did not take care of my wife so she could go snorkel as they promised. Instead the DOMINICAN PLAYBOYS were paying attention to the 4 young American girls in bikinis. They were all over them helping them in and out of the water..while my wife was just handed the snorkeling gear and said you can stay close to this area here....One woman was throwing up due to sea sickness...they did not help her in any way. My wife did not go snorkeling because she felt unsafe and felt the staff to be very unprofessional.
Diving
We were told to set up and get ready for the dive - asap. We were still motoring to the island in choppy waters...keep in mind these were big waves, boat bouncing up and down so kind of difficult to set up gear...I was never asked my certification level, never had to show my C card they just said you 4 go with this DM and he will take you out...We were 7 divers. The other two were with DOMINGO, which I would have rather been with. I felt pushed to get set up and get in the water. As I turned to the DM and said stop pushing me and to get his hands off my gear and that I would take care of it..he kinda slowed down and turned to the other clients to help them out with the rental gear. I was getting hot and bothered at this point. My dive group were in the water with the DM Andre, I turned to my wife gave her a kiss and off I went.
The wall dive was nice. Vis was crappy not too clear due to the weather the day before, but I liked it none the less. We ended the dive, 49 minutes, got back on the boat, had a VERY short SI, were told to stay dressed and get ready for the next dive.Did I mention it was freaking hot.... They were bringing the non divers to Catalina drop them off and then we would go out for the second dive. A 25 minute SI then back in the water. The second dive showed the true UNPROFESSIONALISM of the dive crew. Aside from Domingo, whom mentioned to me to slow down and to take my time as he seen what the CREW was doing. I did just that. The NEW DM, a second dive leader, came to me and the three other guys I was with and made the buddy teams up and he jumped in. Waited for us and off we went. This DM was the worst I have ever seen. A side from being a dive leader in the water...he did not take the time to show us much. he did show us a few little things but were were finding stuff ourselves. We went around looked at stuff on our own. We kept an eye out for the Dive leader, as he was always way ahead of us, as we were coming around to turn to go back the way we came, the Dive leader was not to be found. He had taken off ahead of us, and due to the poor VIS it was hard to keep him in view. The 4 of us looked at each other and gave the sign to keep going in the general direction we came from - we would make our own way back, I had taken a compass bearing prior, so I had a good idea where we were going. So we were basically diving for ourselves and we made the best of it. FINALLY we came around to the mooring where the boat was, we found our DIVE leader heading up the ladder...So we remained under for about 15 minutes more making our safety stop and looking around. Dive time was 52 minutes. The three guys I was with were great buddies. They were showing me stuff and inturn, I was showing them stuff, it was nice dive. Domingo, our original organizer, showed up with his gang and made a sign as to where the DIVE leader was..I pointed to him to indicated he was up and out....Domingo shook his head. As everyone got out I remained under to avoid teh choppy water as the gang got up and out. Bing the last one to exit I got a few more minutes under.
We were then off to Catalina, thinking we would be picking up the gang on the island and head back to the hotel for the nice lunch and cold drinks. This again was not the case. We were told to get off and head up to an area where there were tables and lunch would be served. This was by far the crappiest lunch served. Dry sandwiches, a pasta salad and warm soda or water. That was it. Nothing like having a lunch served to you in the hot sun with the black flies. We stayed on Catalina with the black flies taking some skin as they feasted. You could not relax because you were fighting off the black flies.
This was by far the crappiest excursion I have been on. SCUBA QUATIC is not on my list of recommended operators for the tour excursion to Catalina. DOMINGO, whom picked us up was great, we talked about diving Canadian waters etc and tried to make us feel better about our trip out. The ride back was informative and Domingo gave us some history about the areas we past.
I would dive again with DOMINGO, but never again would I take an excursion with SCUBA QUATIC. Especially with that crew on board the dive boat. They did not have fresh water to rinse gear with either. Nor did they have a professional ENOUGH crew. The Dominican Playboys were more attentive to the young single women in little bikinis. And did not bother with the other folks ...we all paid to be there. At 250US$( included the diving, trip out for two of us). It was not worth the money. we did feel like cash cows. The crew did not get any tips from most of the folks on board. As I was going to drop a few bucks in the pot, I heard the word CHEAP, I turned and walked away not leaving any tip. The one that did get a tip was DOMINGO, he deserved it the most.
I would go back, but not with SCUBA QUATIC. I would look more into other operators whom would stick to there promises and be more professional towards there paying clients. Ensure the safety of those under there charge during there excursion and diving operations. If I do ever end up going through Scuba Quatic, I would only use Domingo as a trusted dive leader and do only dives and no excursions.
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