Bald eagle diver
New
Going to Punta Cana in February 2007. Any dive operators/companies you recommend?
Any good dive sites?
Bald Eagle (Canada)
Any good dive sites?
Bald Eagle (Canada)
Punta Cana Dive Companies
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Hi Bald Eage Diver,
In my experience, the diving around Punta Cana ranges from poor to lousy.
Go with any local dive op that arranges trips to dive the La Romana/Bayahibe area (most do).
Regards,
DocVikingo
In my experience, the diving around Punta Cana ranges from poor to lousy.
Go with any local dive op that arranges trips to dive the La Romana/Bayahibe area (most do).
Regards,
DocVikingo
OP
Bald eagle diver
New
Thanks DocViking for the tip.
Any companies you have used you recommend?
Any companies you have used you recommend?
BEM
Contributor
We (me, wife, daughter, and son-in-law) did a last minute trip to Punta Cana (IFA Bavaro Village) and three of us did two dives (each) with Neptune Divers. They are located right on the beach in front of the resort. We rented everything (except mask, fins and computers) and for the three of us it cost $237 for six dives in total, including rentals. There was one divemaster for 8 divers (all the other divers were from Germany.)
They take you out in a small open boat (about 25 feet x 6 feet) and go to the sites just beyond the outer reef. The first dive (45 fsw, 85 deg F, 40-50 ft vis) was not bad as we didn't expect great diving. THere was some surge and we had a 70 minute dive. The coral is mostly hard, but in decent condition (little soft corals - so not a lot of color.) There was an amazing amount of wildlife (most of the species we saw snorkeling) , and more than we saw on a few dive in Cozumel (Jan 2006). No large fish, but lots to see.
The second dive (thursday) we experienced much more surge and didn't see much wildlife, but did see a large Ocean Triggerfish and some jellyfish (no stings though). We went through mini Spur and Grooves (but not nearly as nice as Cayman Brac.) This wasn't as enjoyable as the first dive and the reg the supplied me tasted like "bad" rubber?!?!?!? No more renting regs - I like my ATX200 too much.
All in all it was fun, got wet and we enjoyed it more than we thought we would. The snorkeling was pretty good. We just went in the roped-off area in front of the resort and saw lots of juvenile Trumpetfish, Squirrelfish, Sergeant Majors, Goldspotted Eels, Sanddiver, Doctorfish, Black Durgon, Smooth Trunkfish, Bluehead, Stoplight Parrotfish,Fairy Basslet, Red Hind, Schoolmaster, French Grunt, Pinfish AND a Caribbean Torpedo Ray! We had a pencil eraser sized Smooth Trunkfish Juvenile swim with us for about 20 minutes. It would bump into my mask glass and stayed an inch away from us...
The dive shop said that the water was fairly calm (about 3 - 4 foot waves) as they get some strong winds and diving becomes a real challenge.
It isn't great diving, but we didn't expect much and we were there, so why not!
They take you out in a small open boat (about 25 feet x 6 feet) and go to the sites just beyond the outer reef. The first dive (45 fsw, 85 deg F, 40-50 ft vis) was not bad as we didn't expect great diving. THere was some surge and we had a 70 minute dive. The coral is mostly hard, but in decent condition (little soft corals - so not a lot of color.) There was an amazing amount of wildlife (most of the species we saw snorkeling) , and more than we saw on a few dive in Cozumel (Jan 2006). No large fish, but lots to see.
The second dive (thursday) we experienced much more surge and didn't see much wildlife, but did see a large Ocean Triggerfish and some jellyfish (no stings though). We went through mini Spur and Grooves (but not nearly as nice as Cayman Brac.) This wasn't as enjoyable as the first dive and the reg the supplied me tasted like "bad" rubber?!?!?!? No more renting regs - I like my ATX200 too much.
All in all it was fun, got wet and we enjoyed it more than we thought we would. The snorkeling was pretty good. We just went in the roped-off area in front of the resort and saw lots of juvenile Trumpetfish, Squirrelfish, Sergeant Majors, Goldspotted Eels, Sanddiver, Doctorfish, Black Durgon, Smooth Trunkfish, Bluehead, Stoplight Parrotfish,Fairy Basslet, Red Hind, Schoolmaster, French Grunt, Pinfish AND a Caribbean Torpedo Ray! We had a pencil eraser sized Smooth Trunkfish Juvenile swim with us for about 20 minutes. It would bump into my mask glass and stayed an inch away from us...
The dive shop said that the water was fairly calm (about 3 - 4 foot waves) as they get some strong winds and diving becomes a real challenge.
It isn't great diving, but we didn't expect much and we were there, so why not!
We were there last January and stayed at Iberostar. We like BEM did not expect much so I did not even take my gear. My son-in-law and nephew wanted to go so we used the house dive op, Dressler's I believe. Vis about 50' and temps in low 80's. They rented well maintained Apex regs. BEM has pretty much explained the diving. Not the best diving, but better then I expected. Next time I will take my gear.
Tim
Tim
TripletDad
Guest
I was in Punta Cana in May of 2005. We stayed at the Iberostar Bavaro and went with the house company which was Dressler Divers. We chose the location as a vacation spot but then decided to get certified since we had enjoyed the resort course we had done 10 years before. In prep for the trip I read a number of reviews of people saying how lousy it was, dead, etc. From my perspective, having had 4 open water dives in 50 degree Michigan mud hole water with 10’ of visibility I can say the diving was fantastic. Now being through my 2nd dive season and pushing 100 dives I can still say it is the best warm water diving I have done! (OK, you caught me, it’s the only warm water diving I’ve done to date). I still can’t believe the many different colors and types of of fish, and coral and other stuff in the water (can you tell I dive in cold fresh water?) I’d say vis was probably 80’ or better but I will say that the dives around Bayahibe were better than those off of Punta Cana.
I personally thought the resort was fantastic but the dive shop was so-so. Being at a 5 golden apple resort, the wife expected the red-carpet hand holding kind of dive experience where you aren’t allowed to do anything for yourself. That wasn’t remotely what our experience with Dressler’s was like. Geared up on shore and lugged your own gear the 100-200 feet to the boat. She always felt rushed and was rarely offered any assistance. Admittedly, she is very slow to gear up but I know the rush-rush attitude of the dive shop was a stark contrast to the rest of the resort and made her uncomfortable. Since we were new, I can’t tell you how well they cater to more advanced divers but I know they had a strict 100’ depth limit and all the diving was done with a DM leading a group of 6-8 people. I didn’t see a single buddy pair off on their own the entire trip. For the level we were it was good but I would not go with them again for those reasons.
We had a great time and I would go back to the DR in a heart beat. Given a choice, I’d probably stay over by Bayahibe and ask a lot of questions before choosing a dive shop but Punta Cana seemed to have the more modern and better resorts. Also, the overall flavor of the resorts is distinctly European (read topless tanning allowed on the beach) with north Americans being a surprising minority. I do have a ton of pics and as soon as I figure out how to get them up here I can post them so you have some idea of what to expect. Or you can PM me your e-mail address and I can send them to you.
I personally thought the resort was fantastic but the dive shop was so-so. Being at a 5 golden apple resort, the wife expected the red-carpet hand holding kind of dive experience where you aren’t allowed to do anything for yourself. That wasn’t remotely what our experience with Dressler’s was like. Geared up on shore and lugged your own gear the 100-200 feet to the boat. She always felt rushed and was rarely offered any assistance. Admittedly, she is very slow to gear up but I know the rush-rush attitude of the dive shop was a stark contrast to the rest of the resort and made her uncomfortable. Since we were new, I can’t tell you how well they cater to more advanced divers but I know they had a strict 100’ depth limit and all the diving was done with a DM leading a group of 6-8 people. I didn’t see a single buddy pair off on their own the entire trip. For the level we were it was good but I would not go with them again for those reasons.
We had a great time and I would go back to the DR in a heart beat. Given a choice, I’d probably stay over by Bayahibe and ask a lot of questions before choosing a dive shop but Punta Cana seemed to have the more modern and better resorts. Also, the overall flavor of the resorts is distinctly European (read topless tanning allowed on the beach) with north Americans being a surprising minority. I do have a ton of pics and as soon as I figure out how to get them up here I can post them so you have some idea of what to expect. Or you can PM me your e-mail address and I can send them to you.
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