Punta Cana vs La Romana

[SteveC]

We are looking at coming to Dominican Republic this winter. I've heard that the diving is not very good in Punta Cana, so I was looking at the south side. I checked out the La Romana area, which seems to be better diving, but I keep hearing reports that the water on the beach is brown from a near by river. I am more concerned about the diving, but we will have non divers with us so I don't really want a dirty beach either. Could some one give me some more details on what to expect from these places?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[DRsharky]

We have thousand of people coming daily from Punta Cana resorts for boat excursions and many divers too. The diving is not the best, sometimes the Atlantic ocean might be a bit rough.
You probably read about Grand Bahia Principe La Romana resort (25 minutes west from La Romana city) where the water is mostly murky due to tow rivers coming in close by. But if you go to any resort in Bayahibe / Dominicus area (25 minutes east of La Romana city, you will have a beautiful clear Caribbean sea. Your non divers will love it. I am not even sure if there is any diving around GBP, most of the diving or boat trips are done from Bayahibe.

 

[Dhboner]

I've stayed at Dreams and the Iberostar near Bayahibe and the water was PERFECT!

 

[thoga00]

I've just retuned from D.R. and stayed at the Iberostar La Dominicus, which is fairly nice. The water at Bayahibe just east of La Romana is crystal clear with visibility as far as your eye can make out. There are many dives for all levels with plenty to see; i assure you I will be returning to dive them all, including the St George Wreck, Catalina Wall, and Sharkpoint which I missed. I can recommend ScubaFun in Bayahibe, with whom I did 6 dives. John, the owner, and his crew will take good care of you whatever your experience level. My daughter and friend did their first discover dive with John and Jessica of Scubafun; they had an unforgetable experience that will be difficult, seeing everyting from sea horses to muskets. I cannot reccomend Dressel Divers at Iberostar, though a friend of mine had a good experience with them, because the company seems more intent on maximizing earnings than providing the best dive experience for their customers. If you do decide to go to Bayahibe, give Scubafun a call and talk to Ingrid. I hope this helps.

 

[stano]

I stayed in Punta Cana this spring. The diving in punta Cana is not good. I did the wreck sticking out of the water in pc and would highly not recommend it based soley on safety. I cannot believe they bring people there. The other dive was a somewhat uninteresting dive with few fish etc.

I did a day trip to Bayahibe and did three dives. St George wreck 130' max (excellent), a smaller wreck (50') also good dive, and did a cave dive which was fantastic. The cave has an air dome after a 15 min swim in. The dive op was VIP divers. They were excellent and had a cave certified dm and a very experienced lead hand dm. Our group was only three divers. The trip was I think $260 and well worth it. I did all my dives in sm and the DM's were great. The only downside is its a two hour drive each way. It was fine for me as I was the only diver in our group of 15. We were back in pc by 7pm.

Hope that helps.

Stano

http://puntacanadive.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20&Itemid=20&lang=en

 

[stano]

Should clarify I only did two dives in pc so there may be some decent dive spots.

Stan

 

[Scuba_Noob]

stano, I had the same experience as you in local diving Punta Cana. It was average at best - though I'd say it's worthwhile (ok amount of wildlife, much dead reef), Bayahibe's so much better. Plus when we did that wreck in Punta Cana, there were random people drilling nearby.

For Bayahibe, I had four really good dives - two at Catalina Island, two at Saona. I'd recommend getting a resort at Bayahibe, so you don't need to travel far (I had to travel a few hours each way from PC). Lots of wildlife and very vibrant reefs.

 

[Woodyard]

We just got back from Bayahibe. We used Scubafun Divers in Bayahibe. John and his crew
were great! Visibility was 60ft or better and they went out of their way to make sure we
got to do everything we wanted, night dives, wrecks and a wall dive.
Stayed at Iberostar Hotel in Bayahibe. Scubafun even picked us up everyday at no charge.
They offer better pricing and 2 tank dives every morning. The hotel had their own dive
shop - Dressel Divers - they were more expensive and only offered 1 tank dives every
morning.

 

[buton]

Do bayahibe, you won't regret... I was there last November I had a blast with scuba fun... take the saona excursion...hotels in bayahibe dominicus are great.. the beach is awesome....search bayahibe on trip advisor..