RussR
Contributor
I just returned from a week in the Bahayibe / La Romana area of the Dominican Republic. This was my second trip to the area and I was again pleasantly surprised by the quality of the diving in the area.
We stayed at an all inclusive resort Wyndham Dominicus Beach La Romana Hotel - Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach Hotel Reservations My wife does not dive so this was a good option for us. The hotel is mostly European guests with the majority being Italian, and then French and German. The resort is an older resort but the staff is nice, the rooms are clean (we stayed in a bungalow) and the food and drinks were good. They have a really nice natural reef right off the resort for snorkeling where we saw Octopi, Blennys, scorpion fish and tons of juveniles. This was a definite plus.
I dove with ScubaFun SCUBAFUN Bayahibe, Dominican Republic and again had an excellent time. John, the owner, is an expat American who bought the shop about 5 or so years ago. The operation is great, all the staff are knowledgeable and friendly. Ingrid, the shop manager, even went as far as to arrange transportation for us from the airport! The boats are fast and well kept, basically new. The dive sites are all really close to the dock so for local dives I was back in my hotel by 1.
I only did 6 dives. The first day I dove with John and a family from Las Vegas. They had their hearts set on the St. Georges wreck, and John was nice enough and safety conscious enough to make sure I had the proper certification and comfort level to do a dive this deep (122ft) as my first dive of vacation, he would have sent me on another boat alone with a divemaster if I wasn't! I am not much for wreck diving but I decided to check it out as it is considered a good wreck dive. It was a great dive! It really sparked an interest for me to get into wreck diving. I have dove a lot of wrecks in Ft. Lauderdale but this was a different experience. John led us on a great dive! The second dive was on one of the nearby reefs.
The reef diving in this area is surprisingly nice. There are lots of healthy corals abd loads of sea fans and sponges. There are not many large fish so if you are into that this is probably not the place but for shallow reef dives with decent diversity (and did I mention unbelievably affordable) you cant go wrong. We saw scorpion fish, stingrays, Morays, Lionfish (too many), arrow Crabs, Cleaner shrimp, banded shrimp, nudibranch, puffers, blennies, gisant crabs, and a seahorse too!
for two of the dives we went on the Saona Island excursion and did Shark Point which is a nice wall dive. The conditions were a bit rough and visibility was down but this is the area where you could see reef and big nurse sharks as well as Stingrays and eagle rays. There are tons of sea fans and whip like coral on this dive. The second dive on this trip was at Penon which was probably the nicest reef dive of the trip. Lots of healthy coral, fans etc. Tons of morays, stingrays, and crabs. All in all a really nice 60 minute dive.
I will definitely return and dive with John and the group at ScubaFun again. For the proximity and the cost it is a great place to dive.
If you are not into all inclusive there are hotels right in town that are cheaper. Check with the dive shop and they can help recommend a place based on your criteria.
The photos are in my photobucket album called bahayibe (link below)
Thanks,
Russell
We stayed at an all inclusive resort Wyndham Dominicus Beach La Romana Hotel - Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach Hotel Reservations My wife does not dive so this was a good option for us. The hotel is mostly European guests with the majority being Italian, and then French and German. The resort is an older resort but the staff is nice, the rooms are clean (we stayed in a bungalow) and the food and drinks were good. They have a really nice natural reef right off the resort for snorkeling where we saw Octopi, Blennys, scorpion fish and tons of juveniles. This was a definite plus.
I dove with ScubaFun SCUBAFUN Bayahibe, Dominican Republic and again had an excellent time. John, the owner, is an expat American who bought the shop about 5 or so years ago. The operation is great, all the staff are knowledgeable and friendly. Ingrid, the shop manager, even went as far as to arrange transportation for us from the airport! The boats are fast and well kept, basically new. The dive sites are all really close to the dock so for local dives I was back in my hotel by 1.
I only did 6 dives. The first day I dove with John and a family from Las Vegas. They had their hearts set on the St. Georges wreck, and John was nice enough and safety conscious enough to make sure I had the proper certification and comfort level to do a dive this deep (122ft) as my first dive of vacation, he would have sent me on another boat alone with a divemaster if I wasn't! I am not much for wreck diving but I decided to check it out as it is considered a good wreck dive. It was a great dive! It really sparked an interest for me to get into wreck diving. I have dove a lot of wrecks in Ft. Lauderdale but this was a different experience. John led us on a great dive! The second dive was on one of the nearby reefs.
The reef diving in this area is surprisingly nice. There are lots of healthy corals abd loads of sea fans and sponges. There are not many large fish so if you are into that this is probably not the place but for shallow reef dives with decent diversity (and did I mention unbelievably affordable) you cant go wrong. We saw scorpion fish, stingrays, Morays, Lionfish (too many), arrow Crabs, Cleaner shrimp, banded shrimp, nudibranch, puffers, blennies, gisant crabs, and a seahorse too!
for two of the dives we went on the Saona Island excursion and did Shark Point which is a nice wall dive. The conditions were a bit rough and visibility was down but this is the area where you could see reef and big nurse sharks as well as Stingrays and eagle rays. There are tons of sea fans and whip like coral on this dive. The second dive on this trip was at Penon which was probably the nicest reef dive of the trip. Lots of healthy coral, fans etc. Tons of morays, stingrays, and crabs. All in all a really nice 60 minute dive.
I will definitely return and dive with John and the group at ScubaFun again. For the proximity and the cost it is a great place to dive.
If you are not into all inclusive there are hotels right in town that are cheaper. Check with the dive shop and they can help recommend a place based on your criteria.
The photos are in my photobucket album called bahayibe (link below)
Thanks,
Russell
Hope to see you around when you come next time
