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2002
Audrey and I decided to go for our open water certification last year, a couple of years earlier we had met Robert (Bob the Bubbler) Law in Eddys Bar shooting a game of pool.
Turned out that Bob was the senior dive master at Northern Coast Aquasports and so we got in touch with him and he set us up with a 1 week certification class. The first morning was spent in the classroom, which is just a short walk to the beach, we covered some of the basics of dive safety, equipment and theory, broke for lunch and then were driven to a local hotel's pool, there our instructor for the course, Peter, put us through our paces, first a swim of 50 meters followed by treading water for 10 min. After Peter was happy with our ability to stay above water he began the week long task of teaching us to adapt to the world under the water.
We were very impressed with his teaching style, patience and attention to our safety and for the next 5 days he was our mentor and guide.
Each of the following days was spent between the pool and the ocean, all the required skills were first performed in the pool by Peter and then by each student in turn under his watchful eye, safety was job 1 and we were all brought along at a pace that suited each individual, at no time did we feel pressured to perform beyond our comfort level.
After we had mastered each set of skills in the pool we would spend the afternoon in the ocean repeating them and refining them until Peter was satisfied that we understood the importance of these skills and that we had demonstrated to him that we were each able to perform them on request.
There were regular technical briefings and short exams on what we had learned and also homework, then after a full week of training we sat our final exam and took our final open water dive. Far from being the end it was only the beginning for us, this year we plan on tackling the adventure diver course.
Ron & Audrey
2003
We returned to Sosúa on Feb 1st this year, Robert Law had let us know that Northern Coast was offering dive trips to Rio San Juan and said that the diving was very good there.
It had been raining for several days prior to our arrival and visibility was not good in Sosúa bay, we attempted a dive in the bay but the poor visibility cut short our dive.
We booked a trip to Rio San Juan, the driver picked us up at the dive shop and we set off along the coast, the drive itself is quite beautiful, passing through several small towns on our way.
We arrived in Rio San Juans Gri Gri lagoon, loaded the dive boat and set off through the mangrove swamp to the Mangle restaurant, we got into our wetsuits and set off through the mangroves to the open sea.
We had two dives planned, the first being a deep dive at a location called the arches and the second, a shallow dive at the piscina.
Audrey had been having some problems with an ear infection and opted for the snorkeling trip so as not to aggravate her ear, the dive boat put in at Calaton Beach and dropped off the snorkelers. The rest of us set off to the dive site. There was a good sized swell when we got to the site, the weather was warm and sunny.
The dive plan was to descend to around 90ft and enjoy the view, and what a view it is, lots of species, great colour, pristine reef, baby stingrays, puffers, a fantastic site.
The following has been taken from a variety of sources.
The growing popularity of scuba
diving means that many vacationers are certified divers looking for good diving
spots, and many novices are curious to learn what is going on underneath the
sea. While the Dominican Republic is a great place to begin diving, it is also a
haven for serious divers. The country's undersea world has excellent reef
diving, good visibility, warm waters, wrecks, caverns and marine life offering a
wealth of diving experiences around the island. We will take you on a whirlwind
tour of the DR and tell you about the popular diving spots and list the dive
centers that service them.
Starting in the
North Coast region of Puerto Plata, visitors staying at the Hacienda Resorts
complex are serviced by First Class Divers. They are situated in the middle of
the complex. This resort complex has 5 separate hotels within one servicing over
a 1000 rooms. They are the Hacienda Elizabeth, Hacienda Tropical, Hacienda
Garden, Hacienda Andreas and the Hacienda Villas. The dive center is under
German management and the staff are fully bilingual. They
offer a good water sports program, including diving, surfing, kayak,
parasailing, water-skiing, rafting and snorkeling. The diving possibilities are
almost un-limited for diving beginners as well as for diving professionals.
One of the islands biggest
diving and water sports centers is the Sea Pro Dive Shop situated at Club on the
Green, Playa Dorada. Sea Pro have numerous dive shops around the island and can
be found at the following locations; Puerto Plata, Samana, Punta Cana, La Romana,
Juan Dolio and Boca Chica. Sea Pro will cater for customers staying at any of
the hotels/resorts in the Playa Dorada complex.
In resorts from Costambar to
Cabarete customers mostly head to Sosúa for diving. It is an excellent area for
taking classes and satisfying Open Water Certification course requirements. Sosúa
also has great advanced dives, too, especially in the waters near the
international airport, ten minutes away by boat. The main diving spots there are
Las Palmitas, the Airport Wall, Five Rocks, with plenty of coral, and La Pirámide,
a series of interconnecting tunnels. The best months for diving in the north are
April to September when the water is at its calmest and visibility is at its
best.
Sosúa is also the home of a
number of diving schools. Some come from as far as Playa Dorada and Puerto Plata
which is nearly 30 minutes drive by car. The coastline of the north has many
sandy beaches but not all of them have reefs near to land. Sosúa is centrally
situated along the coastline and hosts the majority of the diveable reefs. There
are many dive bases in Sosúa ranging from small one man operations to organized
companies with boats and certified instructors. Some have been there for many
years like Hippocampo Dive Center situated on the beach and Northern Coast
Aquasports situated in Sosúa town (transport to the beach is arranged free of
charge). Both these dive centers are PADI certified with Northern Coast holding
a PADI IDC Center certification. Most centers are reasonably priced and a diver
can expect to pay between $25 - $35 per dive. Both Northern Coast Aquasports and
Hippocampo have arrangements with resorts and hotels within the area and they
offer reasonable diving / accommodation packages.
The average water temperature of
Sosua Bay is between 25-29°C/ 76-82°F, while the average visibility is between
8-30 m (50-100 ft.) The dive sites are home to hundreds of tropical fish and
plant life, amongst them the grouper and porcupine fish are frequently spotted,
as well as the magnificent and brightly colored fan coral. Habitual visitors to
the area are whale sharks, mantas, and the occasional dolphin.
Situated about 15 kilometers
east of the village of Gasper Hernandez between Cabarete and Rio San Juan, is a
good Technical diving center. Located on the beach of La
Yagua (Playa Magante) about 45 minutes from
the International airport of Puerto Plata, the
Golden Arrow dive center is the only technical diving center
that offer all levels of certification PADI
for recreational diving, and IANTD
courses for technical diving. It specializes in Cave diving and offers customers
a unique experience in a safe, controlled environment.
The dive base is right on the
beach surrounded by a natural mangrove swamp and a few rustic huts made from
wood and thatch. There are two diveable reefs situated about 25 minutes off
shore that are full of marine life. Morays, Spotted Rays and an abundance of
reef life can be seen along with huge fan corals.
The largest reef (Seven Hills)
is a spectacular dive consisting of a number of ridges reaching a depth of over
25 meters / 80 feet in places which offer advanced divers good visibility (30
meters / 100 feet plus) and some surge as you cross the peaks. The second reef
is much shallower (12 meters / 40 feet) and has some fantastic coral formations.
Both sites are relatively new diving discoveries with only the one dive center
having access to them (Golden Arrow) thus making your dive there unique and
undisturbed.
An hour’s drive east of Sosúa
in Río San Juan, visitors staying at Caribbean Village Playa Grande, dive with
the Grí Grí Dive School. The surrounding waters offer good beginning and
advanced dive sites with abundant tropical fish and marine life. It is possible
to see dolphins, whales (from January to March), barracudas, groupers up to
1-1/2 meters long and many colorful reef fish.
In the northeast is the
peninsula of Samaná, and guests staying at the areas hotels such as Gran Bahía,
Hotel Cayacoa or Hotel Cayo Levantado, can take advantage of what has been
considered as the best dive in the island. Here, off the Las Galeras beach is
the Cabrón, an advanced dive site from 5 meters to 54 meters down with
plentiful rock and coral formations, tons of fish, and a wall. Dive bases
located in Las Terrenas, Samaná are Aqua Dive International (Castello Beach
Hotel), Las Terrenas Divers (Playa Bonita, Hotel Acaya), Samana Scuba Diving
Center (at El Portillo Beach Resort) and Stellina Divers (Situated at Hotel
Cacao Beach). Most of these centers are German run but the staff can speak other
International languages such as English and Spanish.
To the east of the Island is
Punta Cana. This area is very remote and most visitors arrive here by air from
their native countries. The International airport of Punta Cana is the gateway
to no less than twenty-five luxurious resort hotels. There
is no town to speak of at Punta Cana, it is just a huge resort area. The nearest
inland town is Higuey, about an hour away by bus. Other than water-related
activities, of which there are many, there's not a lot to do in the immediate
area. The hotels put on nightly entertainment, and some hotels have casinos and
discos.
The
diving here is probably the simplest on the Island. Because of the under water
terrain and a single 25 kilometer reef, the deepest dives are no more
than about 18 meters, which is perfect for recreational and beginner divers. The
dive centers situated here are Paradisus Watersport and Dive Center (Hotel
Paradisus) and Punta Cana Dive Center (Punta Cana Beach Resort).
Understanding that the diving
here is mostly for the novice diver, most dive centers also offer day trips to
Isla Catalina in the south (1 ½ hours by bus). This dive will satisfy most
advanced divers as there is an abundance of life at various depths.
Near to La Romana is Bayahibe
where large schools of fish are found. This remote town is home to the Scubafun
Dive Center situated in the village. From here it’s a short boat ride of 3-5
minutes and you are in the national park area of the
Parque Nacional del Este.
The dive center offers trips to Isla Catalina (30 minutes by boat) where a huge
wall is the main attraction. The top of
the wall is full of marine life such as corals and sponges in all colours,
shapes and sizes, Elkhorn corals and a myriad of colorful Caribbean fishes in
shallow water. You can enjoy them just with snorkelling gear ( 6´to 15´) and
for the advanced divers the dive sites near the small island Catalinita are an
exciting experience with black-tip sharks, hammerheads and big rays.
Located at the Hotel Reina Cumayasa is the quality dive center of Circe
Watersport Adventures. (pronounced Sir-cee) This dive center is recommended by
Dominican Diving Holidays and offers its customers an abundance of dive trips
covering the south eastern section of the island.
They launch from their mooring
at the Hotel Reina Cumayasa and take customers to Catalina Island (12 minutes by
boat). In addition to the Catalina reef and wall dives, Circe also visits the
wrecks of 'El Limon', the 'Hickory' and the 'UFO' (that's correct) at La Celeta,
the 'St George' in Bayahibe, the 'Tanya V' and 'Alto Velo' in Juan Dolio. They
can also arrange Cave and night dives in the local area.
As a PADI Resort Association
member, Circe staff are qualified PADI instructors and offer most PADI courses
to new and experienced divers. If you are planning on diving the south east of
the Island, this is the dive center to do it with.
An isolated place along the
Southwest shore, Los Bajos in Bahía de Ocoa (Ocoa Bay), has been reported to
have large fish populations. Only a two-hour drive from Santo Domingo, the bay
is a popular weekend resort for many people who live and work in the capital,
but have beach houses along the quiet, grey-sand shores of Palmar de Ocoa.
Coral Sea Divers S.A. and the
Riviera Beach Resort in Barahona have established a club for intermediate and
experienced divers. They are taken by boat to see old ship and aircraft wrecks.
A true adventure awaits those who want to camp out in tents near the
south-western tip, from where divers depart to tour the underwater areas between
Cabo Rojo and Beata Island to observe huge schools of fish. Coral Sea Divers S.A.
has associated themselves with Dominican Diving to promote their diving packages
and they will be featuring more information about diving this undeveloped area
in the near future.
The Dominican Republic is fast
becoming a popular diving destination for Europe and the USA. Because of it's
still semi developed state, the country boasts large area of virgin, unspoilt
beaches and tropical waters. From the warm Atlantic in the north to the crystal
Caribbean Sea in the south Dominican Diving offers a diving vacation to
remember.