Diving in Dominican Republic - A break from the norm

[Mcnasty]

I have just returned from a 10 day holiday to the DR, it was primarily a beach holiday to chill out but I managed to squeeze in 10 dives. When I had booked my holiday and looked at the diving I had the idea I would book some dives with a reputed diving establishment and would be herded to the dive sites along with a varied bunch ranging from experienced to novice diver. Dives would be the usual 25 - 30 min dives waiting for others to tootle along and shake my head at the amazing yo yo actions of others trying to work out their bouyancy control.

Well, it didn't work out like that at all…..

I was sat on the hotel beach the first day and watched as a small 17ft boat with an outboard pull up to the beach and offloaded a couple, the female was carrying some dive gear which attracted my attention (not that I was letching with my sunglasses on). I followed the couple to the beach bar and enquired about their diving. It turned out the female was the diver and had been out with a local chap called Dave who could be contacted through one of the local trip touts on the beach.

It turned out that Dave is a local lad about the same age as me (38) and has been fishing and diving the northern coast for the last 20-25 years also a PADI Dive Master. If I had all my kit Dave could supply cylinder and weight and would take me to the local dive sites which were all in a 5 mile range from the hotel beach. This was more attractive than a 30 minute minibus ride to Sosua then to get on a boat and go diving from there. So I planned some days diving with the tout John and agreed a price for the dives and he told me Dave would turn up at 9am at the beach the following morning.

I sort of knew what I was getting into, no luxury of a big boat, no oxygen in the event of an emergency, air filled from Dave's own compressor (which tasted clean). But I also knew that I would be taken to dive sites which are not common knowledge and where there wouldn't be much chance of bumping into any of the above mentioned herds. So I was fairly happy to go along with it.

Met Dave on the beach the following morning as agreed, had a chat with him about his experience and also told him about mine, Sports Diver with 250+ dives mostly in Scottish waters. Established where we would be diving and what sort of diving I was in for.

Day One

The first dive was about 3/4 of a mile offshore which was found by Dave using landmarks from a northern and western shore to put us in the right place. At this point I was a bit dubious about dropping into the blue with someone I hadn't dived with before. Anyway it was kit on and a long drop down to 26m before finally I had a visual on the rocky reef below at about 33m. It was good to be in warm water again 27ºC, with 10m vis. We had a nice bimble along the reef which came up to a depth of about 24m. We seen the usual shoals of colourful small fish and also larger parrot fish. The scene was a bit more barren compared to the caribbean side of the island. Following a safety stop we ascended to be met by the boat hand, was fun getting back into such a narrow boat as it pitched with the change in weight.

The second dive was shallower 22 - 12m and consisted of swimming to different rocky outcrops and looking at the marine life, saw some lovely pretty brown and white nudibranches which were in abundance on some of the fan corals. By luchtime I was back on the beach where I had started having had two nice chilled dives.

Day Two

On the second day we went further up the coast to dive a wall just off the shore near Puerta Plata airport (30 min boat ride). Today Dave had his spear gun and long hook in tow. I can imagine some of you cringing now. Let me point out the Dominican Republic is a third world country and some people do literally rely on what they pull out of the water to feed themselves. Dave had told me about the village where he lives where most people live in what we would call shacks, the boathand was 18 years old and had no father, Dave was trying to show him the skills of boat handling and fishing so he could fend for himself on the water as oppossed to slogging his guts out in the sugar cane fields.

The two dives today were more scenic and involved leisurely swim through holes in the rocks. The marine life although present wasn't in abundance like the Red Sea or the Caribbean. Dave ended up spearing a couple of Parrot fish, this was something that I have never seen before and I did cringe and watch with interest at Dave spearing the fish and then breaking their jaws with the hook before putting them out of their misery by pushing the spearhead into their heads. I was glad when the fish were finally out of it.

I did notice there was a fair amount of litter scattered around the site, plastic disposable cups and plastic bags. I am not sure if they had drifted from the resort or were from partygoers on boats. Was a shame to see it all the same. I also discovered today a fern type plant which gives quite a nasty sting as I found out when the back of my hand brushed against it. Left a rash on my hand which lasted for about 4 days.

Day Three

The two dives today were to an area where there are normally stingrays. The wind was quite strong and the long waves rolled in from the Atlantic, I explained to Dave we quite often dive in conditions like this in the UK. The boat handled the waves well and it was good fun being in the 2m swell which is quite significant for a 17 foot long boat about 4 feet wide. Not your ideal diving platform but it did the job. Basically enough room for two divers and their kit plus spare cylinders for a second dive.

Both dives were in 21 - 18m range with 25m vis and involved swimming across muddy/sandy expanses to different rocky outcrops, we found several medium sized rays which were not really bothered about our presence at all. When you got really close they just swam away lazily and gracefully. This dive proved to be quite taxing physically because Dave was fit and was quite swift with his finning. I wasn’t out of breath but I certainly had to work to keep with him. If it was really a problem I would have said, I looked at it as getting some exercise.

We surfaced after the second dive to find the boat anchored about 60m away, the boathand shouted that there was a problem with the outboard. So after a demanding dive we had to swim in a fair swell back to the boat. Back onboard Dave discovered that an electrical lead had come away at a connection point from the fuel pump. Luckily it wasn't too far from the shore. The boat was paddled some 350m back to the beach, luckily the diving was not far from my hotel so it was a 10 minute walk back to the hotel along the beach for me. The boat was towed by a friend of Dave's back to their village. He assured me he would be there for the next day's diving. Needless to say I had a well deserved kip at the side of the pool that afternoon. I also had a two day break before the next couple of days diving.

Day four

The objective of todays diving was lobster catching for the grill that Dave had planned for the following day. These two dives were quite physical again but I enjoyed them (must be the old squaddie mentality kicking in) we spent the dives swimming between rocky outcrops and between us we managed to catch 5 lobsters. The lobsters here have no claws, but the antennae are large and have sharp spikes on them running away from the lobster. The vis was only about 8m due to diving not far off the shore from a river outlet.

Day Five

The two dives today were very leisurely and scenic, made a change from bombing around the day before. The highlight of the day was the grill that Dave promised. This took part on a big beach which the locals piled onto on a Sunday afternoon like this one. The food was cooked by the people who ran a small beachside grill bar. Although you wouldn't have thought it was much of a place, some plastic chairs and tables with the sand for a floor. The grilled lobster and parrot fish that were presented looked good and tasted fantastic eaten with some salad.

I have experienced meeting some local people on this holiday in their own environment and not just sat in the all inclusive hotel complex . It was good to find out how they lived and what their views were on life. I admit to myself that diving wasn't conducted in the safest environment but when I weigh it all up I would certainly do it again and fealt comfortable with the way things had gone. On the last day I parted with some of my T shirts, shorts and a couple of towels and gave them to the young lad who had handled the boat during the few days diving I had. He was chuffed to bits. The diving cost me $40 a dive which was slighlty more than diving with the dive centres, but at the end of the day I got far more from my experience which money couldn't buy.

If this is for you and you plan on staying in the Playa Dorada resort then I have Dave's phone No.

Cheers

Martin

[Fiona]

Martin sounds like you had a good trip, roll on sept although I can't promise you'll get my views on life but I'll try. After a couple of beers I talk a load of rubbish anyway.

[Steve S]

Great report

Safe diving,
Steve

[SCUBA Chick]

Great report Martin...thanks for sharing...

Happy diving

Scubachick

[Diving Dude]

Originally Posted by Fiona

........ After a couple of beers I talk a load of rubbish anyway.

Hmmmmmm, l didn't think it took that many

[lowviz]

Great report Martin, like you I found the people in DR fantastic and only too willing to make you welcome. They are wonderful people and do live in a state of povety most people who stay, like yourself, in the all inclusive resorts.

Lets hope yopur report makes people think about DR as a location to go and also take there money away from the all inclusive resorts and put some back into the local communities.

My case also was a lot lighter with most of my clothes, toiletries, etc being given away. All though the local rum made up the shortfall