Jaeger45
Contributor
Just returned from Bayahibe, Dominican Republic. I took my AOW with Vlad of DivingDR. Two thumbs up! If you end up in the Dominican Republic, I highly recommend diving with Vlad.
Diving DR is a small, personalized operation. I was one-on-one with my instructor the whole time, and Vlad tailored the experience to my schedule, interests, and experience level. We dove several sites off Dominicus reef and a deep dive to the wreck of the St. George. Vlad took me as a solo diver in his boat for a night dive (very cool). He also took my, my wife, our traveling companion, and our three small children (2 and under) in his boat Sharky to La Piscina Naturale--a very shallow sandbar heavily populated with starfish, where they had a blast. FYI, don't lift the Caribbean starfish from the water--its fatal to them. Vlad regularly scouts out new sites, and as a result they offer dives at some almost unvisited sites.
Diving off Bayahibe was beautiful. The night we flew in, a tropical storm hit, so visibility was down a bit. Then again, I'm from central Illinois, so being able to count the fingers in front of your face is visibility to me. :cool2: To my inexperienced eyes, the reefs themselves looked to be in fairly good shape; at least none of the bleaching I saw snorkeling in the USVI. Beautiful yellow and neon blue barrel sponges. I saw lots of surgeonfish, several very tame porcupinefish, morays (including a 6 foot green moray I ran into snorkeling off our hotel), trunkfish, trumpetfish, angelfish, and a couple of barracuda. Due to marital requirements, I was unable to dive off Catalinita with Vlad, and missed the hammerhead, the pod of dolphins, and the stingrays. Hrmph. Aniversaries.
We also stayed a couple of nights in Punta Cana. I did a little snorkeling locally from shore in Punta Cana, and while they did have some corals, the visibility in Bayahibe was far and away better. If you go to the DR, by all means, dive in Bayahibe.
Diving DR is a small, personalized operation. I was one-on-one with my instructor the whole time, and Vlad tailored the experience to my schedule, interests, and experience level. We dove several sites off Dominicus reef and a deep dive to the wreck of the St. George. Vlad took me as a solo diver in his boat for a night dive (very cool). He also took my, my wife, our traveling companion, and our three small children (2 and under) in his boat Sharky to La Piscina Naturale--a very shallow sandbar heavily populated with starfish, where they had a blast. FYI, don't lift the Caribbean starfish from the water--its fatal to them. Vlad regularly scouts out new sites, and as a result they offer dives at some almost unvisited sites.
Diving off Bayahibe was beautiful. The night we flew in, a tropical storm hit, so visibility was down a bit. Then again, I'm from central Illinois, so being able to count the fingers in front of your face is visibility to me. :cool2: To my inexperienced eyes, the reefs themselves looked to be in fairly good shape; at least none of the bleaching I saw snorkeling in the USVI. Beautiful yellow and neon blue barrel sponges. I saw lots of surgeonfish, several very tame porcupinefish, morays (including a 6 foot green moray I ran into snorkeling off our hotel), trunkfish, trumpetfish, angelfish, and a couple of barracuda. Due to marital requirements, I was unable to dive off Catalinita with Vlad, and missed the hammerhead, the pod of dolphins, and the stingrays. Hrmph. Aniversaries.
We also stayed a couple of nights in Punta Cana. I did a little snorkeling locally from shore in Punta Cana, and while they did have some corals, the visibility in Bayahibe was far and away better. If you go to the DR, by all means, dive in Bayahibe.
