Dominican Republic - Deciding between Catalina or Bayahibe Shallow Dives

[tholden1]

Hello. I will be going to Punta Cana in early December. I plan on diving with ScubaFun. I am an Advanced Open Water diver with almost 50 dives. My girlfriend however has never went diving before (other than a discovery scuba experience in a pool) but she is a great swimmer and wants to try. So, I was thinking of doing a discovery scuba for her and then I would join her on the dives.

We will only dive one day. I do not want to do more than one day of diving during our trip.

I am trying to decide between the Catalina full-day trip or a half-day two-tank dive close by in the shallows. According to ScubaFun, these are the sites:

For the shallow half-day two-tank dives: Viva Shallow and Atlantic Princess

For the Catalina dives: The shallow part of the reef right before the wall dive, and the Aquarium. Note, we would not do the wall part of it due to the depth but would stick to the shallow portion right before the wall.

The Catalina option is a decent amount more money. And, I suspect that it will involve boats that are more packed with snorkelers for the first dive, but not as much for the second dive (the snorkelers stay on the beach during the second dive).

Given these sites, is there a large difference in marine life, clarity, or overall dive experience between the two options? I'm just trying to decide which one to do.

Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[coldwaterlloyd]

I would probably recomend the shallow dives , not a whole lot different other than the actual wall , the shallows are very good at Bayahibe

 

[jonhall]

Taking my first trip to DR in April so no first hand experience, but have dove several places with sites called Aquarium. There is a reason sites get this name!

 

[tholden1]

Thank you coldwaterlloyd. That helps. Since you have done both and haven't seen a big difference, we'll stick to the cheaper shallow dives. It did sound like the better option. I had no big interest in Catalina itself since we are already on an island and then taking a boat to a smaller island didn't really seem that interesting. Thanks for the advice.