We just spent a week in the Dominican Republic. We flew into Santo Domingo and stayed at the Oasis Canoa in the Bayahibe area, which is about 20 minutes from La Romana. Getting through Customs was fairly easy, although the forms were not available in English. The English language is not as widely spoken in D.R. as Europe, so be prepared to puzzle your way through some things if youre not multi-lingual.
Prior to going I tried contacting ScubaFun in Bayahibe. I used their web contact page, no response, I tried e-mail, no response, and so I called. Once again language was a barrier, the person answering spoke English but not well. I didnt have a warm and fuzzy feeling about the arrangements so I waited a couple weeks and e-mailed again. This time there was a response from the owner John Sack. A portion of the e-mail is copied below:
Yes we will schedule you for pickup in the reception of the Oasic Canoa at 8:20am on the 4th of May. Please confirm this and let me know if I can answer any other questions or help in any way. I look forward to hearing from you.
I wanted to dive 6 days, do a night dive, and plan a couple of excursions to the local islands of Catalina and Saona so I could dive and my wife could snorkel. ScubaFun offered those types trips. So at 8:10 I was waiting in the lobby. I waited until about 8:50. When I finally got a hold of the shop at about 9:30 I was told by Cedric that there was no local diving today and that he (Cedric) had never been told to pick me up. They were going to Saona that day. I had mentioned to John I wanted to do that type of trip but my wife had already made plans so going with them was not an option. No diving on Day 1 because the hotel dive shop was closed on Sundays. John Sack called later that afternoon and apologized. He contradicted himself once in the conversation and had some story about other clients canceling, which was probably the truth, and the real reason they didn't pick me up. He wanted my business for the rest of the week but that wasnt going to happen. The bottom line is he wasted a day of diving for me.
I dove with the hotel shop, Seapro Divers. Rubio was the DM for most of my dives. Very pleasant guy and he spoke English, French, German and Spanish. All the French divers were referred to as Cousteau. Minimal briefing, except for the one deep dive (111 ft.) we did on the St George Wreck. That briefing was more extensive and they hung a spare bottle with a regulator on it at the safety stop. Surface intervals were on shore. The boats were simple outboard skiffs that carried about 6 divers. You entered with a backroll entry and to exit you removed your weights and BC and climbed a small ladder.
Most of the dive sites were just OK. Not spectacular diving but its better than a fresh water lake or quarry. All the usual reef fish, a few small rays, a couple of eels and only saw a couple small barracuda. Nice coral reefs and the bottom times were in the 50-55 minute range depending on the heavy breathers. On the St George I did see a big fish in the distance, he had to be 3 to 4 long and pretty thick. The most enjoyable diving for me was at Catalina Island at a site called The Aquarium. Nice coral, and loads of fish, it was nice.
All in all I had a good time despite being stiffed by ScubaFun. The Dominican Republic is what I would term as an Excellent Value for going to the Caribbean and we will probably go back. I had read good things about ScubaFun on www.tripadvisor.com so maybe my experience was an aberration. Ill never know because theyll never get another chance to burn me
Prior to going I tried contacting ScubaFun in Bayahibe. I used their web contact page, no response, I tried e-mail, no response, and so I called. Once again language was a barrier, the person answering spoke English but not well. I didnt have a warm and fuzzy feeling about the arrangements so I waited a couple weeks and e-mailed again. This time there was a response from the owner John Sack. A portion of the e-mail is copied below:
Yes we will schedule you for pickup in the reception of the Oasic Canoa at 8:20am on the 4th of May. Please confirm this and let me know if I can answer any other questions or help in any way. I look forward to hearing from you.
I wanted to dive 6 days, do a night dive, and plan a couple of excursions to the local islands of Catalina and Saona so I could dive and my wife could snorkel. ScubaFun offered those types trips. So at 8:10 I was waiting in the lobby. I waited until about 8:50. When I finally got a hold of the shop at about 9:30 I was told by Cedric that there was no local diving today and that he (Cedric) had never been told to pick me up. They were going to Saona that day. I had mentioned to John I wanted to do that type of trip but my wife had already made plans so going with them was not an option. No diving on Day 1 because the hotel dive shop was closed on Sundays. John Sack called later that afternoon and apologized. He contradicted himself once in the conversation and had some story about other clients canceling, which was probably the truth, and the real reason they didn't pick me up. He wanted my business for the rest of the week but that wasnt going to happen. The bottom line is he wasted a day of diving for me.
I dove with the hotel shop, Seapro Divers. Rubio was the DM for most of my dives. Very pleasant guy and he spoke English, French, German and Spanish. All the French divers were referred to as Cousteau. Minimal briefing, except for the one deep dive (111 ft.) we did on the St George Wreck. That briefing was more extensive and they hung a spare bottle with a regulator on it at the safety stop. Surface intervals were on shore. The boats were simple outboard skiffs that carried about 6 divers. You entered with a backroll entry and to exit you removed your weights and BC and climbed a small ladder.
Most of the dive sites were just OK. Not spectacular diving but its better than a fresh water lake or quarry. All the usual reef fish, a few small rays, a couple of eels and only saw a couple small barracuda. Nice coral reefs and the bottom times were in the 50-55 minute range depending on the heavy breathers. On the St George I did see a big fish in the distance, he had to be 3 to 4 long and pretty thick. The most enjoyable diving for me was at Catalina Island at a site called The Aquarium. Nice coral, and loads of fish, it was nice.
All in all I had a good time despite being stiffed by ScubaFun. The Dominican Republic is what I would term as an Excellent Value for going to the Caribbean and we will probably go back. I had read good things about ScubaFun on www.tripadvisor.com so maybe my experience was an aberration. Ill never know because theyll never get another chance to burn me
