Trip Report: Sosua, Dominican Republic

[jonhall]

Stayed in Playa Dorada, just east of Puerto Plata city at a resort that had Sea Pro Divers as the in house watersports vendor. Researched Sea Pro before we went but waited to see what they would charge us when we got there. Since they didn't accept credit cards without raised numbers to make an imprint, we wound up booking online and worked it out to get 6 days, 12 dives, for the price of 10. Their open air tour truck picked my buddy and me up on time the 6 days we dove and took us to Sosua which was a nice 25 minute drive and is the place other ops go from Puerto Plata. Was told that divers from cruise ships in Puerto Plata also go there. There weren't many divers (many more snorkelers from a couple of catamarans and that were with us from Sea Pro) anywhere in the area.

Sosua has a small crescent shaped bay, so it is sheltered with calm water. There are reefs but they are not in the greatest of shape. Watched our DM kick through branched coral several dives and a purported DM who dove with us a couple of days touching different stuff on the bottom. They do have an area where someone is doing coral restoration. Fish are drawn to snorkelers by way of bread crumbs and on one of our dives the DM took a bottle of bread crumbs. There are some splashes of color by way of sea fans, barrel and tube sponges, anemone, and fish. All of the dive sites are similar and in 6 days we repeated sites - remember, small bay.

Sea Pro uses aluminum tanks. We had 3-4 divers each day in our boat along with a few snorkelers. We went out together on the first dive each day, but then we divers were picked up snorkeler-free and did our surface time on the shore. Water temp was a steady 79 degrees F every dive. Deepest dive was 100 ft., shallowest 44 ft. Most were between 50-60 ft. Visibility was good to about 50 feet, maybe due to rain during the night. Dive times were between 45-55 minutes. Dive sites were reached in no more than 5 minutes except for the airport wall which was about 12 minutes.

There is a lot of life. Saw seahorses, large crabs, remora shark, barracuda, cucumbers, trumpetfish, lobsters, octopus, flamingo tongue snails, pufferfish, eels, and the normal reef fish, including lion fish.

Top side, there are several things to do. We went to Puerto Plata city on a tour and felt safe wherever we went. The locals were very friendly. Beaches are nice and the water has those great Caribbean blues when the sun is shining.

Definitely not a place to go for a dive specific trip, but if it's where you wind up you can get some diving in.

 

[drrich2]

Interesting stuff. In other threads, I've gotten the impression that in the Dominican Republic, Bayahibe (& nearby) is the place to go, and Scuba Fun one of the best shops to dive with (though I've read a good report of another also IIRC).

What led you to Playa Dorada, which is far removed from it? Any particular topside attractions you recall? Did a quick Google search; looked like a sweet beach.

Richard.

 

[jonhall]

Interesting stuff. In other threads, I've gotten the impression that in the Dominican Republic, Bayahibe (& nearby) is the place to go, and Scuba Fun one of the best shops to dive with (though I've read a good report of another also IIRC).

What led you to Playa Dorada, which is far removed from it? Any particular topside attractions you recall? Did a quick Google search; looked like a sweet beach.

Richard.

Let me respond to what led me to Playa Dorada which is in the Puerto Plata province. Since we travel where our timeshare (and/or our friends vacation club) takes us, we usually look for where an airport is nearby (no more than hour drive), diving is nearby, and where there are some activities/sightseeing opportunities available. Sometimes, as in this instance, we also consider the all inclusive fee since all DR resorts are AI. The AI rate for places such as Bayahibe and Punta Cana can be triple and more what we paid where we stayed. For whatever reason, places in DR are available to us year round, but one thing we learned from this trip is that, since we now spend 2 weeks when we travel, AI food is too much (unless you have willpower) for that period of time. A person can also rent homes, condos, etc. for very low rates for weeks to months in DR.

Although we did a Puerto Plata city tour which took us to the main tourist attractions - 5 minute tours of the Amber Museum, Chocolate Factory, Rum Factory (followed by 20 minutes in each to shop for their products,) and short stops at a cathedral and a fort, the highlight was the Teleferico (cable car) to the top of Mount Isabel de Torres with a botanical area and a big statue of Christ the Redeemer overlooking the city. There are many other activities/sights/excursions such as the 27 waterfalls of Damajagua. We were happy with what we did.

Have also read threads that state Bayahibe is best place to dive in DR, but wonder if the people who wrote them have actually done any other diving around the island. I hope to go back to DR sometime in the future and stay where I can dive the Bayahibe area. Would be interesting to experience any difference. Will say that I'm glad to have dived in Sosua. Although I may have seen them before (and have forgotten since), seeing the Indigo Hamlet, a brightly blue colored fish with white stripes, was a highlight for me.

Btw, the beaches are a highlight of the northern coast. Winds are strong enough for kite gliding which seems to be popular. Along the Playa Dorada coast there are smalls chunks of reef and, if the water is clear enough as it was when we were there, there are fish to see if you snorkel. Also saw a sea cucumber.

 

[iamrushman]

nice report...thanks for taking the time to share it.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I visited Sosua once to dive, picking it over other DR locations just because it seemed like it would be an adventure to take a public bus across the island from Santo Domingo. I will never forget the trip because we saw a whale shark! The rest of the diving--meh.