Newsgroups: bit.listserv.scuba-l
Date:         Tue, 29 Sep 1992 15:29:01 +0100
From:         "(Han Weegink)" <weegink@ICT.NL>
Subject:      long: diving in the Dominican Republic

I have been in the Dominican Republic in september 1991, in
Puerto Plata which is on the north coast, to be exact.
First some background info.

Country:
	a great variety, from rice, pineapple and banana fields
	to tropical forest, mountains up to 10000 feet,
	fantastic beaches (remember the Bacardi Rum ads ?)

People:
	very friendly, but most of them only speak spanish
	especially outside the touristic areas

Infrastructure:
	roads are terrible, even the main roads. No illumination
	at night, large and deep holes, often just dust trails.
	So if you plan on renting a car (four wheel drive as an
	absolute minimum), forget it. (also, in case of
	accidents, foreigners will be blamed automagically)
	Also, quite regularly, gas stations are out of fuel.

Water:
	Do not ever drink tap water, you'll definitely get sick
	(same goes for buying ice cream in the streets)
	Sometimes, the water supply system fails for a few hours,
	luckily, hotels manage water supply themselves.

Electricity:
	Fails several times a week.

Food:	terrific, lots of fruit, fish, lobster (yum)

Weather:
	35C/100F (?) 24 hours a day, no wind in the morning,
	from 12-6pm some wind, good for surfing and sailing.
	Between 5-7 pm occasionally some very short, but heavy
	rainfall. Watertemp: 32C/90F (?)

Now for some diving related info.

I have been diving with an instructor from the dive center in Puerto
Plata. I don't remember if the center had any specific name, but I
think it is the only one. They also have an office on the beach of
the Jacktar Village Resort. Don't go diving there, visibility is less
than 10 feet. Actually, I did my PADI-OW certification there :-).

Regularly, the instructors go to other hotels in the region as well.
We were at the Bayside Hill Resort, a nice hotel with 3 pools.
We have done some of the pool work there, and some at the Jacktar
Village Resort.

Our instructor, Mark Fernandez, did an excellent job on diving basics,
theory and practice (Thanks Mark). Nevertheless, the course was cheap
compared to some other places I've been to, ~ $200.

Equipment can be rented (fees included in the course). It is NOT top
of the line equipment. No octopus systems, pony bottles, computers,
etc. (At least, I haven't seen any). Just the basic things like
stab jackets, fins, masks, 10 and 15 liter tanks, etc. Not always
in a very good condition too, so watch out.

A lot of diving is done in the bay of Sosua. It is a wide bay with a
nice beach. You go in from the shore (try some snorkling here, great !)
with small boats (6-8 divers max). Approx 250m from the shore depth is
40-50 feet. Coral is amazing here, several tree-like corals ? of more
than 10 feet high. Some shaped like giant greek amphoras (sp?), large
enough to climb in. And lots of fish/great colors (off course).
Visibility was fantastic, sometimes 150 ft+. Water temperatures are
~32C=90F(?), so diving in t-shirt.

Further out in the bay, there is a wall. I haven't been diving the
wall, but I've been told there's a drop-off to several hundreds of feet !
The dive center regularly organizes wall-dives here.

Along the northern coast, there is a reef, which is also has lots of
fish, seeurchins, coral etc. Nice for snorkling too.
I saw a snake-like creature there (not a moray). Don't know exactly
what is was, but I didn't like the sight of it.

The eastern part of the Dominican Republic, diving is comparable to
Sosua (I think, didn't dive there, though). There is a place called
Samana, which has a terrific bay, white beaches and extremely clear
waters. For non divers, it is a sort of tourist trap, though:
expensive, bad hotels (lots of things reported stolen from the hotel
rooms, so watch out), garbage dumped in the palm tree forest, etc.

Along the southern coast, which is more rocks than beaches, you'll
probably find quite a different variety of uw flora/fauna.

Be aware, that due to the bad condition of the roads, I may take you
3 hours to get to the south coast (~100 miles) and 4 hours to get to
Samana from Puerto Plata.

Concluding remarks:

I like the country and enjoyed my holiday there very much. However,
it is a developing country so a lot of things aren't very well
organized. Actually, IMHO, this is more fun than a problem. Well,
most of the times. (We have had a mechanical problem once with the
outboard of the dive boat; it took them a day to repair it :-(.
Diving facilities are not as sophisticated as in other
places in the caribbean. However, diving is probably quite a bit
cheaper. We paid $30 for diving in Sosua, including dive master,
all equipment, transportation by van and spare time to enjoy the
beaches of Sosua. PADI courses are cheap as well ($175-200),
including equipment and dive tutorial rental, transportation, etc.

Hope this answers your questions,

Han Weegink (PADI AOW)
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