Punta Cana

[jasondbaker]

We are escaping the cold weather and headed down to Punta Cana this next week. I'm planning to do a couple dives in the area.  We are taking our 8 month old daughter with us so I don't want to do too much on my own.  My understanding is that diving around this part of the Dominican Republic is not that great.  We're staying at an Iberostar resort so the local shop is Dressler.  They are always expensive based on my experiences with them at resorts in Mexico.  Oh well, its an excuse to get wet and add another dive location to my list.  I'll provide a report when I get back. 

[jasondbaker]

I just got back from Punta Cana yesterday.  I did two afternoon dives during the early part of the week. I used Dressler Divers since they were located at the resort property.  I've used them before in Mexico so I knew what to expect. 

The diving is not very good around Punta Cana.  It's on the eastern side of the island directly facing the Atlantic.  We had significant surge on both dives -- especially the first dive.  The visibility was about 30-40ft. The coral was mostly dead with small coral growth in patches.  Fish were almost non-existent especially in the heavy surge.  I dove a shipwreck called the "Monica".  She went down in a violent storm 100 years ago carrying equipment for a sugar plantation.  That dive was interesting and worthwhile. The one big surprise was the number of flamingo tongues I saw on dives. They were literally everywhere.  I've saw more of these critters on two dives than I've seen on any liveaboard trips.

The resort dive shop caters to students seeking open water certification or very infrequent "resort divers".  They only offer single tank dives and each trip takes 3-4 hours -- even the trips to the reef located 5 minutes off shore.  Cost is about $65/dive. The student and newbie divers really slow down the operation.  They treat all the divers as resort divers that only do a couple dives every 2-3 years.  If you dive with them knowing this it will save you some aggravation.  For example, the DM insisted that I wear 15 lbs of weight on the shipwreck dive because it was so shallow (20 ft).  I was told that because of the buoyancy of salt water and my 200lb frame I would rocket to the surface with less weight.  Of course I've done hundreds of dives in the ocean with 8lbs or less in a full 3/2 suit.  After a friendly argument in front of other divers I accepted the weight.  My BC was pumped up the whole dive to keep me off the wreck.  I'm sure that 99% of the time his advice makes sense due to the caliber of divers on his boat. 

Don't bother looking at Punta Cana if you are planning a dive trip.  I wouldn't do more than one or two dives in this region if you really need to scratch the diving itch. The only dives I would consider are the two wreck dives offered in the area.  Otherwise you can find much better diving in the more sheltered southern part of the island.  This is a full day dive trip if you are staying in Punta Cana and you are probably only going to get two dives.