Dominican Republic

Riu Resort, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic 24.10.08 – 01.11.08

I suppose you are asking yourself why would anyone go to the Dominican Republic for a diving holiday. Well I must agree I thought that, however due to the increased cost of flights it was not working out cost effective to go to the Bahamas. Basically we managed to get an all-inclusive hotel with transfers for less than the cost of the airfare to the Bahamas. The Riu Resort is situated in the area known as Bahia de Maimon, which is on the north side of the Island (Atlantic Ocean). The resort is basically three Riu hotels (Mambo, Merengue and Bachata) that are next to each other in a private bay.  Transfer from the airport takes approximately 20-30 minutes. As all the hotels are RIU hotels the all-inclusive package allows you to use all the facilities in all three hotels. The only restriction is that you must take your evening meal at the hotel you stay at. Drinks, snacks and all other meals can be taken in any of the three hotels. We stayed in the Riu Mambo, which was very clean and although the food was buffet style at breakfast, lunch and dinner we never went hungry and the food was of a high standard. There is an option to book for an a la carte meal, which is done on a day by day basis, however they did not offer a vegetarian option so we gave it a miss. There is something for everyone at the resort. If you are an activities type of person the animation team will keep you busy during the day, however if you like to be left alone and just chill by the pool or on the beach that is available as well. During the evening there is a show on every night. Don’t expect the London West End shows, however they do get 10 out of 10 for effort. Scuba Caribe organises the diving for you. They are based on the beach by the RIU Mambo hotel. I booked the 10-dive package, which cost $450 plus taxes (17%). A little tip for you. Before you pay, sign up at the hotel reception to become a member of the RIU Hotels and Resorts. This gives you a membership card that gets you 15% discount at the dive centre. $450 I think is a little expensive for 10 dives, however it does include all the kit. If you are like me and prefer to use your own don’t expect any discount. The price is the price if you use your own kit or their kit.

All the diving is done in the morning as come the afternoon the wind gets too strong and apparently makes the dive sites inaccessible. We landed in the Dominican Friday evening so we decided to spend Saturday just chilling out and organising the dives for the rest of the trip. At 9am Sunday morning I arrived at the dive hut with all my kit looking forward to two dives in clear, warm water only to be told the day had been blown out. In view of this I decided to do a bit of snorkelling in the bay. What a bad move that was. If you extended your arm under water you couldn’t see your hand. Was this a sign of things to come? The following day I arrived at the same time. The wind had died down and the dives were on. No safety brief was given about the boat and the dive brief consisted of the maximum depth. The site was called ‘Canyon’ in Sosua Bay. It was basically two rocks next to each other with a sandy bottom in between, I think. The visibility was that bad I thought I was back in Anglesey on a bad day. I can honestly say it was the worst dive I have ever done abroad. After a surface interval of 30 minutes we were back in the water just around the corner from the first dive. This dive was called ‘Three Rocks’. Guess why? Anyway we explored the three rocks. The visibility had improved however there was not a great deal of life and not worth the £54 it had cost me to do the two dives. The following day we received a safety brief about the boat and a dive brief. However they changed the dive at the last minute but never bothered to tell us. It was only when I questioned the dive guide about the site that they told us they had changed it. The dive was not much better than the first day. After a surface interval of 30minutes we had changed location and were back in the water at a site called ‘Great Wall’. At last a good dive. Reasonable visibility with plenty of hard and soft corals and a few fish, the highlight being a large Scorpion fish.

Day three and the dive site was called ‘Tunnel’. The sea was flat calm and you could see the seabed from the surface (20m). Stride entry as usual from the boat and a free descent. Again plenty of hard and soft coral all throughout the dive. The tunnel I would describe as a very short swim-through with plenty of room all around you and the exit was visible from the entrance point. More fish life on this dive although still not a lot. The rest of the dives were very similar to the ones described above. The 30 minutes surface interval seems to the norm, however on one occasion the dive guide wanted us to get back in the water having had an 8-minute surface interval. We rebelled and waited till we had at least our 30 minutes. Well my 10 dives were completed and it was time to pack up my kit and enjoy the last night relaxing watching one of the shows before packing to come home.  Would I recommend this location as a dive trip? From my experience it is fine as a holiday with a few cheeky dives. As a major dive trip, no chance. You would be better spending your money going to the Red Sea. Saying that it was an experience and an enjoyable holiday, as we couldn’t fault the Riu Resort. It may have even been brilliant diving if the visibility had been good, however that’s the beauty of diving; you never know what you are going to get.

Terry Hooper