The Dominican Republic is perceived as a big island with great choices for scuba diving enthusiasts. The official publication of the PADI Diving Society includes the DR in their January/February 2009 “100 Destinations of a Lifetime 2009” list. Covering the DR writer Ted Alan Stedman described how he was able to visit 23 dive sites in both the Caribbean and Atlantic in nine days, including wall dives, five wrecks and three underwater cave systems, two offshore islands, plus a national marine park, in addition to sprawling reefs “that could match anything I’ve ever seen throughout the Caribbean.” It mentions that divers in the DR could spend years without a repeat of dives. It counts 437 wrecks that have been catalogued including 136 treasure ships and mentions that, “another DR eccentricity is its ‘inland sea,’ a limestone labyrinth with underwater caves and underground river passages yet to be explored.”
The author highlights the variety in the country, saying that Juan Dolio alone is a dive-centric portal with more than 25 recreational dive sites within 15 minutes. Also mentioned is the National Park of the East marine park and he describes the waters of Catalina Island as “aquarium-like”, with endangered manatees, bottle-nosed dolphins, turtles and nurse sharks.
Special mentions are also made of diving in Samana Bay and dives that can be especially wild January through March when an estimated 5,000 humpback whales come to breed in the area.
Also covered is cave diving, with a mention of Boca Chica’s Cueva Taina.