My daughter and I decided to do some diving last week during our
vacation in Cabarete, Republica Dominicana. We used Dolphin Dive Center
primarily because it was a 30 second walk from our condo on the east end
of town. Billed as a PADI Five Star dive shop, the Cabarete facility is
really only a satellite office for the dive operation which is down the
road in Sosua. Michel, the French expatriate owner, is the hands on
operator along with a few other employees. Prices were a little higher
than I would have thought ... three tanks for $87 USD. Not as expensive
as diving in New Jersey, but more than what I paid not long ago in Key
Largo. Michel was very cordial and was especially helpful when yours
truly realized that his dive ‘puter was sitting by his home ‘puter 2,000
miles from Cabarete. Michel loaned me a console, which worked well until
near the end of the first dive, when it began leaking a bit much.
Anyway, at 8:15, we loaded into a taxi for the fifteen minute ride to Sosua.

Dolphin's boats are small, with no amenities except tank holders and on
the larger skiff, a PVC dive ‘ladder’. The smaller skiff, not much
bigger than a row boat, was accessed by pulling yourself up over the
gunwale. Manageable with a pull from the mate, but very good incentive
to lose weight. It was by far easier to don and doff gear in the drink,
rather than teeter-totter in the skiff. Fortunately the water was very
calm on all three dives and we had no problem with that. The dives were
planned as drift dives, although there was little if any current. It was
more a matter of the skiff being blown off by the breeze and locating us
when we surfaced.

Our first dive was at Airport Wall, so named because it’s just about a
half mile off the runway of the local airport. It starts about 40' and
we maxed at 70'. It was a Tuesday and we were the only boat there. It
was my daughter’s first wall dive and she enjoyed it a lot. There were
seven divers; three buddy teams and an advanced student working with
Michel. We saw a good deal of soft coral and sponges; the ubiquitous
colorful reef fishies, and some interesting crabs of various types. The
wall is particularly devoid of large fish of any type - perhaps the
waters are fished out. No grouper; no sharks; no turtles, etc. Vis. was
not bad but not spectacular at 60'-75'. Water was warm at 84 deg. We
both dove with shorties and after a 58 minute dive, my daughter was very
slightly cold, but not enough to add more rubber. During the dive, I
noticed that our number had shrunk by two. Later, I learned that one
couple had aborted early in the dive when one of them suffered a nasty
sinus squeeze. Anyway, it was a nice, relaxing wall dive and very enjoyable.

After the first dive, we motored back to the dive center to refill the
tanks (small boat, no room for extra tanks) and take a SIT-esta. The gal
with the sinus squeeze sucked on some O2 to ease her headache, although
it may have been as a placebo. Our second dive, now with only five
divers + Michel, was at Three Rocks, which are really three large and
closely spaced coral reefs very close to shore just east of Sosua. A
four minute boat ride got us there and we spent about an hour + in
15'–35', observing the very healthy coral and nice variety of reef
critters. We spotted a juvenile spotted Moray which was a bit playful
and curious, as well as a few flounder-type bottom dwellers. There were
also quite a number of different crustaceans and a few sea slugs to play
with. It reminded me of my first instructors adage that in many cases
the best dives are shallow dives. The marine life was definitely better
on the second dive.

We saved our third dive for two days later, so that we could dive with
my daughter’s boyfriend and his brother, who took the Discover Scuba
“class”. That consisted of Michel spending about twenty minutes in a
four foot pool, showing them the gear and telling them what a great time
they would have. Which was true, if not particularly thorough. Anyway,
we dove the same site, Three Rocks, and stayed shallow, which was fine
for my daughter and I, and safe for the guys. We spent the time taking
pictures of the rookies and investigating the micro life. We both agreed
that we didn’t feel the need to swim the entire site, and preferred to
really examine a smaller area in detail. After 45 minutes, the newbies
were given a small shot of air in their BC’s and they drifted to the
surface. We stayed for another twenty minutes at 15'-10', and at the
end, blissfully drifted up to meet the boat. It just doesn’t get any
more relaxing than that.

If you are looking for a real pampering, this isn’t the operation for
you (you assemble your own gear and lug it through the water to the
boat, and the boats can be tough to get into when the water is rough);
however, the base operation is a nice set up and the folks were very
friendly. On a scale of one to ten, I’d rate them a 7.5. And considering
that we do most of our diving in low vis/damn cold sites, I’d rate the
two dive sites the same.

Bart F.