Diving in Dom Rep

Greetings all,

Just booked a fortnight's family holiday next month in Dom Rep at the Coral
Marien by Hilton on Costa Dorada.

Anyone ever been to this hotel? According to the brochure it has a PADI
diving outfit on site, any idea of name? What's the diving like - any "must
do's" - any operators to avoid, etc

Also, having only dived in metric areas (i.e. depth in Metres & pressure in
Bar) is the Dom Rep within the American sphere of influence in terms of
measurements. If so can anyone point me in the direction of a good
explanation of conversions from cu ft to bar etc? Anything else to watch
out for?

TIA

David B

"david" <david.dot.braithwaite@virgin.dot.net> wrote in message
news:O5VCc.49$cs3.45@newsfe3-win.server.ntli.net...
> Greetings all,
>
> Just booked a fortnight's family holiday next month in Dom Rep at the
Coral
> Marien by Hilton on Costa Dorada.
>
> Anyone ever been to this hotel? According to the brochure it has a PADI
> diving outfit on site, any idea of name?

The hotel is in playa dorada which is a private resort area, you therefore
have the benefit that you are not tied to a diveshop with the hotel if you
dont like what you see you go along the beach to the next hotel, who will
have their own dive shop, or to the resort shopping centre. Do a search for
"playa dorada" and "scuba"


What's the diving like - any "must do's" - any operators to avoid, etc

If you read the review on the net, dominican isnt rated very highly for
diving, and to be honest there is not much life on the dives from the hotel
(boats), having said that there are some nice canyons etc which have a bit
of life - worth doing but you might get bored after a while.

The one trip you must definatly do is sosua, you will have to pay a bit
extra (for the taxi ride) but the two dives I did there were out of this
world. The dives are shore (but sometimes they go out on a boat - all of
20mtrs out), with a max depth of maybe 18m. Which ever way you look you are
surrounded by hundreds of fishes - for me the best diving I have done
(better than mexico/cozumel).

> Also, having only dived in metric areas (i.e. depth in Metres & pressure
in Bar) is the Dom Rep within the American sphere of influence in terms of
> measurements. If so can anyone point me in the direction of a good
explanation of conversions from cu ft to bar etc?

yes, psi is the main unit. In my experience the dive shop has regs both in
psi or bar - just ask for the one you want. If you usually dive with
computer take it with you for the depth - all you have then got to remember
is your air - .

"Pete" <pete2121@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:WzYCc.2663$V%5.26592475@news-text.cableinet.net...
>
> "david" <david.dot.braithwaite@virgin.dot.net> wrote in message
> news:O5VCc.49$cs3.45@newsfe3-win.server.ntli.net...
> > Greetings all,
> >
> > Just booked a fortnight's family holiday next month in Dom Rep at the
Coral
> > Marien by Hilton on Costa Dorada.
> >
> > Anyone ever been to this hotel? According to the brochure it has a PADI
> > diving outfit on site, any idea of name?
>
> The hotel is in playa dorada which is a private resort area, you therefore
> have the benefit that you are not tied to a diveshop with the hotel if you
> dont like what you see you go along the beach to the next hotel, who will
> have their own dive shop, or to the resort shopping centre. Do a search
for
> "playa dorada" and "scuba"
>
>
> What's the diving like - any "must do's" - any operators to avoid, etc
>
> If you read the review on the net, dominican isnt rated very highly for
> diving, and to be honest there is not much life on the dives from the
hotel
> (boats), having said that there are some nice canyons etc which have a bit
> of life - worth doing but you might get bored after a while.
>
> The one trip you must definatly do is sosua, you will have to pay a bit
> extra (for the taxi ride) but the two dives I did there were out of this
> world. The dives are shore (but sometimes they go out on a boat - all of
> 20mtrs out), with a max depth of maybe 18m. Which ever way you look you
are
> surrounded by hundreds of fishes - for me the best diving I have done
> (better than mexico/cozumel).
>
> yes, psi is the main unit. In my experience the dive shop has regs both in
> psi or bar - just ask for the one you want. If you usually dive with
> computer take it with you for the depth - all you have then got to
remember
> is your air - .
>
Many thanks for the info Pete - very useful. Interesting to know they have
both Bar & PSI regs available. I'll be taking my own computer, so no probs
there.

Will look out for the Sosua dive.

Cheers

David B