The chance to go to the Dominican Republic for a number of days got here up all of a sudden and proved irresistible for MICHAEL SALVAREZZA & CHRISTOPHER B WEAVER – however would there be sufficient to see beneath water to fulfill the calls for of divers who’ve knocked about greater than a bit?
It took a three-and-a-half-hour direct flight from New York to Punta Cana, and our lengthy weekend of diving was underway.
A few years in the past we had travelled via this nation. It had been the place to begin of a liveaboard journey to the fabled Silver Banks, mendacity between the island of Hispaniola, which the Dominican Republic shares with Haiti, and the Turks & Caicos.
The Silver Banks is the winter breeding floor for the North Atlantic inhabitants of humpback whales, and at the moment our total focus was on the whales. Over a protracted and in depth diving profession that adopted that journey, we had by no means returned to the Dominican Republic and this weekend journey was a possibility to lastly dive this typically ignored (by divers) island.
We selected to dive the area generally known as Bayahibe due to its proximity to a notable shipwreck, the St George. On arrival we shortly related with Scuba Caribe, one of many native dive operators, and organized our diving schedule. Early the subsequent morning we have been on a ship headed to our first dive-site, a reef generally known as Guaraguao1.
Guaraguao1 is a shallow, undulating reef with patches of sand combined with strips of reef. We instantly seen that a few of the corals have been bleaching, a results of a brutally sizzling summer season and a reminder of the devastating results that world local weather change is having on the world’s delicate coral-reef programs. With the method of cooler winter climate, we hope the corals will recuperate.
Nevertheless, many corals thrive right here and the reefs are dwelling to the same old array of Caribbean reef-dwellers. Blackbar soldierfish sought shelter beneath coral overhangs, together with the good-looking longspine squirrelfish.
Darting between the coral outcroppings have been a number of species of parrotfish, and skilled divers may spot the reef cleansing stations staffed by brilliant yellow cleanerfish ready for his or her subsequent job. We additionally adopted pairs of four-eye butterflyfish as they picked their means among the many seafans and gorgonians.
For divers with an curiosity in historical past, Guaraguao reef is dwelling to a singular underwater shipwreck museum. Cannon, a big anchor, muskets and cannonballs have been relocated right here from close by Spanish galleon websites.
Certainly, it was proper off the shore of Bayahibe the place the stays of the Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe shipwreck have been discovered, and the place right now it’s designated because the residing museum of the Guadalupe Underwater Archaeological Protect.
By way of Shallow
Our second dive was at By way of Shallow, a close-by reef system just like Guaraguao1. Right here, we stopped to say hiya to a ferocious-looking noticed moray eel because it did its greatest to intimidate the group of divers vying for a possibility to check out the attractive creature.
Close by, tucked beneath the purple latticework of a seafan, we discovered an exquisite flamingo tongue cowrie, an ideal topic for our 60mm macro lenses. We additionally discovered a banded coral shrimp with a clutch of eggs – one other good picture-opportunity.
We continued to swim gently over the reef, gazing on the denizens of the coral system going about their day by day rituals. Then we noticed an intruder, the invasive lionfish, hovering immobile alongside a mound of coral.
Lionfish have made their means into the Atlantic and the Caribbean from the Indo-Pacific and, regardless of their lovely look, are unwelcome as a result of they’re voracious predators that lack a pure predator themselves. Nonetheless, we will’t resist making a portrait of this interloper.
These have been comparatively shallow dives, with a most depth of 16m, which makes them very best for all ranges of divers. To us they appeared extra like dive-sites suited to newbie divers and, inside, we longed for one thing more difficult.
Nevertheless, Penon Perfundo and Acuario have been the dive-sites for the second day, one other pair of shallow reefs with swaying seafans and clumps of onerous corals. At Penon Perfuno, damselfish threatened any divers that approached their lairs too carefully.
Sergeant-majors turned nervous as we swam over their plenty of purple eggs, and yellow sting rays flew over the sandy patches like small Arabian magic carpets.
A short while into the dive at Acuario, a person-sized nurse shark was noticed resting beneath a coral overhang, thrilling these divers within the group who had by no means seen a shark earlier than.
A brief distance away, we discovered a extra fascinating however much less apparent spectacle. There, on the prime of a pretty big pillar coral, a bunch of bar jack have been darting forwards and backwards in apparent pursuit of one thing.
And, sure, we meant to say ‘bunch’ fairly than ‘faculty’, as a result of these fish actually have been in a chaotic bundle fairly than an organised procession. We couldn’t see what they have been on the lookout for, or work out what they have been doing, however a lone Spanish hogfish was in the course of the scrum and seeming to affix in!
Earlier than the dive was over, we had encountered a pair of enormous cabbage nudibranchs, a noticed trunkfish, a scrawled filefish and a trumpetfish. The gaudy colors and styles and sizes of coral-reef inhabitants by no means stop to amaze.
The St George
Regardless of these encounters, it was the St George wreck that beckoned us most, and this website was scheduled for the subsequent day.
The St George was inbuilt 1962 in Scotland, initially named the Norbrae. Its goal was to move wheat and barley between Norway and the Americas, and it was used for 20 years earlier than being deserted in Santo Domingo port.
It was renamed St George after the devastating hurricane that hit the Dominican Republic (and the entire Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico) in September 1998. In June 1999 the ship was sunk a few half-mile off the seashore in 40m of water. The wreck is 72m lengthy and the highest reachable in about 15m.
It took a short while as we descended the mooring-line to the wreck to identify the murky define of the sunken ship, due to the decreased visibility on the website. However our smiles grew bigger as the highest of the wreck got here into sharper focus. An inviting bridge part drew our consideration and shortly we discovered ourselves inside, exploring the superstructure.
The deep blue of the encircling waters marked a pointy distinction to the rusty brown inside of the wreck, as we appeared out via doorways, hatches and home windows.
As soon as exterior, we swam alongside the strict aspect of the ship, photographing a railing overgrown with vibrant marine organisms. Purple sponges had established their dwelling right here, together with scores of smaller reef fish that swirled within the waters above.
The St George is an intriguing wreck and one which warrants a number of dives. For these with Superior certifications the bow beckons in deeper water, together with the cargo-holds. One dive on the wreck isn’t sufficient but it surely was all our lengthy weekend permitted, and we yearned to return.
Lens of a brand new diver
Later, as we packed our gear within the hotel-room and ready to fly dwelling, we mirrored on the diving within the Dominican Republic. For us, we had had a right away impression that the reefs have been extra fascinating to divers new to the game. Our diving experiences all over the world had maybe jaded us to those reefs.
However as we thought-about additional, we related with one thing deeper, one thing extra necessary. Certainly, we began wanting on the dives via the lens of a brand new diver.
We recalled the fantastic sensations of our very first breaths beneath water all these years in the past, and the amazement we had once we first swam over a coral reef or gazed into the crystal-clear waters of the tropics from the aspect of a ship.
Actually, we had seen most of what we noticed within the Dominican Republic earlier than; it was “nothing new”. However there’s all the time one thing new, truly. Just like the gaggle of bar jack we noticed frenetically swimming above the corals at Acuario. We nonetheless don’t know precisely what they have been doing there!
The diving group contains divers in any respect ranges. And everyone seems to be all the time studying. Even skilled divers see new issues and be taught on each dive – even when it’s merely to discover ways to educate new divers concerning the wonders of the underwater world.
Our lengthy weekend within the Dominican Republic got here to an finish too shortly. And we learnt one different factor: we have to plan a return!
Additionally on Divernet: PORTAL TO TUBBATAHA, JUPITER: OUT OF THIS WORLD, WILD ALASKA, WHERE THE WATER MEETS THE SKY
