During my trip to the Dominican Republic, I wanted to get some scuba diving in as I didn't just go there for the girls. I ending up choosing to dive with Scuba Dive Sosua as their owner and dive instructor Pablo Santos, gave me the best email communications prior to my trip there. As a Dominican who grew up in the USA, he offered to help me throughout my trip as well since he was very well connected in the area with other activities like fishing tours.
Also, unlike other scuba operators there, he offered a free pickup from Blackbeard's, where I was staying and it a good 30 minutes away. Since the taxi fare to Sosua would have been about $55 to $60 US, I saved plenty if I dived with his shop. His shop is located right at the main Sosua beach entrance.
Although it's not a large shop, Pablo has enough crew to make it as easy as possible for dives. Once I arrived there, his guys took my BC and assembled the tank and regulator before taking them to the dive boat. All my other gear like fins were also taken to the boat for me.
The dive boats in Sosua are not like other Caribbean destinations. First of all, none of the scuba operators in Sosua have large dive boats with heads on board. Instead, they use small boats which meet divers right on the beach as there are no docks around. This did not turn out to be a problem since the crew handles all your gear anyway. All I had to do was climb on the dive boat when it neared the beach.
The crew also assembles your weight belt and helps you put on your BC/tank. If you want, divers can also put on BC/tanks while in the water. In either case, it's a back entry into the ocean.
Pablo was an awesome dive leader. He has several thousand dives in the region so he knows the dive sites inside out. For my dives, the first two were under less than good visibility due to recent rain but despite this, he took the effort to show me some interesting things including spotting eels, lionfish and large crabs. For my next two dives the following day, we dived under much better conditions and he was able to spot some very hard to find fish including a frogfish and some very tiny shrimp that lives on long pieces of coral.
During the time on the dive boat, Pablo talked about some of the history and facts about the Sosua Bay region. You can sense the passion that he has for not only the local marine life but also the region which he calls his home. I did my 100th logged dive here in Sosua and I must say that Pablo provided the most personalized service as a divemaster that I've had so far. Even the timing of when we went out diving was quite flexible - although this might have something to do with being in a low season. But he did mention that even if when he has a group, it was left to the group on when people wanted to dive as his crew would be ready anytime.
After each dive, we had the option of returning to the beach for a surface interval and bathroom break or simply staying on the boat. I did both options, one for each day of diving. At the end of each two tank dive trips, the boat returned back to shore and we just jumped of of the boat onto the beach. Again, Pablo's crew did the work of carrying all the scuba gear back to the shop. I can't even remember another dive operator where I didn't have to lug my own gear from the dive boats.
The reefs were in good condition but some areas had evidence of overfishing. With a good dive leader like Pablo, he was still able to spot some really interesting marine life out there. Don't expect any really big marine life but there will be some neat smaller species to see.
The staff at Scuba Dive Sosua even had my BC and other gear rinsed and hung to dry before storing it inside the shop overnight for me. There was no need to carrying anything back to my hotel although I did choose to bring my dive computer back so I could log my dives.
I came back to the shop where my equipment was to do my final packing as Pablo even gave me a ride back to the Puerto Plata airport for my departure, another $20 US savings. Now that's personalized service! I challenge anyone to find a dive shop that will do all that for you.
I would definitely dive with Pablo again and recommend Scuba Dive Sosua to anybody who wants to dive or get some training when in the Dominican Republic north coast area. He did tell me that he was interested in becoming the preferred dive operator for guests of Blackbeard's, FOD and other places we stay at in the region. If he offered pick up service and since the operator that Blackbeard's used before from Puerto Plata refuses to come pick up divers, I'm pretty sure that he will get more of us as clients.
He also does fishing tours too which I haven't tried but I'm sure some of us mongers would be into. Their website is simply scubadivesosua.com and that was how I originally contacted Pablo.
Originally Posted by exoticspirit
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