INTERACTIVE MAPA favorite of the area, the Airport Wall is considered one of the best and most beautiful dive sites in the DR. Beginning at about 10 meters (33 feet) and dropping to almost 30 meters (98 feet), it is one of the richest sites in coral and marine life, with pinnacles and tunnels.
Scuba Diving + Snorkeling
In addition to discovering exceptional beaches along the DR’s thousand-mile long coastline, you’ll soon realize that the DR’s underwater world—a handful of which is protected as a national park—is equally fascinating, revealing features such as coral reefs, caves, remains of galleons, shipwrecks, and a world of multicolored marine life. Explore 40-meter (131-foot) wall dives off the islands of Catalina and Saona, spot turtles and eagle rays off the remote Playa Frontón in Las Galeras, or snorkel amid colorful fish at Cayo Arena. Whether south, east, or north, PADI-certified dive and snorkel shops know the best underwater adventures.
While you can dip in our waters year round, the best time to dive is between June and September, when the waters are calm and offer good visibility—optimal conditions for immersion. Year-round sea temperatures range between 24°C to 29°C (75°F and 84°F), allowing diving even in the middle of the North American “winter,” when temperatures hover around 25°C (77°F).
SCUBA DIVING + SNORKELING IN
Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
Explore our underwater treasures along one thousand miles of coastline, from colorful reefs and critters to shipwrecks.
A small tugboat, the Alto Velo sunk off the waters of Playa Caribe on the southeastern coast. Resting at eight meters (26 feet), an ideal depth for beginners, it quickly turned into an artificial reef surrounded with abundant marine life.
Beginner divers will appreciate the Atlantic Princess’s colorful sea life at shallow depths.
This is a suitable dive for all levels, starting in the shallower area of the reef at 12 meters (40 feet), and traversing a tear in the reef formed by the walls of the canyon. Yellowtail snappers, spider crabs, anemones, nudibranchs, toadfish, and beautiful flamingo tongue snails can be spotted here.
The 33-meter (108-foot) tugboat is a beautiful marine habitat of coral gardens and large schools of small tropical fish, making it a great spot for advanced divers to explore.
A paradise for snorkeling fans, this area boasts some of the most abundant marine life in DR, with corals and sponges that surround the cay, including schools of surgeonfish, sergeant majors, damselfish, angelfish, and yellowtail snappers swimming around your feet.
Formed by coral sands, they offer a world of underwater exploration and wildlife. Around the cayes’ shores, you’ll spot cacti, iguanas, and crabs. Underwater, submerged forests, sandy bottoms, and large rocky walls make this area a one-stop site for snorkeling, day or night diving.
Reached from Las Terrenas’ shores, Creole Reef is a kilometer-long (0.6 miles) coralline chain covered with a variety of gorgonian sea fans, and frequently visited by large Atlantic stingrays.
Forty minutes east of Santo Domingo, Boca Chica’s large bay is home to the majority of marine life thriving on the island of Hispaniola: corals, sponges, octopuses, reef fish, crustaceans, starfish, seahorses, and sole fish.
On the northwestern side of the country, Montecristi is for experienced divers. There are dozens of real shipwrecks from the time of the Spanish armada sunk due to weather and in battle with English and Dutch pirates. Snorkeling is wonderful at the Cayo Siete Hermanos islands. The infamous pirate Francis Drake used Montecristi as a base for supplying his ships and hiding from the Spanish fleet in the 16th century. He and other pirates attacked countless Spanish ships, looting the treasure and sinking the vessels off the coast of Montecristi. Many of the estimated 150 shipwrecks have been discovered and a number of them are close to shore and at depths shallow enough for the adventure diver.
