We went to a really nice all inclusive in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. We went there because our Daughter and Son in Law wanted us to come with them (to babysit) and that was the perfect place for us and the kids. They have a kids club with everything a little kid would want like giant hippopotamuses that spouted water and other things like Supermodels for me to look at. ( I particularly liked the Supermodel that was the singer) The place was great but the diving was not worth it at all. I knew diving there was going to be a waste, and it was not worth the effort to get wet. But it was very cheap, I guess that's why.
They came to get me on the beach with their "Dive Boat". Their "dive boat" was basically a 21 foot row boat with an outboard engine. No place to put anything including tanks and equipment that just rolled around in the bilge water of this very bare boat. If you had sun glasses, a camera, fine china or your best crystal it had to live on the bottom of this tiny boat under the tanks. There was no room for your feet so you hung them overboard. There were about 8 of us on the boat including the "driver" and the divemaster/GPS/depthfinder who stood at the front and pointed left or right so the "driver" didn't run over any swimmers near the beach as we were going full speed.
I was a little concerned because I was by far the oldest guy on the boat (as I normally am) and I didn't see any way to climb back on the thing after the dive. The freeboard (part of the boat above the water) was about 3' and there was no way for me to rocket myself out of the sea like a penguin to get back on this "boat". I asked about that and the divemaster ran up on the beach and produced this thing made from electrical tubing that he said would work as a ladder.
So we get to the site and tried to put on the equipment. I have been diving long before any of these guys were born but I need at least 8" around me to put on the equipment. It's not like you could stand up due to the 6' waves that people were surfing on right next to us.
I get on the equipment and happily throw myself into the water very excited to be off the "dive boat". I bob around a while banging my regulator in my hand trying to get it to stop free flowing for fear that I would run out of air before I sunk.
So we go down to the bottom which they told me was 45' deep. It looked much shallower. The first thing I noticed, was,,, well,,,, nothing. There is nothing there. Sea fans, more sea fans, other sea fans behind the first sea fans and an occasional gorgonian. I did manage to see "1" cowfish, "1" sharp nosed puffer and "1" trigger fish. We spent much of the "dive" looking for a place to tie the dive buoy (Clorox Bottle) to the bottom. That was the most exciting part of the both dives.
We got back on the boat by using the "ladder" and sailed about 100 yards to the second dive site. The second dive was a little better and had many more gorgonians. And in places where there were no gorgonians, there were more gorgonians. It was like a gorgonian warehouse. I think I saw a parrotfish but it may have been wishful thinking.
I fell asleep a couple of times and had to be woken up as I was drifting toward the bottom. I could have just walked on the bottom to shore as it would have been easier than climbing up the "ladder".
My GoPro camera croaked after a few shots but that didn't matter because how many sea fan pictures do you really need?
Flying back to the beach full of tourists at top speed was exhilarating because there was one or two of them that we didn't scare to death.
This is me with the "three" fish that we saw. I was clearly calling for someone with a spear gun to shoot me.
And a gorgonian. I took this picture because I have a few of these gorgonians in my tank. Maybe they "escaped" from there.