Family Vacation in Puerta Plata 2006

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The Greene Family spends the Holidays on the Beach (while Lara spent as much time as possible in the water) Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic December 2006


We abandoned NYC for the Holidays once again. This time we were off to Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. We stayed at the Marien Coral, which was up until very recently a Hilton property. The all-inclusive hotel is set on a vast white sand beach and has a huge pool as well. They had five restaurants, the Italian being the best option in my opinion. There is constant entertainment, with amazingly energetic dancers everywhere. The evening shows were hysterical with the host playing with the vast assortment of international guests. The property is in a bit of disrepair, old and broken lounge chairs, shredded towels, non-working electronics, ect. but with just a bit of TLC would be a beautiful 5 star hotel again. Security was excellent, I get a strong impression that they have to work very hard. I had heard in the past that there was alot of crime in the Dominican Republic. Though we witnessed no crimes, we definitely felt a bit unsafe, being watched and harassed a few times when we were not on hotel property. Especially when we ventured into the town of Puerto Plata itself.

So my Sister had a fit about her photos and I had to delete them. Whatever.

		My Dad relaxing		My Mom



	I was viciously attacked by carnivorous golf course ants while taking the above golf photos. My left ankle still itches and stings!

				Note the pollution spouting factory built behind the historic 16th century fort

I love to relax on the beach and read a book for a little while, but the ocean calls to me and I must go! Only 10 dives this time, my family wanted me to spend some time on land with them. I dove with Northern Coast Aquasports in Sosua. I highly recommend them, nice shop, friendly and professional staff and some of the best equipped dive boats on the island. Be warned though, the best dive boats on the island are not at all what I and you may be used to. These boats are small, 15 feet or so with little seating, little or no shade and a removable ladder. I was disappointed at first because I am used to water and fruit being offered on a dive boat (I know, I know, I'm a spoiled brat). So it's a bit "no-frills", it's still the best in the area and I brought Jolly Rancher candies to share with the other scuba kids. Dive sites I visited are Paradise I & II, Coral Gardens, Airport Wall, Pyramids, 5 Rocks, West Wall and 3 Rocks. I noticed a definite lack of larger fishes, no sharks or larger rays. Only one Grouper and he hid quickly, seems like a smart move on his part. This was the underwater debut of my "new" camera, The Olympus SP-350 (Replacing my sadly flooded C7070....wimper). I used it with my old Sea&Sea strobe light. It is not a perfect camera, I have major issues with it's delay time and battery life. I experimented with different pre-set macro and "wide angle" settings. Over all I think it did pretty well. Judge for yourself below.....

Close-up of Trumpetfish	Trumpetfish	Spotted Moray	Jackknife fish	Yellow Stingray

	Darn, I brushed against a bit of fire coral while taking the above spotted Moray photo. I'll have that sore on my hand for a few weeks at least. I guess I was due, I haven't felt the burn of fire coral since 1989.

Tiny Peppermint Shrimp with a brittle star in a tube sponge	Close up of the Peppermint Shrimp		Feather Duster worms	Feather Duster worms

Bearded Fireworm	Trumpetfish	Chain Moray (First time I've seen one of these)	Pederson Cleaner Shrimp (hard to see)	Bearded Fireworm

Arrow crab in a Vase sponge	Pederson Cleaner Shrimp (hard to see)	Trumpetfish	Trunkfish Juvenile	Coney in his sponge

	another Trumpetfish	Lizardfish	Juvenile Angelfish

Sand tilefish or Razorfish? He was my buddy for a while, we bonded.	Peacock Flounder	White nose Pipefish		Blue Tang (like Dory!)

This spotted Moray was funny, he thought he was hiding from me	Even the Coney thinks the moray is wacko		Arrow Crab with anemone	Arrow Crab

Remora considering my dive buddy		Remoras are so cute!	Jackknife fish	Juvenile Angelfish

	Huge Porcupinefish!		Banded Clinging Crab hiding in an anemone

Jackknife fish	Garden eels	Scorpion fish	Swarm of Blue Tangs	Tiny Jackknife fish

And finally, a deep dive to the wreck of the Zingara. My max depth was only 118' on this one. The ship was filled with fishes! There was a huge Black Grouper deep in the wreck but he was camera shy and I couldn't catch him. I am surprised how much color showed up in some of the photos below, I guess that is thanks to my strobe flash.



		and one last Trumpetfish





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