Atlantic Princess – once in a life time opportunity to see the wreck even if you are not a scuba diver. Not only divers but also snorkelers  can explore the new wreck we have here. The boat sunk in a spot that is not too deep, just in front of Dreams Resort La Romana Resort in Bayahibe Bay, area known for a great marine life.

The bottom of Atlantic Princess is sitting in 12 m / 40ft and the top of the ship is only 2 m / 6.5ft bellow surface. The visibility is great so the snorkelers can see the whole wreck.  The ship is sitting across the reef, creating few channels and swim throughs, and in just few days after sinking the fish have started moving in.

Since it wasn’t towed  to a deeper location and the Atlantic Princess sunk at the spot where was only prepared for sinking, most of the people expect that the next tropical storm or huricane will move it towards the shore and destroy it. So for only a short period of time tourists have a chance  to see the great new wreck.

The question most  people are asking now: “Did Atlantic Princess sink by itself?“.

Well nobody can tell for sure right now, but based on the fact that the guys that lived on the ship, preparing it for sinking, had all their belongings still there when it went under water, including all cloths and money, the answer would be yes.

We went to see the new wreck this morning around 7 AM. And again the guys living on the ship till yesterday followed us on their small boat hoping that we can recover more of their stuff from the wreck. We tried to get as much as we could and they were very happy.

About an hour ago some tourists from Dreams resort swimming in Bayahibe bay told us that the big ship is sinking and only the back part is sticking above the water. Everybody was surprised because nobody scheduled the sinking yet. And the most surprised were the two guys that were living on the ship and had all their stuff still on board. So Atlantic Princess is finally under water, but looks like it went down by itself.

We took our boat, but it was too late and the whole ship was sunk already. Look at the first underwater pictures. We will do an early dive tomorrow morning and see how it sits.

More tourists are coming to Dominican republic at the time that usually slows down after the high season and Easter holidays. What is bad for one destination can bring good to the other. Since Mexico was hit by the flu outbreak, lots of travelers have changed their vacation destination and coming to this beautiful island instead.

According to the local newspaper, more then hundred planes were rerouted from Mexico to Dominican Republic, most of them to Punta Cana International Airport, some of them to the other airports – La Romana, Santo Domingo and Puerto Plata. Thousands of new tourist will enjoy this great Caribbean Island for a first time and hopefully come back for their next vacation

Many tourists are canceling their trips to Mexico and changing their destination to Dominican Republic. Many of them are asking: ” Is it safe? Is the swine flu in Dominican Republic?”

Well, there was a report saying that one Mexican woman that came to Dominican Republic from Mexico had all the symptoms. BUT according to the doctors from the clinic she was hospitalized at, all the test came back negative … read more here

Dominican Authorities are taking all the necessary precautions to make sure that the flu doesn’t get here. The major international airports installed Thermal cameras to detect travelers with fever. … read full details

Finally looks like we have spring here, the ocean temperature is getting higher, almost 27, the nights are not as cool anymore. Great time get to the water or at least for a boat trip, which we are planning for Sunday

What local fish and marine life to expect on you next vacation here ?

To show you what you can see underwater when you come to Bayahibe, Dominican Republic, we will make a daily post about  fish that live in our area.

Today after leaving  Sharky, walking by the other end of the bay I saw a fishing boat full of fish. It wasn’t on the main beach, but on a secluded area, away from the daily traffic. The fishermen, not from here (I know most of them by now), were unloading their catch to a small truck.  I passed by to see what kind of fish they have; maybe I could get some good one for dinner. I stopped and looked and what a sad view that I didn’t expect.

Beside other fish they had five nurse sharks, most of them really small, only about 3 feet long, two or three good size eaglerays chopped already. I couldn’t believe my eyes and I felt like crying. Unfortunately I didn’t have a camera with me to take a picture and report them to the local authorities. For the rest of the day I couldn’t stop thinking about how the people ruin the marine life not realizing that if they don’t let the fish reproduce there won’t be much to fish later on.

The Octopus is still cruising around our coast, enjoying the nice sunny weather we have now in Bayahibe, Dominican Republic.

Apparently the crew from the yacht hired people from a local dive shop to guide them around the dive sites and weren’t too happy with them. Well next time they should ask us,  we would show them the dive sites that other dives shops don’t go scuba diving .

There is a smaller yacht following Octopus, but so far we don’t have any report who that might be. We will go Monday with Sharky to see if we can get more info.

What a surprise this morning, Octopus in Bayahibe Bay!!!

Well THE OCTOPUS -  the eighth largest yacht in the world, owned by Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft. Built in 2003, it has permanent crew of 60 some of them former Navy Seals. There are seven boats, 10-man submarine, remote-controlled vehicle for crawling the bottom of the ocean and two helicopters on board. According to Dominican news Bill Gates of Microsoft is on board and Paul Allen might join him too.

They docked in Casa de Campo Marina couple days ago and came to Bayahibe, Dominican Republic this morning to scuba dive. Our Sharky could fit in the opening of the yacht about three or four times.