Bayahibe · Dominican Republic · Reef · Coral garden
Coco Reef
A FUNDEMAR coral nursery and sunken statues at 12 m
Area photo: Pc.wiki4 · CC BY-SA 4.0
A reef at about 12 m some 500 m off the Catalonia resort shore, dived for its coral garden, its sunken statues and the coral nursery FUNDEMAR runs on it. New corals are grown here and replanted on reefs across the Bayahibe area, so the dive is part coral garden and part restoration project, shallow enough to double as course water.
Also known as Jardín de Corales.
Where it is and how deep
18.3387° N, 68.8288° WPublished position for this site.
The dive
The site sits at around 12 m and is laid out as a garden rather than as a wall or a slope: coral heads and natural formations spread across the bottom with sand between them, so you swim the gaps instead of following a single line. At one depth the whole way, the colour holds from the start of the dive to the end.
The statues are what most people surface talking about — sunken figures set among the coral, and the reason this site gets picked over the other shallow reefs nearby. There is enough room around them for a group to work them for photographs without anyone drifting off the back of it, and the depth gives the time to do it properly.
The other reason to dive it is the coral garden itself: an underwater nursery run by FUNDEMAR, where new corals are grown and then replanted on reefs around Bayahibe. Marine life here is abundant and colourful rather than large — this is a reef-fish dive, and what a 12 m maximum buys you is long, unhurried bottom time.
Marine life and season
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good |
Season follows Bayahibe: January to April is the driest stretch and October the wettest; Atlantic hurricane season runs June to November and peaks from late August into September.
Sources
More dive sites in Bayahibe
Wreck
A whole ship at 12 m, in water bright enough to read it from above
Wall
A 6 m coral slope that reaches an edge and drops away
Cave & cavern
Taíno artefacts in place in a 9 m freshwater cave
Reef
A park reef 25 minutes out, split into three dive points
Reef
Cannons and a musket rack set out on a park reef
Wreck
Top of the wreck at 15 m, bow on the sand at 44 m
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