Global Dr Tours
Global Dr Tours
5
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Monday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Tuesday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Wednesday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Thursday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Friday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Saturday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Sunday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
About
Private boat tours to Saona and Catalina, tailor-made for you. PADI 5* center offering all level courses and excursions to Bavaro, Catalina and Bayahibe.
Bavaro, Dominican Republic
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Tours and Tickets by Global Dr Tours

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.


5.0
5.0 of 5 bubbles188 reviews
Excellent
178
Very good
8
Average
1
Poor
1
Terrible
0

Abhin K
Gaithersburg, MD2 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2019
During our visit to Dominican Republic, we completed our Padi open water diving course with Global divers. When we reached there, we talked to Maribel Padilla. It was a joyful start because she spoke English very fluently. She was very patient, cordial and answered all our questions . Since it is our first time, we wanted to make sure that we talk to a diving instructor and not a sales guy. Throughout our conversations, she kept us at ease and suggested dives. We did 4 dives with my kids. She came on time to pick us up. On all 4 dives, she meticulously went through open water dive instructions, make sure that we were comfortable all through our dives. She was very patient and work with your speed and at 50 feet down make you feel very comfortable. We visited great sites, looked at great corals and fishes( Thanks to Maribel for pointing us at nice fishes!!!!) and cherry top is visiting a ship wreck site under water. We recommend very highly to anyone and especially if it is your first dives. Thank you so much Maribel, we are certified divers and it was life long experience to Cherish because of you!!
Written January 5, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Brenda C
Calgary, Canada3 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020 • Family
I just returned from a trip to Punta Cana. I had the pleasure of diving with Globe Dive and it was 'Excellence' I had never dived in the ocean before and my instructor Maribel made it comfortable, safe, took me at my pace and overall a fantastic experience. I would recommend them in a heartbeat. Definitely a five-star. I enjoyed my dive with them so much I started looking up my next trip before I even left the Dominican.
Thank you for the memories!
Written February 5, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Marie-Christine A
7 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2019
I chose this dive center as it was recommended by a friend. I had the immense pleasure of having Maribel Padilla as my instructor for the Open Water course. She is an excellent teacher and she quickly understood that I needed a lot of practice as I was very anxious. I had the opportunity to finish my certification at my own pace and that is priceless. Maribel made sure I was ready and felt confident. I went from being anxious to being amazed by the underwater world! So overall an incredible experience. Highly recommend Global Divers.
Written January 7, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Putnam40
16 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2015 • Family
We scheduled a 2 1/2 hour snorkel trip for my family of four. Alex was very helpful in scheduling it and our guide, Kung Fu Panda, was excellent! It was the first time snorkeling for our 13 and 11 year old and Panda was excellent with them. We really enjoyed it and found it a good value for our money. We would definitely do it again!
Written April 26, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Jordan B
Whitehorse, Canada6 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2015 • Friends
Not even sure where to begin. These people made my trip. This is going to be a long one by the way. Fair warning.

A bit of back story here to give some context: my mother passed away in October of 2014 from pancreatic cancer. One of her life long dreams was to travel with her family, and she brought all of us to the DR in 2009 where she paid for my scuba lessons at a different dive center. I fell in love with it the very first breath under the surface of that pool. It has been my passion and fuel for life ever since that day 6 years ago. This trip for me was a thank you to my mom for everything she did for me while she was with us, and even after she passed away. I brought some of my mothers ashes with me so she could always be on the beach and in the sun. The plan was to dive Monica's Wreck (that was my mothers name), but it wasn't in the cards due to weather.

Now, with that being said, I was a bit sad that the dive shop wasn't the same one that I was at 6 years previous, but after meeting Sylvia on that first day, and telling her what I had planned, that sadness disappeared. She empathized with me right away, and with only knowing me for 2 minutes, gave me a hug and said how sorry she was for my loss. I am a very large man, and most people are usually scared of me. Not her. She knew that we shared the passion of diving and that connection for the sport made her see beyond my size. It meant so much to me. We told her the plan was to put mom's ashes on the Monica, and she said she would do her best. We booked our dives and waited for the next morning.

We showed up at just before 9 am the next day and met our dive instructor, Dima. He was very friendly and personable. We talked about about diving, and he asked us some question about our experience level. I had about 40 dives under my belt, and my friend was freshly certified. I told him I occasionally have issues equalizing in my left ear, and he showed me how he does it. After that, we set up our gear, the porters brought it to the boat, and we were off.

Our very first dive was the wreck of the Astron. I had dove wrecks before, but my friend had not. He was in awe. I had never been so close to such a large ship in my life, let alone a wreck. The visibility wasn't great, but the chance to get under was all I wanted. Dima is an excellent instructor and made sure that both my friend and I were okay throughout the dive. He was checking our air and ensuring we were equalizing without issue. His equalization trick worked incredibly well. At the end of the dive, Dima pointed out a ray on the ocean floor. My partner chewed through air at an incredible pace, and the dive was over after 25 minutes. We didn't care. It was a boat full of huge smiles! We were diving! I was bleeding a bit of air from my second stage reg during the dive, so Dima said he would look at it when we got back to shore. Once we got there, Dima opened up my reg, and cleaned it out, free of charge. There was some gunk in there from a dive I did last August in Haines, AK. After 5 minutes, he had it back up and working perfectly. The porters brought our gear up to get rinsed, and all we needed was to hang it up, and they would take care of the rest.

The next day we headed to the dive shop a bit early to talk with Dima and the rest of the crew. We met Piet and Glenn that day. Both are genuinely nice people who share of a love of the sport. When we got there, our gear was out and ready to go. All we needed was to hook up the tank and get wet. We set up our tanks and headed out for a couple of dives. We did the Bottom's Up wreck and a reef who's name escapes me right now. Both were excellent dives with life and coral to see. We headed back to the shop and got talking with Dima while we were rinsing the gear that the porters brought from the boat. We ended up talking with him for well over an hour. When we made it back, Sylvia asked us if we talked to Dima and Piet about Monica's wreck. I hadn't yet, but it was so nice to see that she remembered about my mom.

The next days dive went off without a hitch. We went out, swam with some fish, saw some coral, and talked with Dima more. He suggested that we do the Bayhibe excursion on Monday, and told us about the diving. My friend and I went for it. We hit up the dive shop, and put our names down for the excursion. Again, while rinsing gear, we spoke to Dima more and more.

We dove again the Sunday and everything came up golden. We got wet, saw the bottom of the ocean surface and blew some bubbles. No better way to spend a day.

Bayhibe was excellent. We met at the lobby early and boarded the bus. We stopped and picked up some fellow divers from Florida we met the previous day and headed off to the Caribbean Sea. We dove a reef and the remains of a Spanish galleon that went down over 400 years ago. Not much left of the wreck but cannons, the massive anchor, and a few cannon balls. I had an issue with my BCD on this dive. It kept leaking air from the inflator button. On the drive over, Dima and Glenn had said they had never seen someone pick up the small cannon ball with one hand before... Challenge Accepted! One handed, all the way over my head. On the first dive we saw spotted rays, a couple of morays, all kinds of fish, and Dima even found us a seahorse! It was excellent! He was SO HAPPY he found one! He kept fist pumping underwater! It was great to see such enthusiasm! Our second dive was on the Atlantic Princess! We dove the wreck and even penetrated it! We swam through it, around it and over it! It was a great day! There were a few lionfish in the engine room, but we made sure to give them a very wide berth. We came up, smiles everywhere and went back to shore. The crew at Global Divers brought us to the restuarant where we all got a 'personal' pizza. They had to be 40cm across! We sat there for a while, laughed and talked about diving. After the hour long ride back to the resort, once again, the crew took care of our gear.

The next morning our gear was out and ready to go. Dima had looking into my BCD issue and found out what was wrong: the button had wore through and it was leaking air from my bladder. He went to Piet, got a new button cap, and proceeded to fix it within 2 minutes. I asked Piet how much he needed for the repairs, and his reply was a smile and he said to tip Dima for fixing it. Done and done.

Our last day of diving was sadly Dima's day off, so we went out with Glenn. He is very professional, but laid back and easy going. Nothing short of praise for this man. He brought us out and dove with us for the morning. Underwater he is calm and nothing phases him. Can't ask for more from a dive instructor. After the dives, we got back and Sylivia again asked me about Monica's Wreck. I thanked her for showing so much concern and told her we didn't do it, and that I was okay with it. I said that I feel mom knew I was doing good, and that she was happy I was diving. Sylvia gave me another hug. It was wonderful.

We went back the next day to dry gear. It was wonderful to pack it up without it dripping salt water. We hung around the dive shop for probably an hour, just chatting with everyone there, telling them how much we enjoyed diving with them, and how much we are going to miss their hospitality. We said our goodbyes and ensured them that we would both write excellent reviews of them and their shop. My dive partner and I are already planning our next trip down to take some courses with them and see everyone again!

All in all, even thought I didn't get to dive Monica's Wreck, it was an amazing experience diving with Global Divers. They made my trip so much better than I could have hoped for. I knew it would be good, but they made it great. If you are diving, do yourself a favour, go see the crew there. They will treat you great, show you amazing things, and you will make new friends. Make sure to tell them Jordan and Mike sent you!

You really went above and beyond my wildest expectations. I can't say it enough, thank you for everything.
Written April 8, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Val D
3 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Hi, my Friends and me we went to Saona Island with Global Divers, after arriving in Bayahibe we went to Saona by Boat, that was really funny, we visited 3 beaches and Alex the Seller did not lie about it, really like a commercial ;) We had bbq lunch and visited a small village and turtles. Ending on a private beach and the natural swimming pool with their Sea stars, the Staff was friendly and explained a lot. On the way back we had even more fun but maybe that was because of the famous "Vitamina" (Cuba Libre) haha. The Day was great thanks to Pete and Ingrid, thanks a lot ;)
Written September 8, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

L2378XZchrisb
New York City, New York45 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2016 • Family
I've been certified for about 20 years and now it was time for my 15 year old son. When we were last in Punta Cana (2014) he did a discovery course at the resort that we were at and I did regular diving, I wasn't pleased with the atmosphere and too many on the boat and in the class, not much supervision of my son, etc.... This time around, I did my homework and research and found Global Dive Academy. I called several months in advance and Yannic (owner) promptly called me back, we spoke at length about the certification process for my son, he was patient and gladly answered any questions and concerns that I had! From then on it was emails and he usually answered within hours! The shop is located outside the resorts, but a cab service was sent to pick us up and return every time. I met Yannic the first day and I couldn't have felt more comfortable leaving my son with him. There were 3 boys in the class (my son and my 2 nephews) They had Julia (dive instructor) all to their selves. She actually drove them back in her own car! After the first 2 open water check out dives, my brother in law and I joined for the day trip to Catalina Island which was the 2 final check out dives and a beach bbq. We all dove together with Julia, who again was only there for us, Yannic arranged a private taxi back and forth to the dock (one hour trip) and we were the only dive party on the boat among a group of snorkelers. The last time we were packed in like sardines and kept tripping over everybody's dive equipment! The day couldn't have been better, the boys' dive skills took about 10 minutes of each dive and then Julia led us on 2 nice coral reefs, lots of colorful fish and coral to see. The beach bbq lunch was very good also, again, just us! They had optional grilled lobster, which I bought for my son as a celebration for getting certified. I would definitely recommend Yannic, Julia, and Global Dive Academy. It is better to go outside the resort and get better personal service. I hope to see them again in the future!!
Written July 27, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Charlie R
San Antonio, TX2 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2015 • Solo
My travel agent suggested Global Divers from his very quick internet search and suggested Global because of their 5 stars from PADI (the travel agent was a diver and had no experience with Global). I have only been diving for a few years. I contacted Pete (Piet) a week in advance before my arrival for some suggestions on where I should dive... answered all my questions very well. My Global diver was Glenn who I would highly recommend if he is available. He and I were on 3 tank dives - Dive #1 Bayahibe was "Dominicus Reef", Dive #2 was a recent wreck dive called "Atlantic Princess" both on the Caribbean side (I hour drive from my resort (NOW Larimar). Dive #3 Bavaro/Punta Cana was on the Atlantic Side but required no driving, it was right off my beach with a short boat ride. The Caribbean side was clearer/more to see, but the Atlantic side was OK, just not as clear or as much to see but well worth it. Glenn told me ahead of time the comparison between the dives in advance so I appreciated his insight. I brought my own mask (near sighted) and Global supplied the rest of the gear. They only take cash, no debit or credit cards. Again, two thumbs up on Global!
Written January 28, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

DennisS
7 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2019
During the vacation in the Dominican Republic I came up with the idea of ​​learning to dive with my daughter (11 years old).
We came in contact with Piet van de Ven, Global Dive Academy.
Piet is a very experienced diver (more than 25 years) and a professional diving instructor (Course Director). Piet speaks Dutch, English and Spanish and knows all dive sites and people, so everything was arranged smoothly and well.
We learned diving step by step and were'ed able to do every dive with great confidence and pleasure. The underwater world is very beautiful and it is special to be able to float in between. It was a great week with a lot of fun, but above all we learned diving, resulting in our PADI open water certification!!!
We have been infected with the diving virus now and will definitely go diving again with Piet in the future. We advise everyone who visits the Dominican Republic to contact Global Divers and experience the amazing underwater world in the Caribbean Sea!!
Written August 14, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

StefaniePaul
Key Largo, FL3 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2018 • Couples
Highly recommend! This was our third trip to Punta Cana and diving with Glenn from Global Divers. We did our Open Water and Advanced Open Water certifications with Glenn. This shop is the best! The staff are skilled, super friendly and always make sure you have an amazing dive! We're already looking forward to going back for more dives.
Written January 19, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thanks guys, was a good time again, see you soon, global staff
Written January 21, 2018
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

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