Trip Report, La Parguera, Puerto Rico - December 26-30, 2009

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

jlevine

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
Messages
771
Reaction score
142
Location
Southern California
# of dives
200 - 499
I recently returned my fifth trip to La Parguera, Puerto Rico and want to provide an overview of my trip. I want to tell you up front that this report is long. I will also focus mostly on the operational aspects of the trip rather than what I saw when diving because the operational aspects of this trip stood out in my mind most.

During my first three trips, I dove with Parguera Divers. Parguera Divers unfortunately closed down so my fourth trip was with West Divers and it went well so I booked this trip with West Divers. A month or two ago, I received an e-mail from Roxanna (the manager of the shop during my *previous* trip and the wife of Victor, the scuba instructor) saying that she and Victor were no longer affiliated with West Divers and that West Divers was closing down. Since I had already made my plane reservations I was extremely concerned. I called Roxanna and she said that she and Victor were in the process of developing a relationship with a shop in Ponce and planned to dive out of La Parguera. So, with some caution, I decided to continue with my trip.

A week or two before I left, Roxanna e-mailed me and said that my first day of diving would be a VIP tour out of Boqueron (approximately 30 minutes away). She also asked me if I would be willing to dive my last day out of Boqueron. I said that was fine. Shortly before I left for Puerto Rico, I wanted to reconfirm the time of the first day of diving in Boqueron. I was told that I would need to leave at 6:30am and that Victor would be meeting me at the hotel and that I would need to follow Victor to Boqueron.

At this point, I was starting to get a bit miffed. I was staying at Villa Parguera (a nice mid-range hotel). The hotel does not start serving breakfast until 7am. So, I had to grab something out of a vending machine. Also, to have to be on the road at 6:30 is a bit early while being on vacation. I went to Boqueron and ended up at Mona Aquatics. We did two dives off the coast. One site was called “Buoy 4” and had great schools of fish. The second site, “Las Anclas” (Anchors) supposedly had two anchors, but we only saw one. What was amazing at this site was the large amount of “Elkhorn Coral” (think coral in the shape of elk horns). The elkhorn coral were amazing and worth seeing by themselves. We got back to Boqueron around noon.

The next two days of diving were done out of La Parguera. On the first day, the boat was parked right at the dock (small detail, but you’ll see why I mentioned this later). We went out to two more sites. My dive buddy and I are both good with our air and can usually stay down for close to an hour without difficulty. Victor told us the dive would be 40-45 minutes. After about 40 minutes, most of the divers were heading up. My buddy and I stayed down for five more minutes or so and it was kind of obvious that the divemaster wanted us to come up. We came up and had snacks on board. The surface interval was about 45 minutes which was short given the depth of the first dive. As a result, we could not get as much quality bottom time for the second dive (Note: Nitrox was not available). Also, unlike previous years, we had to take all of our gear back to the hotel since they had no storage at the dock this year. At this point, it was very clear that Victor and Roxanna were in “start up” mode. That’s ok, but it is inconvenient.

On the second day out of La Parguera, we found the boat “double parked” at the dock and had to climb over one boat to get to our boat. This day was pretty much the same of the first. It felt rushed, with the dives feeling “short” and the surface interval feeling “short” as well. We were told that our next day of diving would be out of Playa Santa, about 30 minutes away and that we had to leave at 6:15am to make sure we were at the dock by 7am. Again, this is really early for a vacation. Furthermore, in addition to taking our gear back to our rooms, we were told we had to take our weights back to our hotel as well. It was not a lot of fun carrying that weight back.

The next day, we followed Victor to Playa Santa. To his credit, he did stop at a bakery to pick up some breakfast sandwiches for us. We got to the dock by 7am. When did we leave the dock? About 8am. We had to wait an hour for everyone else to show up and get ready. Frankly, I would have rather had some extra time to eat breakfast or sleep. And, yes, we brought our weights back. This time, we dove with San Juan Divers. They were well-organized. If I were staying in that area I would dive with them but Playa Santa is a pretty small place with not much to do. The dives went well but we pretty much did our own thing. On the way out to the first site, the divemaster (Carlos) commented that the nice thing about going to Playa Santa is that the dive sites were only a mile away rather than being further out of La Parguera. The problem with that argument is that we had do drive 30 minutes to get to Playa Santa, essentially negating this “benefit.” On the boat ride back Victor mentioned that we would be doing our next day of diving out of Playa Santa as well. At that point, my dive buddy and I decided not to go through this again. It was quickly becoming too inconvenient. We heard that West Divers was actually open so we decided to stop by there when we got to town and see if they had space for us.

We stopped at West Divers and they had space for the two of us so we signed up. We had to meet at the dock at 8am (yeah!). We went out the first dive and it went well. But, in the middle of the first dive, I noticed that the air tasted a little funny. We finished the dive and surfaced. We changed tanks. I sampled the air and it tasted really bad so I asked the divemaster to check it. The other divers had the same experience so we decided to scrub the second dive. When we got back to the shore, we headed back to our hotels and then back to the shop to pay. The shop apologized to us and, of course, only billed us for one dive. They had called the compressor service tech who was coming to check out the compressor.

So…now that you’ve read thus far…what will I do next year? First, for me convenience is extremely important. When I stay in La Parguera, I want to dive in La Parguera. These 30 minute car trips are not what I want – especially when I have to get up at 6:15-6:30am. Having to carry my weights back to my hotel room is not my idea of convenience. Each diver is different and each dive locale is different. This is simply not what I expected in La Parguera – and I had four previous trips to La Parguera *none of which* were like this.

Would I dive with Victor and Roxanna again? Possibly. I would insist on a few things. First, I want to stay down at least 50 minutes (assuming diving conditions allow it). Second, I want a decent surface interval. Third, I want to dive out of La Parguera unless there is clearly a reason not to. If they do not have a permanent base in La Parguera, I won't dive with them.

Would I dive with West Divers? I want the West Divers situation to work out. I much preferred going out at 8am. The staff were pleasant. I like the convenience of a local dock. I would also like for them to offer Nitrox. They have the equipment.but need to find someone to mix it.

I hope the diving operation situation in La Parguera improves. Parguera Divers was a first class operation. I am hoping that West Divers can get things moving in the right direction. They have a nice store, a decent boat, and good equipment.

Overall the trip was good, but, for me convenience is important. This trip was *not* convenient.
 
I appreciate the report. I have been racking my brain for the last 2 wks trying to set up a dive vacation in PR. I looked at La Parguera and called West Divers but got a weird feeling about the telephone call. I considered another resort in the area but again the phone call gave me an odd feeling. So... I bagged the hole idea of La Parguera and called Taino divers in Rincon and set up 3 days with them. Im staying at Villa Confreshi. Employee on the phone seemed intelligent, well spoken, and I have heard the diving there is awesome. La Parguera would have been my first choice but things seem a little weird there and after reading your report, I feel more comfortable about my decision.
 
I think you made a good decision. I really hope the diving situation in La Parguera stabilizes. Victor had talked about opening up his own shop in La Parguera. Personally, I don't think La Parguera can support three dive shops. There just isn't enough traffic to warrant it. Paradise Scuba has been there for years but I have never dived with them so I don't know one way or the other about their operation. I really like the La Parguera area. It is really fun and and relaxing so I hope things stabilize there.

My only concern with Taino is the "assembly line" approach with loading/unloading the boat. It is probably ok for a day or two but I don't know if I would want to do it for a week. Would you please post a trip report of your experience with Taino?
 
Hey jlevine,

Sorry to hear about your trip. I had been thinking about going back to La Parguera but now...I don't think so. I also would like to hear about Taino?

PD
 
I think you made a good decision. I really hope the diving situation in La Parguera stabilizes. Victor had talked about opening up his own shop in La Parguera. Personally, I don't think La Parguera can support three dive shops. There just isn't enough traffic to warrant it. Paradise Scuba has been there for years but I have never dived with them so I don't know one way or the other about their operation. I really like the La Parguera area. It is really fun and and relaxing so I hope things stabilize there.

My only concern with Taino is the "assembly line" approach with loading/unloading the boat. It is probably ok for a day or two but I don't know if I would want to do it for a week. Would you please post a trip report of your experience with Taino?

I will be diving in PR march 11th through the 13th with Taino. If possible, I may drive to La Parguera for a night dive if available. My plans are very open. I am arriving in PR a few days before the family for our cruise b/c I have a meeting so this will be a spur of the moment kind of thing. Heck, I may learn to surf. I will post the report when I return. Our cruise goes to the southern caribbean so I will fill people in to St. Croix and St. Lucia as well. Thanks again for the report above. It really confirmed my decision. When I called West Divers, things got very confusing and he made it seem as if they may not be around in March. Who knows.
 
Thanks for posting your report, jlevine. I'd gotten the same email from Roxanna and Victor and wondered how things would shake out.

When we dove La Parguera back in June 2008, I thought the wall was great, but was disappointed to get only one dive on it over two days (first tank on the AM boat). The PM and night dives were all at the inshore sites, with poor vis. We, however, did not have the time limitation issues on our trip.

rashdecision, I posted a list of other threads previously here, which may be useful to you. We did one charter with Taino Divers on the same trip and had two absolutely fantastic dives at Desecheo - best vis I have ever seen - now I know what 'gin clear' means! As long as you're mentally prepared for the boat-loading process and a long, potentially bumpy ride (we were lucky and had calm seas), you should be fine. It's also too bad there's only one charter per day, but it's a long trip.

Edited to add: Taino Divers tacked on a 'fuel surcharge' that was not listed on their website. :rolleyes:

The restaurant/cafe next to the dive shop is excellent - Mrs. DivingPanda is vegetarian and was happy to find a nicely appointed salad on the menu there. Villa Cofresi is a decent accommodation - not luxurious by any means, but a fine place to crash after diving. We did have some minor probs with hot water in our room and, IIRC, with getting breakfast early enough to drive to Taino in the morning (I think they managed to come up with some packaged danishes for us), but our room was spacious and the staff was friendly.

We also did two shore dives in Aguadilla that same afternoon, which was well worth it. We got tanks and a guide from PRTDC - they did not have the nitrox we'd requested, despite confirming several times, but our guide, Julio, was exceptionally nice. Don't expect much in terms of seascape - lots of sparse barrel sponges with little bits of life here and there, but we did see two turtles on our afternoon dive. Our night dive at Crashboats Pier was fantastic, though - lots of cool stuff on the pilings and the largest pufferfish I'd ever seen...that is until we saw his big brother on our way back into shore! :)

P.S. Sorry to thread-jack, jlevine!
 
I love this board and really appreciate all the advice. Where was your night dive? I found out that I would likely only be doing 2 tank dives on the boat with no planned afternoon dives and thought I might tag on to a night dive one of the days I am out there. Taino could not assure me of the opportunity for a night dive. I just want to get wet. I only get the opportunity to dive once or twice a year since I live in Tennessee. By the way.. Go Vols and Lane Kiffen eats puppies.
 
I love this board and really appreciate all the advice. Where was your night dive? I found out that I would likely only be doing 2 tank dives on the boat with no planned afternoon dives and thought I might tag on to a night dive one of the days I am out there. Taino could not assure me of the opportunity for a night dive. I just want to get wet. I only get the opportunity to dive once or twice a year since I live in Tennessee. By the way.. Go Vols and Lane Kiffen eats puppies.

IIRC, Aguadilla is about a 30 min drive from Rincon, so you can drive up there and do some shore diving in the afternoon & evening. Our night dive in Aguadilla was at Crashboats Pier. You can contact one of the Aguadilla dive shops for directions, tanks, and a guide if you desire. Enjoy!

Our night dive in La Parguera was at one of the inshore sites, Enrique. We also got to snorkel in the bioluminescent bay nearby, which was a really amazing experience (probably better than the dive).
 
Hi Folks!

I too am planning a trip to Puerto Rico and want to get some diving in. My wife is not a diver but would likely snorkel some with me (on days I'm not diving).

I look forward to hearing all of your recommendations/un-recommendations.

Thanks.

- Dave
 
I too have dove with West Divers last April. Victor and Roxanne were there. The sad thing is my wife and I will be headed there next week and I was hoping to dive while she was in meetings. We stayed @ the Villa Parguera last time and it was so convenient since the others had the rental car. Now the weird phone call with the so far undelivered return call to set up some trips is starting to make sense. If someone has contact info for Victor or some other suggestions I would appreciate it just PM me.

We will probably be heading back to San Juan via the West and North Side of the island so any info on dive operations along the way would also be helpful.

Do most folks go with Taino out of Rincon??

Thanks

Mike
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

Back
Top Bottom