Culebra Diving

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PARADISE HUNTER

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Michigan
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Hello All!

I'm thinking about a family dive trip to Culebra in August. I was wondering how the diving was and suggestions on where to stay. It looks like there are 3 dive shops on the island, also looking for recommendations on them. Thank you in advance for your input.

PH
 
Culebra and the flight to get there are awesome. Been twice, dove once. We would go back to stay and hang out all day at Flamenco Beach and would maybe do one or two days diving. But we wouldn't go back for the diving. The family would love Flamenco Beach.
There are only two places on Flamenco beach to stay, one is quite large and noisy, the one next to it is small and where we stay, Villa Flamenco Beach.
There are homes on the island that rent quite cheap.
 
We went to Culebra a couple of years ago, and were planning to go back this past May.

We dived with Culebra Divers and stayed at the Villa Flamenco, and that was our plan for the trip we cancelled.

One word of caution would be the tropical weather in August. First time we went was in June, and sensitivity to the hurricane season was why we were planning for May.

You need to research the flight, and restrictions on weight.

We carry two full sets of gear, and had to repack and leave our primary roll-around duffels at our first night hotel to make sure we could get on the plane.

However, as pointed out above, the flight is amazing!
 
I really enjoyed Culebra. Been there several times and stayed at Mamacita's. It's pretty much center of town and close to the ferry pier. Only about 6 minutes from the airport and about 10 minutes from Flamenco Beach (one of the best beaches in the Caribbean). The island is pretty laid back and is a weekend retreat for the main island folks. Take notice of the other folks comments about weight restrictions while flying. My bags never made it with me on my flights. On the plus side, its a very short flight and the pilots never got to 8,000ft once. Take your pick of dive operators. Each is reputable. One trip, I ended up to be the only diver for 3 days. Just me and the dive master. Obviously we went wherever we wanted to go. Not Bloody Bay Wall, Belize or the T&C but you will have a good time finding the smaller critters.
 
Hello All!

I'm thinking about a family dive trip to Culebra in August. I was wondering how the diving was and suggestions on where to stay. It looks like there are 3 dive shops on the island, also looking for recommendations on them. Thank .you in advance for your input.

PH
I live in Puerto Rico and often work on Culebra. As the other posters say, it's very nice there and the diving is good. You won't regret it. However, it is a little more expensive to stay there than in Puerto Rico and there's not much nightlife. If either of those are important to you, you could also stay in PR and go in dive boats from Fajardo or Ceiba. Culebra is only a 30-min boat ride away and there is a good selection of Culebra day and night dives from PR. Either way, you'll enjoy it.
 
I live in Puerto Rico and often work on Culebra. As the other posters say, it's very nice there and the diving is good. You won't regret it. However, it is a little more expensive to stay there than in Puerto Rico and there's not much nightlife. If either of those are important to you, you could also stay in PR and go in dive boats from Fajardo or Ceiba. Culebra is only a 30-min boat ride away and there is a good selection of Culebra day and night dives from PR. Either way, you'll enjoy it.
Hi PR Diver. Can you suggest a couple of dive shop off Ceiba or Fajardo that will do Culebra trips? Also what sites in Culebra you recommend? Thank you
 
Hi Jake

Two that I can recommend in Fajardo are Casa del Mar and Aqua Adventrues. Both have multiple trips/day and I've had good experiences with both. They do trips to both Culebra and Vieques as well as other areas east of Puerto Rico.

The dive shops in San Juan also regularly arrange boat dive trips to Culebra and these leave out of either Fajardo or Ceiba. Shops that I would specifically recommend are Casa del Buzo, PRDive.net, and Scuba Dogs (only in Guyanabo, not the one in Escambron which is a training facility).

Don't let me dissuade you from going to Culebra -- it's a great place. If you do, I highly recommend Culebra Divers as they will have many trips not available from the PR-based places -- particularly on the eastern side of the island where the reefs are pristine. If you contact them, ask about their fluoro diving trips -- if you haven't done it before, it's really outstanding.

Tourism is still depressed here so you might be able to get one of these shops to set up a dive to a specific location. Culebra has too many great dive sites to mention but you can see a map of some of them here:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/v...ll=18.312016650784287,-65.30927249999999&z=12

The sites west of Culebra, besides being closest to PR, are also in a marine preserve but the eastern sites are at least as nice and with far fewer divers. This is particularly true of the ones north of Culebrita (little Culebra).

You can get to Culebra using the ferry out of Ceiba for less than $5 but check on the COVID requirements first. There have been several big changes to COVID regulations the past couple of days (and the web site might not reflect those changes yet). If you have a vaccination card, you might not need anything. I suggest calling the ferry terminal directly when you're close to going so that you can have the latest info.

Anyway, the first ferry leaves Ceiba around 6:30 AM and the last one leaves Culebra around 4:45 PM -- plenty of time for a 2-tank dive and, of course, without a post-dive wait before flying.

I hope this is helpful but let me know if you would like any more info.
 
Hi Jake

Two that I can recommend in Fajardo are Casa del Mar and Aqua Adventrues. Both have multiple trips/day and I've had good experiences with both. They do trips to both Culebra and Vieques as well as other areas east of Puerto Rico.

The dive shops in San Juan also regularly arrange boat dive trips to Culebra and these leave out of either Fajardo or Ceiba. Shops that I would specifically recommend are Casa del Buzo, PRDive.net, and Scuba Dogs (only in Guyanabo, not the one in Escambron which is a training facility).

Don't let me dissuade you from going to Culebra -- it's a great place. If you do, I highly recommend Culebra Divers as they will have many trips not available from the PR-based places -- particularly on the eastern side of the island where the reefs are pristine. If you contact them, ask about their fluoro diving trips -- if you haven't done it before, it's really outstanding.

Tourism is still depressed here so you might be able to get one of these shops to set up a dive to a specific location. Culebra has too many great dive sites to mention but you can see a map of some of them here:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?msa=0&mid=1gWoryRmbWhMR9hcm3AzROXU4NLc&ll=18.312016650784287,-65.30927249999999&z=12

The sites west of Culebra, besides being closest to PR, are also in a marine preserve but the eastern sites are at least as nice and with far fewer divers. This is particularly true of the ones north of Culebrita (little Culebra).

You can get to Culebra using the ferry out of Ceiba for less than $5 but check on the COVID requirements first. There have been several big changes to COVID regulations the past couple of days (and the web site might not reflect those changes yet). If you have a vaccination card, you might not need anything. I suggest calling the ferry terminal directly when you're close to going so that you can have the latest info.

Anyway, the first ferry leaves Ceiba around 6:30 AM and the last one leaves Culebra around 4:45 PM -- plenty of time for a 2-tank dive and, of course, without a post-dive wait before flying.

I hope this is helpful but let me know if you would like any more info.

Excellent information, thank you for sharing. I will definitely give it a try !
 
Hi Jake

Two that I can recommend in Fajardo are Casa del Mar and Aqua Adventrues. Both have multiple trips/day and I've had good experiences with both. They do trips to both Culebra and Vieques as well as other areas east of Puerto Rico.

The dive shops in San Juan also regularly arrange boat dive trips to Culebra and these leave out of either Fajardo or Ceiba. Shops that I would specifically recommend are Casa del Buzo, PRDive.net, and Scuba Dogs (only in Guyanabo, not the one in Escambron which is a training facility).

Don't let me dissuade you from going to Culebra -- it's a great place. If you do, I highly recommend Culebra Divers as they will have many trips not available from the PR-based places -- particularly on the eastern side of the island where the reefs are pristine. If you contact them, ask about their fluoro diving trips -- if you haven't done it before, it's really outstanding.

Tourism is still depressed here so you might be able to get one of these shops to set up a dive to a specific location. Culebra has too many great dive sites to mention but you can see a map of some of them here:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?msa=0&mid=1gWoryRmbWhMR9hcm3AzROXU4NLc&ll=18.312016650784287,-65.30927249999999&z=12

The sites west of Culebra, besides being closest to PR, are also in a marine preserve but the eastern sites are at least as nice and with far fewer divers. This is particularly true of the ones north of Culebrita (little Culebra).

You can get to Culebra using the ferry out of Ceiba for less than $5 but check on the COVID requirements first. There have been several big changes to COVID regulations the past couple of days (and the web site might not reflect those changes yet). If you have a vaccination card, you might not need anything. I suggest calling the ferry terminal directly when you're close to going so that you can have the latest info.

Anyway, the first ferry leaves Ceiba around 6:30 AM and the last one leaves Culebra around 4:45 PM -- plenty of time for a 2-tank dive and, of course, without a post-dive wait before flying.

I hope this is helpful but let me know if you would like any more info.
Fully vaccinated people need only to upload info and image of card to the health portal. I'm heading to PR on the 17th.
Travel Safe
 

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