Diving on northern coast of Puerto Rico

[Jessica Anderson]

I’m traveling to Puerto Rico this summer and have access to a small condo on the beach in Loiza. I was hoping to do some scuba diving and snorkeling while there. Does anyone have any recent info on the current health of the reefs there? Where could I find some reefs to dive that are either close to shore or have charter service to them? I’ve seen some locals snorkeling from shore last time I was there, but not sure where they were headed. Attached is the area I’ll be staying in:

 

[ibj40]

We just got back from Puerto Rico, and dove in Culebra. Even though I can't help you with your question, I can tell you that on the flight over from Isla Grande to Culebra, our path took us along the Northern coast, and the reefs looked breathtaking.

I hope you can find someone to dive with, and will post your results.

Good Luck!

 

[Ray and Pam]

ibj40,
Tell me more. Looking at Culebra for next June. How was the diving? Was there in April this year, one nite at Mamacitas and two nites at Flamenco Resort. Did not dive, just snorkel and beach.
The flight(view) from Puerto Rico to Culebra alone was worth the cost.

 

[ibj40]

ibj40,
Tell me more. Looking at Culebra for next June. How was the diving? Was there in April this year, one nite at Mamacitas and two nites at Flamenco Resort. Did not dive, just snorkel and beach.
The flight(view) from Puerto Rico to Culebra alone was worth the cost.

We agree on the flight, both going over and coming back. Almost worth the cost as just a tour of the North coast.

This is our third trip to PR (we love Old San Juan), but our first to dive Culebra. On the first trip, we dove Desecheo and La Parguera, and the second trip we dove off of Playa Santa.

We stayed three nights at Flamenco Beach Resort, and dove two days with Culebra Divers. On the first dive of the first day, we saw a free swimming Manatee.

(Sorry about the backscatter, water was a little murky after a rain storm the day before - this is in about 30 fsw at Punta Soladad).

Balance of the dives weren't much deeper than 60 fsw, and the visibility was better on the second dive of the first day, and both dives on the second day. Reefs are very healthy with good fish populations.

Dive shop is well situated downtown, but parking can be a bit of a hassle, we had to park about six or seven block away both days.

Our biggest issue was the weight limitations on the flights. We both own full sets of gear, and had to repack from our airline wheeled duffles to our on-boat mesh bags for the flight (fortunately, your luggage is never out of sight). Conveniently, we stayed at the hotel at San Juan International, and they stored our luggage while we were on Culebra.

Let me know if you need any more specifics.

 

[Ray and Pam]

And don't forget the landing, I was for doing touch and go and come around for another landing several times.

So of those 4 places you've been to in Puerto Rico which would you return to mainly for diving. We're more interested in clear water with lots of hard/soft corals and fishies. What I've read Desecheo and Mona Island are really good but hard to get to(weather permitting). La Parguera has walls, the East End is good also depending on weather, Culebra doesn't have much rain runoff which makes the water clear.
We have considered leaving our BCDs and wetsuits home due to the luggage restrictions, price, luggage not making it to Culebra on your flight and the fact that Culebra Divers loans BCDs and wetsuits free.
We like that Puerto Rico is fairly cheap for us, somewhat off the radar, Culebra is quiet and small, Pam likes driving the golfcart, good cheap food.
At flamenco Beach when we were there they had nice rollers coming down the middle of the bay to play in, off to the east side of the bay was calm snorklin and on the west side was the party, college kids tent town. Had a full moon at nite and a couple miles of beach to ourselfs.

 

[ibj40]

We loved the diving off of Playa Santa (Guanica).

I felt that the Black Coral along the wall rivalled any that I have ever seen.

We dove with Island Divers, who we would place at the top of the list of customer service-oriented dive ops. We stayed in Playa Santa, which is quaint, but probably would stay in Guanica (about fifteen minutes up the road) if we went again.

Second choice would be La Parguera, although with three days at Playa Santa, and only one day at La Parguera, can't say we have the full experience at La Parguera.

We dove Desecheo out of Rincon, with Taino Divers, and notwithstanding having to participate in the loading of the boat from the shore, we would do it again. Diving with them two different days, with weather changing between them, we dove the regular (South) side first, and then the less dived North side next. Two totally different experiences, with different structure (and unexploded bombs).

And some pretty cool looking Staghorn coral.

Can't say that we would go through the effort to get to Culebra again to dive (with or without BCD's and wetsuits - and I downsized from by normal 5mm BARE to an older 3mm just to try to make flight weight). While it was good diving, we can find equal diving in the Riviera Maya (with a lot less effort).

Our vacations usually involve a combination of diving and site-seeing, but we have concluded that, if we were to take a non-diving trip, we would put Puerto Rico right up on the top of the list. The island offers so many features that it is worth it to just fly in, and leave the dive gear at home. We love Old San Juan, and find that to be the primary reason we want to go back.

 

[Jessica Anderson]

We actually freedove Culebra about 5 years ago (we lived on a boat there) and it was absolutely amazing. Definitely a beautiful place for freediving. We were good without the tanks though so if you're comfortable with freediving 20-50 feet you can see some amazing thihngs without bothering with the tanks.

 

[Ray and Pam]

Jessica,
No tanks, no thanks. We snorkled for years before picking up diving. When snorkling I would dive down to get pictures and noticed the closer you got to things the more the colors came out. I thought how cool if only I could stay down longer and see the pretty colors...
Did you see much of the island, favorite beaches, restaurants, etc?

 

[jlevine]

On the east end of the island (about 30 minutes or so from Loiza), you can dive with SeaVentures out of Fajardo. SeaVentures is a great shop. The diving in Fajardo can vary in terms of visibility. They do occasionally do dive trips out to some of the Virgin Islands.

The north shore of Puerto Rico faces the Atlantic and is not very easy to dive. There is a small marine park (Escambron) just outside of Old San Juan near Condado. I've never dove it but it's good if you just want to get wet.

I've been going to La Parguera each year with some friends for the past 10 years between Christmas and New Years. We'll be there from 12/27 to 12/30 if anyone wants to join.

 

[Jessica Anderson]

Ray and Pam, Yes we got to see a good bit of the islands as well as the water and reefs between the islands. The free diving was amazing nearly everywhere, which is why we were hoping to do some diving while we are visiting the condo. most of the roadside stands selling food in PR are good for local fare. One of our favorite spots in PR is Mosquito Bay in Vieques. The bioluminescence is absolutely awe-inspiring.