Diving Vieques????

[navigatrix]

Found it. It's BlackBeards diving. Still have not found a web site thou...

I went diving with Blackbeard sports last week. We were in Vieques, and they are the only place on Vieques where we could do our referral certification dives for open water diving. Overall a good experience, but many rough edges.

Black Beard sports just opened late 2006. They just within the past few months started doing diving (before that, they focused exclusively on biking, and other outdoor adventure stuff, although the instructor Bryan has been diving for many years). They just started doing boat dives the week before we were there. Bryan (owner/instructor/divemaster) was nice but still getting used to running a store. He talked the entire time about his shop and his business, which was interesting the first day but got a little old the second.

We did a lot to help pack the truck with tanks and equipment (lots of schlepping), and unpack it at the end of the day, as well as moving stuff from the truck to the boat. They didn't provide food except for a Nutrigrain bar and water/gatorade (which was much less than the other places we went diving, where we got excellent sandwiches and food). They don't have de-fogger for goggles, or any of the other nice small touches that made some of our other dive experiences seem more polished and professional (Taino Divers in Rincon, for example, was fantastic in every way).

The first day, we did two boat dives to 35 ft or so, to two coral reefs off the North side of the island. We saw a nurse shark, and visibility was good but not great. The second day we did shore dives along the naval pier. Visibility was poor, but we did see a whole lot of sea life (octopus, sea turtle, etc). Neither experience was nearly as amazing as Isla Desecheo off Rincon.

Bryan was a little overenthusiastic to sell us stuff. Any time we asked if they had something like defogger that we could use, his response was something along the lines of "no, but I've got it at the store, and can sell it to you for ...". He only partly paid attention to what we were doing during the dive, often swimming way ahead, and seemed more interested in taking pictures for his website than in fully training us well. What annoyed me the most was that after our second dive, on the way back to the shop, Bryan stopped at a guest house he is thinking of working with, for 20 minutes to take pictures for his website. My partner and I had to get back to town to get ready to take the ferry, so this side-track was annoying and unprofessional, as we had to wait in the back of his truck for him to finish.

Overall, I'm glad we got to go to Vieques, because it is a beautiful island with very secluded beaches, and I'm glad I am certified to dive now, but our diving in Vieques was just okay. If you're going only for diving, I suggest Isla Desecheo off Rincon or the La Parguera wall, both of which were great. If you're doing your own thing, and only need someplace to get tanks and weights, then Blackbeards is fine. For an all-inclusive dive trip, Blackbeards has a ways to go in terms of polish and experience. Bryan is very nice, but still very new at the business.

 

[kraxeler]

I went with Blackbeard's last year. The dive was rather unspectacular, probably the most boring one I ever did. They do shore dives and it's rather suburban down there, if you know what I mean. A few lonely fish. It is also run like the military. Bryan is OK, but they got that rather arrogant other dive master there, who first makes fun of you and then ridicules you in front of the entire group. Once they have a boat and they throw this guy overboard, they'll probably be OK.

Oh, and more thing. They are soooo disorganized. I almost felt compelled to tell them how inefficient their outfitting procedure is. First they line all divers up by size (or weight) and then fit them one part at a time. It takes a huge amount of time. Because when the part does not fit, they have to walk through the whole store to get you a size up (or down). They also made one (larger) lady very uncomfortable since they just could not find a fitting suit, in front of the entire group. As I said, the military background shows, it's that whole bootcamp experience. At times I was looking for the hidden camera.

Most other dive shops I've been to, all over the world, get one diver into the outfit room at a time, give him/her all the equipment and then send him/her on their way. Their naive inexperience has almost been charming to watch. Nevertheless, I must say, they are nice people who mean well, less the guy I mentioned above. Sign up with them so they can gain experience and equity to buy the aforementioned boat. Because Vieques is an awesome little island.

 

[Rhone Man]

I went diving with Vieques Divers about 20 years ago. I will never forget the T-Shirt that I bought:

Come down with Vieques Divers! Come down with VD!

Used to be some good diving around there, hopefully still is.

 

[fdmedina79]

Sorry it is too late but in order to benefit others who read this thread check The Vieques Travel Information Portal which contains very good information about VQS and Culebra. ABE'S SNORKELING & BIOBAY TOURS is who to go for the bio-bay tour and check with Malcriau Charters, George can take you diving to places that are not often visited because he has been a local Fisherman since I was a little kid. Oh by the way. I am Felix, born and raised in VQS. I am from Barrio Bravos de Boston. If you have any questions or want contact information that is more detailed let me know.

 

[alashas]

Interested in hearing from others who have dove with Blackbeard and/or http://www.nanseacharters.com/

Thanks, alashas http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/

 

[alashas]

Bumping this up in case anyone has any recent info about diving on Vieques.

Thanks, alashas

 

[jivebaby]

Dove with Nan-sea last week for three days. Dave is a great guy with a good attitude. Small boat but it seems like they take only six divers out at a time. Blackbeard had their boat out of the water when we were there. The diving was alright. Great hard and soft corals but I think the place is overfished. I think blackbeard and nan-sea are the only two dive boats on the island. Diving was 100 per person per day. Not cheap but nothing seems to be on Vieques.

Make sure you goto red beach and green beach. Amazing beaches in Vieques.

Oh and we stayed at Hix house. We didn't like the place. Expensive with poor service. Stay somewhere else. Rent a car you can't go anywhere without one and there is some decent diving off the the north pier. Also check out the blue crab excellent food best we found on the island.

Enjoy!

Mike

Bumping this up in case anyone has any recent info about diving on Vieques.

Thanks, alashas

 

[SdCiUvBeAr]

I just got back from diving in Vieques. I'd done a lot of research ahead of time (including, of course, reading all of the posts here!) and was deciding between Blackbeard and Nan-Sea. Ultimately, I went with Nan-Sea because Blackbeard never responded to my calls/emails and Dave from Nan-Sea called me unprompted to discuss what we wanted to do over the two days we were diving there and seemed really knowledgeable on the call.

The diving was amazing--some of the best I've ever done. I've posted separately here and won't repeat myself, but I would definitely recommend diving in Vieques and, if you go, asking for Dave and Chipper at Nan-Sea.