Scuba Barbie
Guest
Just returned from our trip to San Juan, kindly please find the following trip synopsis:
Day one driving to Fajardo took around an hour. Due to a conference at the hotel and a lack of road signs, finding the El Conquistador and getting to the dock took another hour. We dove with La Casa Del Mar http://www.lacasadelmar.net/. The boat was very nice, towels were provided and the DM Sandra took care of our equipment. This is fine resort diving.
As we were diving with uncertified divers, we dove Los Lobos; a very nice but shallow dive, just 7 miles off the coast. As this was our first ocean dive, it was a good dive for us. It gave us a chance to acclimate to our new salty surroundings. The coral was awesome and in addition to the typical Caribbean fish, we saw two brown spotted moray eels. At the dive two site the current was very strong; swimming under the boat, it took us nine minutes to get from the back of the boat to the anchor in front. Visibility was way down.
Afterwards on the way back to San Juan, we stopped at Lolitas and had great Mexican food. It is true what they say, you can not get a bad meal in Puerto Rico; all of the different types of food and restaurants are good. And the people are very welcoming and friendly.
Day two with dove with Sea Ventures, http://www.diveculebra.com/ again out of Fajardo. I never figured out who the dive master was. As my buddy and I felt comfortable diving alone this was not an issue. One apparent DM or DI was teaching a first time diver. The other DM was smoking cigarettes; as the seas were very choppy this only added to our queasiness. While we were U/W he was very concerned about his own photography, not the other non-certified divers that he was leading. After the dives, they would not let us put our rubber-soled sandals, and then I slipped and fell. As they waves were so high, the table with the crackers and drinks kept sliding into us.
Site one was El Diablo in the Cordillera Reef System; it was further out and deeper than day one. It was very, very nice. Our senses were on overload. In addition to many, many typical Caribbean fish, we saw a stingray and a bed of starfish. When we went to surface, one of the DMs kept my buddy on the bottom to help him with buoyancy. I thought I had surfaced too quickly and the DM was keeping my buddy down for a safety stop. I did not know what to do. So I bobbed like a cork in the waves for a few minutes until I could get the boat captains attention. As I could not find the ladder, I yelled that I needed help up. The captain explained that there was no ladder and to hand up my weight belt and just pull myself up.
We were over an hour late leaving the dock, as the boat from morning dive was late returning. So dive two was at the same site (kind of). The boat captain went to what they thought was the other end of the reef, however when we dove it took us ten minutes of swimming to get to the coral. With the depth and our inexperience, after 10-15 minutes our air was down and we had to head back for our 10 minute swim to the boat.
Day three we dove with Scuba Centro http://www.diveguide.com/p2038.htm out of San Juan, leaving from a port in Fajardo we went to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. The catamaran was 48' long, 18' wide with twin diesel engines. It is very comfortable, with two sundecks, two diving platforms, head, gallery and all modern navigational equipment. They say it is the largest, fastest and most comfortable diving vessel in Puerto Rico. We were diving with locals, so we were the only non-Spanish speaking divers on the boat. We were also the most inexperienced divers. But the captain and DM, Jaime went out of their way to make us safe and comfortable.
Dive site one was a Russian grain barge that sunk around 1960. The depth was 90 ft. We stayed with the DM who gave us a great tour of the wreck. It was an amazing experience and the time just flew by. There are shark in the area, but we did not see any. We did see a barracuda.
Dive site two was very shallow; 10-35 ft. I found this depth more challenging to keep my ears equalized. My buddy found his neutral buoyancy, so we were able to stay down over an hour. Cool! St. Thomas diving was supposed to be superior to Puerto Rico, but I found them very similar. The fish were more abundant in St. Thomas, but the coral seemed more diverse in Puerto Rico.
All in all, a really great time!! And now I am sitting at my computer trying to figure out a way to get back in the water. I'll try to post some photos later.
Day one driving to Fajardo took around an hour. Due to a conference at the hotel and a lack of road signs, finding the El Conquistador and getting to the dock took another hour. We dove with La Casa Del Mar http://www.lacasadelmar.net/. The boat was very nice, towels were provided and the DM Sandra took care of our equipment. This is fine resort diving.
As we were diving with uncertified divers, we dove Los Lobos; a very nice but shallow dive, just 7 miles off the coast. As this was our first ocean dive, it was a good dive for us. It gave us a chance to acclimate to our new salty surroundings. The coral was awesome and in addition to the typical Caribbean fish, we saw two brown spotted moray eels. At the dive two site the current was very strong; swimming under the boat, it took us nine minutes to get from the back of the boat to the anchor in front. Visibility was way down.
Afterwards on the way back to San Juan, we stopped at Lolitas and had great Mexican food. It is true what they say, you can not get a bad meal in Puerto Rico; all of the different types of food and restaurants are good. And the people are very welcoming and friendly.
Day two with dove with Sea Ventures, http://www.diveculebra.com/ again out of Fajardo. I never figured out who the dive master was. As my buddy and I felt comfortable diving alone this was not an issue. One apparent DM or DI was teaching a first time diver. The other DM was smoking cigarettes; as the seas were very choppy this only added to our queasiness. While we were U/W he was very concerned about his own photography, not the other non-certified divers that he was leading. After the dives, they would not let us put our rubber-soled sandals, and then I slipped and fell. As they waves were so high, the table with the crackers and drinks kept sliding into us.
Site one was El Diablo in the Cordillera Reef System; it was further out and deeper than day one. It was very, very nice. Our senses were on overload. In addition to many, many typical Caribbean fish, we saw a stingray and a bed of starfish. When we went to surface, one of the DMs kept my buddy on the bottom to help him with buoyancy. I thought I had surfaced too quickly and the DM was keeping my buddy down for a safety stop. I did not know what to do. So I bobbed like a cork in the waves for a few minutes until I could get the boat captains attention. As I could not find the ladder, I yelled that I needed help up. The captain explained that there was no ladder and to hand up my weight belt and just pull myself up.
We were over an hour late leaving the dock, as the boat from morning dive was late returning. So dive two was at the same site (kind of). The boat captain went to what they thought was the other end of the reef, however when we dove it took us ten minutes of swimming to get to the coral. With the depth and our inexperience, after 10-15 minutes our air was down and we had to head back for our 10 minute swim to the boat.
Day three we dove with Scuba Centro http://www.diveguide.com/p2038.htm out of San Juan, leaving from a port in Fajardo we went to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. The catamaran was 48' long, 18' wide with twin diesel engines. It is very comfortable, with two sundecks, two diving platforms, head, gallery and all modern navigational equipment. They say it is the largest, fastest and most comfortable diving vessel in Puerto Rico. We were diving with locals, so we were the only non-Spanish speaking divers on the boat. We were also the most inexperienced divers. But the captain and DM, Jaime went out of their way to make us safe and comfortable.
Dive site one was a Russian grain barge that sunk around 1960. The depth was 90 ft. We stayed with the DM who gave us a great tour of the wreck. It was an amazing experience and the time just flew by. There are shark in the area, but we did not see any. We did see a barracuda.
Dive site two was very shallow; 10-35 ft. I found this depth more challenging to keep my ears equalized. My buddy found his neutral buoyancy, so we were able to stay down over an hour. Cool! St. Thomas diving was supposed to be superior to Puerto Rico, but I found them very similar. The fish were more abundant in St. Thomas, but the coral seemed more diverse in Puerto Rico.
All in all, a really great time!! And now I am sitting at my computer trying to figure out a way to get back in the water. I'll try to post some photos later.
