Going to and camping in Mona Island, Puerto Rico ...

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

I am thinking since we no longer have Nekton liveaboards, how would it be possible to dive Mona Island. I was wondering if it would be possible to rent a compressor, a small boat and crew, cross over to the island and then camp there for 2 - 3 days while diving the surrounding waters?

Has anyone tried it?

 

[smokey braden]

captain sinbad,
while on the s/v juliet we dove mona island.
the crew told us that the island is protected.
the island is patroled to keep people off.
they said the rangers are swapped off every 2 weeks.
this info may be incorrect, but that's what the crew said.

you can dive desecheo island on a daily basis.
we thought the diving was great on both.
regards,

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Thanks so much Smokey. How do you compare Mona VS Desecheo? I was told that in Puerto Rico the best diving in Mona followed by La Parguera and then Desecheo. Do you agree with this ranking?

 

[smokey braden]

captain sinbad,
my only trip to pr was on the s/v juliet.
we did not dive la parguera.
mona being larger had more dive sites.
when comparing islands i always come up with salad.
regards,

 

[Bhtmec2]

You can check around and see which dive shops on the SW part of the island go there. I know there are trips to Mona but have not used any of the shops. I dove there in Oct off of my boat. Mona is protected and camping is not allowed....... Big problem with migrants and other bad people...... Keep your feet wet and enjoy the dive sites.....

 

[scubaskipper]

They do have hunters that control the wild pig population on Mona. We would see a group of what looked like college kids camping on the island. They were brought out to do field work for research papers. When the weather was good, you would see day boats and even small private boats out at Des.

 

[Abaco]

Was in PR on the Juliet in Oct of 2009. Although yellow reef on Desecheo was exceptional, I still liked Mona better because of the various sites. But even better than Mona, was Monito, the Galapagos of the Caribbean. Spectacular diving there. Totally unspoiled. Mona and Monito are too far for the day trippers to get to.