Greetings from Puerto Rico

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scubapr1705

Contributor
Messages
114
Reaction score
95
Location
Puerto Rico
# of dives
50 - 99
Hi. Iam new to the board but not to Scuba Diving. I was originally certified back in 1999, and just finished a "refresh" certification for Open Water, because I wanted to be current with the changes.

Now I will continue to Advanced Open Water.

I hope to get some valuable information from all of you.
 
Welcome to SB. There will be people looking to get information from you regarding diving in Puerto Rico, as well.
 
Welcome aboard. Yes I am one who may travel to Puerto Rico at some point. May rent a car and check out shore sites. Any advice?
 
Welcome. As you can see, a number of people are curious about the recreational scuba opportunities in Puerto Rico. If you dive the area, I hope you'll post us some trip reports. Some reasons I think there's interest:

1.) It's a U.S. territory (citizenship, laws, money - American), and while Spanish dominates, English is widely spoken. It's easy to get to; a number of cruise ships operate out of there, so getting flights that aren't over-long is workable.

2.) As Caribbean islands go, it's pretty big, with a nice 'topside,' so there are potentially other things to do besides diving - like visit an old Spanish fort, or take a bus tour of El Yunque Rainforest.

3.) As a significant cruise ship departure port, it's got potential for people to tack few days of diving on the start or end of a cruise vacation.

And yet, while people occasionally ask about it on the forum (and some Searches will turn that up to make my point)...we don't see many trip reports. It seems right down there with Grand Turk and land-based trips out of Providenciales (Turks & Caicos Islands) in terms of trip reports, with is bizarre. The well-organized 'turn key, pay, show up, it just works' package deal approach common in Bonaire, Cozumel and Roatan...just doesn't seem prevalent (at least that I've seen).

If you do a lot of local diving out of Puerto Rico, and interact with dive tourists there, you probably have some useful info. to offer a number of people. Because we do get questions about Puerto Rico.
 
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Hi. Iam new to the board but not to Scuba Diving. I was originally certified back in 1999, and just finished a "refresh" certification for Open Water, because I wanted to be current with the changes.

Now I will continue to Advanced Open Water.

I hope to get some valuable information from all of you.

We've been to your wonderful island three times.

For diving, the first time we stayed in Rincon, and dove Desecho for two days, and then drove down to La Parguera for a day.

Second time, we stayed in Playa Santa and dove the walls there for three days.

Third time, we stayed on Culebra and dove there.

Each trip we have made sure to spend several nights in Old San Juan. We absolutely adore the charm and atmosphere there.

We were supposed to make our fourth trip this past May, but had to cancel. We were scheduled to dive Culebra again.
 
Welcome to the board.

I've been to Puerto Rico and dive Escambron, Culebra, and Cabo Rojo. I'm fully bilingual so I can make my way around. Do you recommend other sites in the island?
 
Welcome to the board.

I've been to Puerto Rico and dive Escambron, Culebra, and Cabo Rojo. I'm fully bilingual so I can make my way around. Do you recommend other sites in the island?

If you asking me, we have only been to the sites I listed, as our research had suggested those were preferable.
 
Welcome to the board.

I've been to Puerto Rico and dive Escambron, Culebra, and Cabo Rojo. I'm fully bilingual so I can make my way around. Do you recommend other sites in the island?

Where do you dive and Cabo Rojo?

I travel to PR every year and usually stay in Rincon. The shore diving there is usually pretty good with a decent wall south of the marina and of course the Marine Reserve at Steps Beach. Desecheo is awesome with 100'+ vis, but not a lot of large fish.
Heading back down in June......
 
Hi everyone.

Sorry for the late response and thanks to everyone for the welcome messages.

I have been busy working on my SSI Specializations. So far, I have finished:
- Nitrox 40
- Deep Diving
- DPV
- Navigation

Next weekend I will take Diver Stress and Rescue.

Now, about Puerto Rico. We have a LOT of diving places all around the island. Some of them are shore dives and others are boat dives. As of today, I have visited the followings:

- Crashboat in the municipality of Aguadilla (you can dive all year, any day, any time. with a lot of sites to choose from)
- El Natural in the municipality of Aguadilla (always have moderate currents)
- Muelle de Azucar in the municipality of Aguadilla
- Superfortress Wreck B-29 in the municipality of Aguadilla (advanced diving at 115 feet)
- Escambron Marine Park in the municipality of San Juan (perfect for beginners. have a max depth of about 60 feet. it gets better once you cross the reef wall)
- Los Tubos in the municipality of Manatí (rough and almost not diveable during this time of year. should get better in about 2 months)
- Palomino in the municipality of Ceiba (is a boat dive to the island of Palomino)
- Cayo Diablo in the municipality of Ceiba (is a boat dive to the Cay)

If you want to dive the west/northwest coast, you can call Aquatica Dive and Surf
If you want to dive the north coast, you can call Neptunes Divers
If you want to dive the east coast, you can call Sea Ventures

Haven't dive yet on any site on the south coast.

Dive safe!
 
I live in Puerto Rico and recently took my Rescue Diver qualification. PR has a lot of good dive sites, ScubaPR1705 above already listed a lot of great ones. Generally for me its either the many sites off Fajardo by boat or the wall at Guanica, arguably the best. Crashboat is nice for consistently good diving. Escambron is very ordinary in my view. Aqua Adventures is a good outfit from Fajardo. Have a ball.
 

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