Trip Report Puerto Rican Road Trip Mar 2022

[t-mac]

We've been to PR twice in the early and mid 2000s, each time work related, but the wife and kids came along too. We all really enjoyed it and still think fondly back to it. Each time we stayed at large chain hotels in the Old San Juan area, and being native Floridians, it seemed even less like we were in a "different" country. Each trip was around two weeks, and my family would go see different things and places on days I worked. We really enjoyed walking around in old San Juan and trying different restaurants. One day my son had a discovery scuba course and dive with the Scuba Dog shop. Very nice guy, and afterwards he and I did a dive across the bay from a park to the Caribe Hilton Hotel. And the two main forts there reminded us of our own Castillo de San Marco in St. Augustine. We also went to El Yunque one day in a rental car.
On the next trip a couple years later, we felt like we were back in familiar territory in old San Juan, One thing we did different though was to fly right off the bat from San Juan to Virgin Gorda, BVI for a couple nights at Guavaberry resort near the Baths. I dove on the Rhone too while the family swam. Our kids are young adults now, but these trips, experiences and photos are still talked about.

We dove with a bunch of the Scuba Dog crew (DMs and instructors) with Paradise in La Parguera. Nice folks, but probably telling that they travel from San Juan to dive in the south!

 

[wnissen]

Rincon. We tried Taino as they were the only one to do the Desecheo trip, but it didn’t work out. Apparently they have lost their captain of many years (got a job with the university in Mayaguez) who was the real expert in where to dive when and we heard that they are having other issues. I can’t validate any of this, but the bottom line seems to be book well in advance and plan for cancellations for whatever reason. We’ll come back and try again. Wound up doing a shore dive with Rincon Diving. The shop really has their stuff together. But, the dive was meh. Probably a 30 minute surface swim for about 15 minutes on a “wall” and then back to shore underwater. It was a good easy dive to get dialed in but I think the lesson is you don’t go to surf towns to dive

That sounds extremely similar to my experience in Rincon. Taino cancelled and it was a hefty swim out to a wall with Rincon Diving. Nice wall by my standards but I don't have any Caribbean diving experience. My mask was loose (no 8mm hood!) and I was having trouble getting down, it was mostly my fault that it wasn't that enjoyable. We got stuck out there, current was going away from shore. Luckily a lobster boat was going by and towed us back in.

That said, I would love to go back to Rincon. It's just a very nice area, lots of beaches. If you want to dive every day I think you're doing a lot of driving and hotel changes, but PR is a great place to visit.

 

[t-mac]

@wnissen, completely agree Rincon is nice, even without the diving. The town is very cool with a chill, surfer vibe. Plus, lots of beaches nearby.