Puerto Rico - West

[elizzyclarke]

My family and I were recently visiting the western portion of Puerto Rico - we usually stay in Rincon. The last few years we have noticed a decline in the area in terms of comfort level. Our last experience was truly our last.

We made a reservation for a trip out with Taino Divers, at the recommendation of a hotel in the area. Boy, was this a mistake. We arrived the morning of the charter to find the employees looking like they just rolled out of bed and smelling like they had started their day with an alcoholic beverage and a pack of cigarettes. My husband and I immediately felt uncomfortable and cancelled our reservations on the spot and walked out.

As we were leaving, we saw the other guests carrying their gear and the tanks to the boat. On the beach stood an employee pointing and telling everyone how to load the boat (but not helping anyone).

A few days later, we were at a local restaurant having dinner and overheard laughing and discussions at the bar about how a group of guys put a "hole in their boat". That group of guys we recognized from Taino Divers! We realized then that this traced back to the other operator in town, who told us they could not operate due to vandalism to their boat (a hole in their boat). My husband and I were thoroughly disgusted and outraged that people would do this. When we attempted to report the incident to the police, they were pretty unconcerned about the whole thing - in fact, they made no attempt to even get anyone to assist with translation so we could explain to them what we had overheard.

I have written to many of the local advertisers in Rincon and on the island of Puerto Rico and suggested they consider cancelling their ads with this operation, but none seem to interested in that either - guess they have to make their money from someone.

We have decided after many years of repeat visits, we will no longer go back to Rincon and we are considering another island entirely for our future trips.

If you decide to go to the west coast of Puerto Rico - DO NOT take a trip with Taino Divers. These guys are very unprofessional and from all aspects appear to be dangerous human beings. I would either look elsewhere on the island or try another island.

 

[BikerManiac]

I came back yesterday from Puerto Rico. I did not go to Rincon, but instead was in Guanica. For the last 3 years I have used Sea Ventures and they have always seem to have new gear and always professional

It seems you had a bad experience because of the Dive Shop and not the "Island". Have you considered choosing another Dive Shop instead of picking a new Island?

You will find good and bad dive shops everywhere you travel. Not only in Puerto Rico

 

[DrBuzo]

I have been in rincon for 20yrs and know both operators very well. FYI, elizzy is actually lisa maddox the co-owner of oceans unlimited. She has been writing different forums as the same elizzy all with diffierent stories but basically the same outcomes. The US Coast Guard pulled their certificate because of electrolysis(which makes tiny holes in the aluminium of a boat). The certificate is pending a hull integrity test. This is public info and you can contact the USCG in San Juan under the freedom of information act and can attain this file. It is unfortunate that ocean unlimited has made these allegations, because of our close-knit and tight community we are always tryng to work together. These false accusations are not only affecting a dive shop but the entire tourism of Rincon. For more info concerning this situation and your decision to visit Rincon you can contact Steve Lance, President of Tourism associaton of Rincon at www.rincon.org.

 

[julienpr]

I lived and dove in Puerto Rico for 5 years recently. I was in the watersports/mtn biking businesses including windsurfing, kayaking, mountain biking, snorkeling, sailing, (but not scuba diving) with a small beachfront guesthouse near Guanica, PR.

As a diver with 40 years of experience, I took time off from teaching and guiding and management to dive on my own, with friends (usually diving near the barrier reef out my front door or 1 to 2 miles out on the wall, from anchored kayaks) and with some of the PR dive operators. I got to know some of them very well. Taino Divers, in Rincon is one of the best outfits I have ever gone out with, anywhere. A lot of the guys are from the southern U.S.A. and some of them are surfers. So they have a very easy going, surfer/southern-style ambiance, wherein customers are treated like family. Yes, customers do help load the boat by forming a chain from a truck load of gear to Taino's very speedy power-cat (run up on the beach about 30-50 feat from the truck), where the shop's crew does the heavy work of taking the gear up, onto the boat and stowing it. I have never heard a complaint, and it is all part of the fun and adventure (no one is forced).

The "easy attitude" stops at the pre-dive briefing on the boat. Taino takes dive organization, safety, and site conservastion very seriously. The staff is always smiling and joking, but their eyes are always on alert. Every dive I have been on with them has had at least two staff in the water, one in the lead and the other swimming around pointing out the sights and keeping tabs on strays. They give a diver all the freedom you want,,, up to a point!

The west side of PR has access to Desecheo Island, most of the western shops primary destination. Unless it is closed out by huge north wind swells (not common even in winter), it is a dive site surpassed by none. Taino's power cat gets out there (12 miles) in less than 1/2 hour, which in rough seas is invaluable. The island is a small preserve and can always be dove in the lee. I usually had vis there that equals Cozamel (150-200 feet). On these dives, I have met many divers who seem to have had the money to dive all over the world, and all of them place Desecheo in the top 10-15 dive sites they had ever been to.

If you are lucky enough to score a multi-day trip, 40 miles west, to Mona island ("the Galopagos of the Caribean") you will remember it for a lifetime (camping on the beach). It is a world unto it's own and the diving quality even exceeds that of Desecheo.

Diving the south coast of PR, where I lived and worked, is amazing, but a little more rugged diving. I had a windsurfing operation there because the normal winds came out of the southeast, at around 20-25 knots. So the seas can be rough. BUT the wall is so lush that nothing I saw in Bonaire (in my only 6 dives there) even came close. That is, except for the "Blue Hole" on the windward side, outside of Lac Bay. Most of the locals I met on Bonaire rate it the best dive on Bonaire, and I have to agree, with what I saw. But they say it is usually "blown out" by the winds.

On the south coast, Parguera Divers was my operator of choice. They could read the weather and knew where to go. And their boats are nice and heavy, "low-riders" that make the ocean swells less intimidating. Personell are well trained and very friendly, and lunches are home made by "Mom"! Equipment was excellent, from what I could tell I always had my own.

The other dive operators in La Parguera also have great reputations.

25 miles east is a very nice, quiet, medium-sized resort of Copa Marina. Copa has a very small dive center, with a very large, top-heavy boat, that is nice in flat seas (rare) but tough in the rough seas. Copa's advantage is that they are far enough from La Parguera to have almost 40 miles of the wall to themselves, but the vis is usually 60-100 feet, a little less than at the Parguera dive sites. Copa's beach swimming is not nice, but the pools and grounds are superb, and nice little islands are accessible by small shuttle boats. BUT I cannot recommend Copa for a dedicated dive vacation, as much as I love the diving around there. The dive staff are usually excellent, friendly and qualified, but the turnover rate is high, (unlike La Parguera and most other dive centers in PR). But most unfortunate is the indifference shown to diving customers, in the case of boat breakdown or high winds, that make diving impossible. If Copa is "blown out" then you can be assured that the 1+ hour drive to Rincon will find glassy water at Desecheo Island, or if the Copa boat is broken down (frequent,,, huge, diesel jet-drive!!!), there are many operators in La Parguera (1/2 hour drive) who could put another boat on, if necessary and if asked. I hope that someday Copa sits down with the other dive operators and "works out" some arrangements! (But Puerto Rican competitors almost never work together very well. It's a Puerto Rican thing!!, just like not being very good at returning phone calls, !!!, Just keep calling them)

I dove one day out of the northeast side of PR in the channel between PR and the Virgin Islands. Very, very nice, but very weather-prone and not as lush as the southern coast's wall.

If you are an adventurous diver and have time to be flexible, Puerto Rican diving is still "wild and wooley". On almost every dive you will see nurse sharks, rays, turtles, lobster, crab, and every other species and types of corals and sponges you would expect to find anywhere in the Caribbean. Although not so common, I have been surrounded by as many as 30 dolphin for up to an hour. You will not find a place where you can see less of the underlying substrate, due to the thick, lush coral and sponge growth. While local fisherman (and Chinese long-liners) have seen to it that most of the large pelagics are tough to find, the dive sites seem to be as close to "virgin" as you will find in today's world. And the beautiful thing is: It is not about to change anytime soon

Bubble on!!