Rincon Puerto Rico 5-9 April 10

[Conan3]

Dive Report 5-9 April 10

Rincon Puerto Rico

Taino Divers (787) 823-6429
Index_devs

Boat: Katmandu
Capt. Frank
DM Garod

Dive Sites: Little Dezo 70FSW, Panther Bristol Shipwreck 35FSW

What a week, just love it when work sends me to Puerto Rico. I ended up staying in Ponce PR near the place where I was working. I stayed at the Hilton Golf Resort and Spa in Ponce. The hotel, grounds and beach were very nice, but the service left something to be desired.

I started the week before trying to line up some dives. I was not sure which site I would be going to till the last minute; we had all four compass points that week (N, S, E, W). I emailed several Dive ops and got replies from Sea Ventures (East Side) and Taino Divers (West Side).

On Sunday I called several of the Dive Ops I had recommend to me and found out some of their numbers no longer worked. When I checked into the Hotel I asked about Dive Operators near Ponce and got one snorkeling outfit and West Divers. I called them both the snorkeling outfit was not setup for Scuba yet and West Divers didn’t have a boat going out.

Tuesday I called Taino Divers and spoke with Dennis, He said they had a boat going out Wednesday morning at 7:30 am for a two tank dive to Desecheo Island weather permitting. It was about an hour and half driver from Ponce to Rincon and got there a little before 7 am.

I signed up and got my rental gear from Garod (G-Rod). After everyone got their gear, we loaded the truck to take it down to the beach. Captain Frank swam out and got the boat and pulled up to the beach. We formed a line and loaded the boat with all the stuff, took about all of ten minutes to do.

The weather was not going to let us go out to the Island, winds 12-15 Mph. We went to “Little Dezo” a nice reef in 70 FSW the boat ride was five minutes tops. We geared up and dropped in. Right away I had a small problem with my regulator free flowing. I shook it and smacked it around and it stopped. We descended the anchor line and then toured the reef for a while. The colors of the sea fans and fish were very bright. There were huge barrel Sponges and Coral.

The worst part was my Camera decided not to work in the waterproof case, so no pictures. Jake the fireman said he would send me some of his.

I missed the lobster on the sand down near the anchor. The snorkelers were about 200 yards to our north and they said they saw two turtles and a Dolphin.

After everyone was back on the boat we moved to “Panther Bristol Shipwreck” in 35 FSW. We talked about what we saw and Karen (Mark’s Wife) told me about how this was going to be “I did it and didn’t like it dive”, she loved it.

We dropped in and G-ROD leads us down to the Cannon and then the ships salt pan and then to the bricks that were being shipped in from Scotland for the sugar plantation in the 1800’s. We then spread out and Mark, Karen and I toured the reef. We saw an Anchor/Grappling Hook and a lost Lobster pot with Coral growing on top of it. I saw lots of reef fish and Corals and fans. I even saw a Nudibrach (SP?) on one of the fans.

All in all a great trip and the Guys at Taino Divers did a great job. I hope to get to dive with them again.

The only regrets I have are that the wife didn’t get to go this time and the stupid camera didn’t work so I could rub it in with pictures.

David

 

[Conan3]

Finally got around to posting the Pictures.

I got all of the under water and boat pictures from Jake.

David

 

[smokey braden]

conan3,
thank you for the trip report.
sounds like you had it good by getting to dive pr while being on a work trip.

i was in pr last august on the s/v juliet.
for me the diving in pr was a pleasent surprise.
the coral and fish were more in abundance than i'd expected.

emily, our dm, did a great job helping us to identify the fish.
she works for taino divers full time, but she was filling in for someone.

if you ever get a chance to dive mona island and desecheo, jump on it.
regards,

 

[ibj40]

Dive Report 5-9 April 10

When I checked into the Hotel I asked about Dive Operators near Ponce and got one snorkeling outfit and West Divers. I called them both the snorkeling outfit was not setup for Scuba yet and West Divers didn’t have a boat going out.

David

Too bad about West Divers not having a boat going out. My wife and I dove the PR West side a year or so ago, using both Taino to do Desecheo (two days) and West to dive the La Parguara wall (one day). We really want to go back and dive more of the walls, but if West is still not a reliable shop, it's hard to plan anything and be confident that you will be able to dive. We really enjoyed the day we dove with them, great group of folks.

Thanks for the trip report!

 

[Conan3]

I'm not sure what was up with West Divers, Jake said He got in a dive with them on Sunday I think.

I called them on sunday and they didn't have any boats going out Mon and I left my name and number if they got more people.

They never called back, so I went with Taino instead.

I hear the Island is great, but the winds were kicking up that day.

David