Bob Evans
Contributor
Soakedlontra,
You are going to have a great time! And, what a great opportunity to share with you a story by my dive partner for a trip aboard the Nekton to Mona Island, Puerto Rico, Gale Mead:
Off the Beaten Path: Mona Island Style
By Gale Mead
Photos - posting in a few minutes - by Bob Evans
Standing atop a mountain ridge, I watch with envy as a hawk glides and wheels along sheer rock canyon walls, skims over lushly forested valleys. Does he delight in the freedom of flight? Do joy and wonder fill his breast as he effortlessly rides the wind’s currents? I long for wings of my own, to soar weightless along walls and through canyons, riding the currents and exulting in the natural beauty of unspoiled wilderness.
Memories of that day, that urge to soar, drift back to me as I anticipate descending into the clear warm waters surrounding Mona Island, an isolated speck of land 50 miles west of Puerto Rico, embraced from the north by the Atlantic and from the south by the Caribbean. Instead of wings, my ruby red Force Fins will aid my flight over pristine coral reefs and along sheer walls crowded with life. The joy of underwater flight in such spectacular surroundings nourishes the spirit like nothing else I know.
On a Saturday afternoon in February, members of our group assemble curbside at the San Juan, Puerto Rico airport, girding ourselves for the three-hour van ride to the port town of Mayaguez. Though hot, sweaty, and travel-weary, we are excited about the week of diving to come. My dear friend and dive buddy, Bob Evans, arrives, looking as wilted by the heat as I feel, and after a brief and happy greeting we quickly dig through our luggage for shorts and sandals to change into before leaving the airport.
After a scenic drive through the Puerto Rico countryside, we arrive at last at the Nekton Rorqual. We board and begin exploring the boat that is to be our home for the next week, while helpful crew stow our gear and make us welcome. The boat’s unique “SWATH” (small waterplane area twin hull) design makes for an odd-looking, but exceptionally stable, platform for diving. With comfortable staterooms, good food, and a first rate crew, the Rorqual is a pleasure to live and dive on.
It’s also the only dive boat offering trips to this remote site. Last year, Nekton Diving Cruises undertook to explore and identify dive sites at Mona Island, installing reef-friendly mooring pins at select locations, and thus making Mona readily accessible to recreational divers for the first time. Divers in search of off-the-beaten-path dive experiences will love Mona, a place as yet undiscovered by the rest of the dive industry.
The Mona Island itinerary includes three islands: Desecheo, Mona, and Monita. Each offers very different kinds of diving experiences. Desecheo, a stop-off on the way out to Mona, turns out to be a bit disappointing, with surge-stirred silt obscuring our view of some very fine reefs. I’m told conditions at Desecheo are usually much better. Both Mona and Monita are breathtakingly beautiful places to dive, with great vis and lots to see. And because they are beyond the range of dayboats, we have the place all to ourselves, and the pleasure of knowing we are diving where few others have been before us.
Mona Island is uninhabited except for a few park rangers and an abundance of seabirds and iguanas. The island sports an intriguing history as a pirate hideout. Legends of Captain Kidd’s buried treasure on the island have yet to be proven, but provide for entertaining speculation among the divers.
The reefs surrounding Mona Island consist mostly of spur-and-groove formations completely covered by an exuberant, abundant profusion of life: healthy and well-established hard corals, sea fans, gorgonians, and an astonishingly diverse assortment of sponges that resemble freeform sculptures crafted by the hand of some slightly mad and terribly brilliant artist. A broad and colorful variety of Caribbean reef fish share the reef with several species of turtles, eels, sharks, rays, and jacks, although these more charismatic critters are not as abundant as I had hoped.
Our favorite site at Mona Island is “Bubbles and Blossoms,” although we lobby for a new name for the site, one that might better convey the majestic splendor of the place. The reef top is a photographer’s paradise, with depths ranging from 40 to 60 feet, layered with life and color.
The reef’s edge is fringed with deep overhangs, caverns, and swim-throughs where huge morays and drowsy nurse sharks while away the daylight hours. As we watch from above, the bubbles of divers inside the caverns begin percolating up through the porous rock like the fizz in a glass of champagne – Maybe “Bubbles and Blossoms” isn’t such a bad name after all.
Just beyond the reef edge, the most spectacular element of this site comes into focus: a sheer wall dropping off into 150+ feet of clear, clear water, every inch of every surface of the wall encrusted with life upon life. Here, at last, I can, and do, soar like the raptors I have envied.
Back aboard the Rorqual, we share fresh-baked cookies, sunshine, and camaraderie with old friends and new ones. Teachers, business owners, pilots, artists and retirees share a common bond in our love of the ocean, and of diving. After an optional night dive, we enjoy a Jacuzzi under the stars and our beverages of choice.
A few miles from Mona Island, Isla Monita looks more like a large boulder than a small island. Not more than one-quarter mile in diameter, Monita’s sheer cliff walls extend more than 100 feet below the surface, with the sea floor then sloping off into the seemingly infinite depths beyond. Currents from both the Atlantic and Caribbean swirl on all sides. Boulders the size of small houses have calved off the face of the wall, piling high into magnificent high-relief habitat.
Mooring is impossible at Isla Monita due to the steep drop-off into blue water, so all dives here are live-boat drift dives. With precision (and some nerve) the captain backs the boat almost within spitting distance of Monita’s imposing rock face. Divided into two groups of 15, and accompanied by divemaster guides, we gear up and stand at the ready for our cue to “Dive! Dive! Dive!”
Once in the water, we drift with the current, exploring deep overhangs, meandering among the giant boulders at 100 feet, or moseying along the face of the wall. Swim-by visitations from turtles, sharks, and schools of curious jacks are not uncommon. Although we are shepherded by the divemasters (a necessity given the currents and the great distance between us and civilization) it doesn’t feel repressive, as guided dives sometimes do. As long as I have other divers in sight, I can move along at my own pace, shooting video and taking in the sights. Anyone lingering too long will be nudged along by the divemaster bringing up the rear.
Our week at sea flies by all too quickly, and we savor the sunshine and the company of friends while cruising back towards civilization, responsibility, and the bleak winter weather back home. I take with me warm memories of a remote little island, lush reefs, spectacular walls, and great companionship aboard an odd-looking boat that dares to take divers someplace they’ve never been before.
Note: Currents at Mona Island can be strong and unpredictable. Because of the current and conditions, this trip is recommended for divers with advanced training and experience with currents and drift diving. Signaling devices are mandatory (the boat will provide them for divers who do not bring their own).
You are going to have a great time! And, what a great opportunity to share with you a story by my dive partner for a trip aboard the Nekton to Mona Island, Puerto Rico, Gale Mead:
Off the Beaten Path: Mona Island Style
By Gale Mead
Photos - posting in a few minutes - by Bob Evans
Standing atop a mountain ridge, I watch with envy as a hawk glides and wheels along sheer rock canyon walls, skims over lushly forested valleys. Does he delight in the freedom of flight? Do joy and wonder fill his breast as he effortlessly rides the wind’s currents? I long for wings of my own, to soar weightless along walls and through canyons, riding the currents and exulting in the natural beauty of unspoiled wilderness.
Memories of that day, that urge to soar, drift back to me as I anticipate descending into the clear warm waters surrounding Mona Island, an isolated speck of land 50 miles west of Puerto Rico, embraced from the north by the Atlantic and from the south by the Caribbean. Instead of wings, my ruby red Force Fins will aid my flight over pristine coral reefs and along sheer walls crowded with life. The joy of underwater flight in such spectacular surroundings nourishes the spirit like nothing else I know.
On a Saturday afternoon in February, members of our group assemble curbside at the San Juan, Puerto Rico airport, girding ourselves for the three-hour van ride to the port town of Mayaguez. Though hot, sweaty, and travel-weary, we are excited about the week of diving to come. My dear friend and dive buddy, Bob Evans, arrives, looking as wilted by the heat as I feel, and after a brief and happy greeting we quickly dig through our luggage for shorts and sandals to change into before leaving the airport.
After a scenic drive through the Puerto Rico countryside, we arrive at last at the Nekton Rorqual. We board and begin exploring the boat that is to be our home for the next week, while helpful crew stow our gear and make us welcome. The boat’s unique “SWATH” (small waterplane area twin hull) design makes for an odd-looking, but exceptionally stable, platform for diving. With comfortable staterooms, good food, and a first rate crew, the Rorqual is a pleasure to live and dive on.
It’s also the only dive boat offering trips to this remote site. Last year, Nekton Diving Cruises undertook to explore and identify dive sites at Mona Island, installing reef-friendly mooring pins at select locations, and thus making Mona readily accessible to recreational divers for the first time. Divers in search of off-the-beaten-path dive experiences will love Mona, a place as yet undiscovered by the rest of the dive industry.
The Mona Island itinerary includes three islands: Desecheo, Mona, and Monita. Each offers very different kinds of diving experiences. Desecheo, a stop-off on the way out to Mona, turns out to be a bit disappointing, with surge-stirred silt obscuring our view of some very fine reefs. I’m told conditions at Desecheo are usually much better. Both Mona and Monita are breathtakingly beautiful places to dive, with great vis and lots to see. And because they are beyond the range of dayboats, we have the place all to ourselves, and the pleasure of knowing we are diving where few others have been before us.
Mona Island is uninhabited except for a few park rangers and an abundance of seabirds and iguanas. The island sports an intriguing history as a pirate hideout. Legends of Captain Kidd’s buried treasure on the island have yet to be proven, but provide for entertaining speculation among the divers.
The reefs surrounding Mona Island consist mostly of spur-and-groove formations completely covered by an exuberant, abundant profusion of life: healthy and well-established hard corals, sea fans, gorgonians, and an astonishingly diverse assortment of sponges that resemble freeform sculptures crafted by the hand of some slightly mad and terribly brilliant artist. A broad and colorful variety of Caribbean reef fish share the reef with several species of turtles, eels, sharks, rays, and jacks, although these more charismatic critters are not as abundant as I had hoped.
Our favorite site at Mona Island is “Bubbles and Blossoms,” although we lobby for a new name for the site, one that might better convey the majestic splendor of the place. The reef top is a photographer’s paradise, with depths ranging from 40 to 60 feet, layered with life and color.
The reef’s edge is fringed with deep overhangs, caverns, and swim-throughs where huge morays and drowsy nurse sharks while away the daylight hours. As we watch from above, the bubbles of divers inside the caverns begin percolating up through the porous rock like the fizz in a glass of champagne – Maybe “Bubbles and Blossoms” isn’t such a bad name after all.
Just beyond the reef edge, the most spectacular element of this site comes into focus: a sheer wall dropping off into 150+ feet of clear, clear water, every inch of every surface of the wall encrusted with life upon life. Here, at last, I can, and do, soar like the raptors I have envied.
Back aboard the Rorqual, we share fresh-baked cookies, sunshine, and camaraderie with old friends and new ones. Teachers, business owners, pilots, artists and retirees share a common bond in our love of the ocean, and of diving. After an optional night dive, we enjoy a Jacuzzi under the stars and our beverages of choice.
A few miles from Mona Island, Isla Monita looks more like a large boulder than a small island. Not more than one-quarter mile in diameter, Monita’s sheer cliff walls extend more than 100 feet below the surface, with the sea floor then sloping off into the seemingly infinite depths beyond. Currents from both the Atlantic and Caribbean swirl on all sides. Boulders the size of small houses have calved off the face of the wall, piling high into magnificent high-relief habitat.
Mooring is impossible at Isla Monita due to the steep drop-off into blue water, so all dives here are live-boat drift dives. With precision (and some nerve) the captain backs the boat almost within spitting distance of Monita’s imposing rock face. Divided into two groups of 15, and accompanied by divemaster guides, we gear up and stand at the ready for our cue to “Dive! Dive! Dive!”
Once in the water, we drift with the current, exploring deep overhangs, meandering among the giant boulders at 100 feet, or moseying along the face of the wall. Swim-by visitations from turtles, sharks, and schools of curious jacks are not uncommon. Although we are shepherded by the divemasters (a necessity given the currents and the great distance between us and civilization) it doesn’t feel repressive, as guided dives sometimes do. As long as I have other divers in sight, I can move along at my own pace, shooting video and taking in the sights. Anyone lingering too long will be nudged along by the divemaster bringing up the rear.
Our week at sea flies by all too quickly, and we savor the sunshine and the company of friends while cruising back towards civilization, responsibility, and the bleak winter weather back home. I take with me warm memories of a remote little island, lush reefs, spectacular walls, and great companionship aboard an odd-looking boat that dares to take divers someplace they’ve never been before.
Note: Currents at Mona Island can be strong and unpredictable. Because of the current and conditions, this trip is recommended for divers with advanced training and experience with currents and drift diving. Signaling devices are mandatory (the boat will provide them for divers who do not bring their own).
Last edited:
