Culebra in October.

[LovetoFloat]

Heading to Culebra in October for a very laid back vacation. Any updates/suggestions/advice for snorkeling or anything else while we are there?

 

[bradells]

Heading to Culebra in October for a very laid back vacation. Any updates/suggestions/advice for snorkeling or anything else while we are there?

PR? If so, I was diving there last week.

BRad

 

[LovetoFloat]

Yes, Culebra - PR.

 

[bradells]

There are 2 dive operators in Culebra, Aquatic Adventures, and Culebra Divers.

I dove with Taz at Aquatic. His shop is above Dinghy Dock, with the boat being beside the grocery store (Milka) beside the bridge on the south side. $95 CASH (no Credit/Debit machine) for 2 tanks and gear with food and drinks.

Culebra divers are right at the ferry terminal. They were (unusually) booked solid the week we were out there.

Taz generally leaves at 10:30am and comes back mid afternoon, but is flexible if you need to catch the 1pm ferry to Fajardo.

Small boat, good for 2-6 divers (4+ Taz was plenty for me), 2 divers minimum.

Ask for the sights of the dive (he goes 1 speed, quick!) some sites have some small sunken boats and such that he likes to get to, usually at turn pressures, so figure out as much of his game plan as you can.

All shallow square profile dives (40-60ft and you hit sand - keep track of ndls, they'll creep up fast on you). Quite a few things to see down there, lots of lobster, a small plane, and the usual assortment of fish.

It wasn't WOW! Caribbean diving (that's more in the SW by Parguera where I'm at right now), but decent 50-60 minute dives.


When I was there, things were pretty slow, shops not open, same with restaurants. If you see something open, stop in now and not later (bakery, grocery, etc)

Rent a bike ($17/day) or a golf cart/jeep, go to the beaches (Flamingo is a quick ride, gorgeous beach, but really really fine sand .... took a few days to get it all out).

Zacos Tacos was a good, cheap place to hang out for late lunch and drinks (not open for dinner), Diner is left to Dinghy Dock and Mamacitas.

We walked from the airport to Dewey (we stayed at Fulladoza) in about 10 minutes. There are cabs, but not really needed.

Any other questions let me know.

BRad

 

[Dave C]

I was in Culebra for a snorkeling vacation for 10 days in March 2008. To get you excited about your trip, here are some uw photos I took there (all were taken when snorkeling): Puerto Rico 2008 snorkeling - a set on Flickr
If you click on a photo, you will see that I have a caption telling where specifically (what beach) I took the photo. (A few pictures were taken on Vieques). One of the photos even made it into the Moon Guide to Puerto Rico.

I liked Culebra a lot. Very laid back, uncrowded with no mega development, and you feel privileged to have "discovered" this place. All the snorkeling we did was off the beach; we rented a vehicle to access the beaches. While the snorkeling was not "drop dead" spectacular, what I liked about was it was so easy. The winds blew in a steady tradewind direction, so the leeward (west) side of the island was extremely calm. This is where we snorkeled everyday. Basically, you parked your vehicle, walked a few steps onto the beach, put on your gear, and got in the water. Since I like to take uw photos while I snorkel, I appreciated the lack of surge and no currents. I was able to get some of my best uw photos on Culebra. Most people will tell you that Playa Carlos Rosario has the best snorkeling on the island, and it did have by far the best growth of hard and soft corals that I saw. However, I was somewhat disappointed by the meager number of fish. Like most Caribbean islands, Culebra seemed overfished and mostly I saw little fish. Carlos Rosario is one spot that you have hike about 20 minutes to get to, over a hill from where you park at Flamenco Beach. People told us there was no decent snorkeling at Flamenco Beach, the island's main beach, but we found one spot that was actually pretty good. This was on the left side of the beach (as you look at the water) towards the old tank. You will find a big shallow reef of dead coral there (extending almost to the shore). If you snorkel far enough along the edge of this dead coral offshore to its outer edge, you will come to a wall with live coral that drops abruptly to a sandy bottom about 20 ft. deep. This was a cool spot, with many royal grammas along the wall, and I also remember seeing a tiger grouper there. That was the only decent-sized grouper I found on Culebra.

I would estimate the snorkeling visibility on Culebra to be about 30-40 ft. with perhaps a maximum of 50 ft. at Carlos Rosario. Don't expect to find breathtakingly 100 ft. vis such as that in Bonaire or Cozumel. Except for Flamenco, most of the beaches are rather rocky so booties would be a good option.

Other than snorkeling, diving, or sitting around on Flamenco Beach, there isn't much to do on Culebra. The island is small and arid, and you will be able to explore all its roads in a few hours. There was a very modest museum, which hopefully they have improved since we were there. You can hire water taxis to take you out to one of smaller islands around Culebra, which I regret we never got around to doing. Considering the limited number of accommodations, I was surprised how many restaurants there were in 2008. There were 5 or 6 that were fairly good; I am not a gourmet, but I recall enjoying every meal on Culebra. One thing that isn't good is Puerto Rican beer (Medalla).

I'm not sure what weather you will encounter in Oct. versus what we had in March. Hopefully you will have similar tradewind conditions to what we had. I'm sure you are aware that Oct. is still hurricane season, although it's after the Sept. peak. I'd guess Sept. and Oct. are the least crowded months, so maybe some of the restaurants may not be open or may have erratic hours.

Have a great time, and if you can find the motivation, try to post a trip report here. I have been thinking about going back to Culebra sometime!

 

[ginovega]

I was in Culebra for a snorkeling vacation for 10 days in March 2008. To get you excited about your trip, here are some uw photos I took there (all were taken when snorkeling): Puerto Rico 2008 snorkeling - a set on Flickr
If you click on a photo, you will see that I have a caption telling where specifically (what beach) I took the photo. (A few pictures were taken on Vieques). One of the photos even made it into the Moon Guide to Puerto Rico.

I liked Culebra a lot. Very laid back, uncrowded with no mega development, and you feel privileged to have "discovered" this place. All the snorkeling we did was off the beach; we rented a vehicle to access the beaches. While the snorkeling was not "drop dead" spectacular, what I liked about was it was so easy. The winds blew in a steady tradewind direction, so the leeward (west) side of the island was extremely calm. This is where we snorkeled everyday. Basically, you parked your vehicle, walked a few steps onto the beach, put on your gear, and got in the water. Since I like to take uw photos while I snorkel, I appreciated the lack of surge and no currents. I was able to get some of my best uw photos on Culebra. Most people will tell you that Playa Carlos Rosario has the best snorkeling on the island, and it did have by far the best growth of hard and soft corals that I saw. However, I was somewhat disappointed by the meager number of fish. Like most Caribbean islands, Culebra seemed overfished and mostly I saw little fish. Carlos Rosario is one spot that you have hike about 20 minutes to get to, over a hill from where you park at Flamenco Beach. People told us there was no decent snorkeling at Flamenco Beach, the island's main beach, but we found one spot that was actually pretty good. This was on the left side of the beach (as you look at the water) towards the old tank. You will find a big shallow reef of dead coral there (extending almost to the shore). If you snorkel far enough along the edge of this dead coral offshore to its outer edge, you will come to a wall with live coral that drops abruptly to a sandy bottom about 20 ft. deep. This was a cool spot, with many royal grammas along the wall, and I also remember seeing a tiger grouper there. That was the only decent-sized grouper I found on Culebra.

I would estimate the snorkeling visibility on Culebra to be about 30-40 ft. with perhaps a maximum of 50 ft. at Carlos Rosario. Don't expect to find breathtakingly 100 ft. vis such as that in Bonaire or Cozumel. Except for Flamenco, most of the beaches are rather rocky so booties would be a good option.

Other than snorkeling, diving, or sitting around on Flamenco Beach, there isn't much to do on Culebra. The island is small and arid, and you will be able to explore all its roads in a few hours. There was a very modest museum, which hopefully they have improved since we were there. You can hire water taxis to take you out to one of smaller islands around Culebra, which I regret we never got around to doing. Considering the limited number of accommodations, I was surprised how many restaurants there were in 2008. There were 5 or 6 that were fairly good; I am not a gourmet, but I recall enjoying every meal on Culebra. One thing that isn't good is Puerto Rican beer (Medalla).

I'm not sure what weather you will encounter in Oct. versus what we had in March. Hopefully you will have similar tradewind conditions to what we had. I'm sure you are aware that Oct. is still hurricane season, although it's after the Sept. peak. I'd guess Sept. and Oct. are the least crowded months, so maybe some of the restaurants may not be open or may have erratic hours.

Have a great time, and if you can find the motivation, try to post a trip report here. I have been thinking about going back to Culebra sometime!

I am glad you had fun at Culebra. I am from Puerto Rico and went to Culebra for the first time last March. Both Dave and Brad are on point regarding Culebra. Its very laid back and friendly. Everyone there is on Island time. There are many ways to move around the island. We chose the ATV ( Golf Cars) they will take you anywhere in the island. One thing they forgot to mention is that the biggest challenge we faced was to get there. There are two ways. The ferry from Fajardo or by plane form Ceiba. Ferry is cheap, $2.50 one way but you must be there pretty early as tickets can ran out pretty quick. ( We got there one hour prior to the 0900 departure and they were sold out) Also depends on the boat the will be using. The Cataman ( run by a private company) they have get you there pretty quick, 45 minutes but only take s 200 people. The slowest ferry boat ( run by the PR Govt) takes about 500 but takes 90+ minutes to get you there. You will have to leave your car in the ferry parking lot at 5.00 per day. If you choose to travel by plane there are couple of options. You can fly out Isla Grande Airport ( this is not the international airport) is a 20+ cab ride form the San Juan International, or rent a car and drive to the Ceiba Aiport located at the now close Roosvelt Roads Navy Air Station, parking there is about 9.00 per day and I paid 44.00 one way (25 lbs max) . Thre are tow airlines that fly there, Flamingo Airways and Vieques Air Link....Hope you enjoy your trip. If you need more info dont hesitate to contact me ...Enjoy

 

[Nuub]

We were there in May. You mentioned snorkeling - if you want a guided experience, Culebra Island Adventures was a good operator, smaller more personalized than the other one big one whose name i can't remember. Nice kayak/snorkel, and the wife is a Great underwater photographer. You will snorkel with lots of Turtles and a ray or two, maybe a lobster and see some pretty good, accessible reefs with seafans, staghorn, Damsels, Jacks, Snappers, SquirrelFish, long spine urchins and Parrots. Keep an eye out for reef squid squadrons in the shallows. Safety conscious, so great for families. They snorkel the Marine reserve which is not as fished out as other areas near shore. Culebra is really under developed and quite sleepy, but safe and very friendly. Nice place to retire.

 

[andrew161]

Culebra is great man! You are going to have a great time i would suggest the same as the other guys go with one of the operators and see where they take you. Culebra's water is super crystal clear come back and tell us about your adventure

 

[ginovega]

Dave C:

Regarding your comment about the PR Beer "Medalla"...I respecfully disagree! I love that beer! I wish I could find it here in the Main Land...Got a couple when I was in Culebra...I guess is a matter of tastes and by the way is the best selling beer in the island...Thank God to that!!! as Bud was the King there for many years...

 

[ginovega]

Drinking Medalla in Culebra PR and views of Culebra