Puerto Rico

[sparragus]

Black Anchor is the only shop I’ve worked with. They have been excellent. I rented a regulator too and it looked brand new.

I’ve dove with them once for a dive, and twice for shore dives. The Black Anchor Scuba Diving & Snorkeling

 

[Luis H]

It is amazing how much Crash Boat Beach has change over the years. Actually, the beach itself has not changed much, just the pier.

I started diving Crash Boat Beach in 1971 and all through the 70’s, the piers were all intact. Not only were the outer pilings (dolphins) were all intact, but even the bridges between all the outer structures were also in place with very little deterioration.

The decking of the outer bridges was the first thing to start breaking off, then the then the bridges between the outer five structures collapsed, but I never thought that would see the actual vertical structure break down and collapse. Not in my life time. Those structures were massive. They were designed to withstand some hurricanes, but I guess they were not designed for the hurricanes we are seeing now.
Exposure over time to salt water corrosion has also degraded the structures.

The finger piers on the left (looking out) also didn’t have any sand in between them. AFAIK, that is where they kept the “Crash Boats”, to go after any downed pilots and crew members from the Ramey Air Force Base.

It was a great dive back in the 70’s and as a dive site it seems that its gotten even better with all the structures becoming solid artificial reefs.

 

[Jake 10]

It is amazing how much Crash Boat Beach has change over the years. Actually, the beach itself has not changed much, just the pier.

I started diving Crash Boat Beach in 1971 and all through the 70’s, the piers were all intact. Not only were the outer pilings (dolphins) were all intact, but even the bridges between all the outer structures were also in place with very little deterioration.

The decking of the outer bridges was the first thing to start breaking off, then the then the bridges between the outer five structures collapsed, but I never thought that would see the actual vertical structure break down and collapse. Not in my life time. Those structures were massive. They were designed to withstand some hurricanes, but I guess they were not designed for the hurricanes we are seeing now.
Exposure over time to salt water corrosion has also degraded the structures.

The finger piers on the left (looking out) also didn’t have any sand in between them. AFAIK, that is where they kept the “Crash Boats”, to go after any downed pilots and crew members from the Ramey Air Force Base.

It was a great dive back in the 70’s and as a dive site it seems that its gotten even better with all the structures becoming solid artificial reefs.

you have pictures to share of before and after?

 

[Luis H]

you have pictures to share of before and after?

I had a Nikonos II in the 70's, but I rarely took pictures above the water. So I sad to say that I really don't have pictures.

But I went to Google maps and downloaded a bunch of pictures. In one of the pictures it shows 4 out of the 5 piling structures, then three and finally they are all gone (underwater as artificial reefs).

 

[Luis H]

Here are a couple more pictures.

I have not found any pictures showing the bridge structures between the piling structures. From what I remember, they were massive. They were not for vehicles, only foot traffic (they had steps at both ends), but they were wide and rugged.
I wish that I could find pictures of what it looked like when I first saw it.

Notice the first picture above is taken from about the same spot as this one:

 

[sparragus]

The finger piers on the left (looking out) also didn’t have any sand in between them. AFAIK, that is where they kept the “Crash Boats”, to go after any downed pilots and crew members from the Ramey Air Force Base.

Today I learned why it’s called Crash Boat. Interesting!

 

[Luis H]

Today I learned why it’s called Crash Boat. Interesting!

It is always a good day when I learn something new... It is just as good when I am able to teach something to someone. Thanks



As a kid, I always heard that story and I never question it since it made total sense looking at the finger piers. Well, after more than 50 years I decided to Google it.

I still wish I could find some old pictures of the facility or at least what it looked like in the early 70's.

Crash Boat Beach - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The Crash Boat Beach piers / dock was originally built for use by the United States military rescue boats who raced out to sea to rescue downed airmen from Ramey Air Force Base, hence the name "Crash boat".

history of crash boat beach - Google Suche

History of Crash Boats

Crash rescue boat history during WW II and the Korean War, including construction, engines, production statistics, crew stories, search methods.

uscrashboats.org

Photos & Missions

Crash rescue boats photos and Korean War Veterans descriptions of missions and living conditions, with lists of crew members.

uscrashboats.org

 

[Luis H]

I found these pictures in the website about the "History of Crash Boats" (in my previous post).
The picture below doesn't show the outer structures, but it is very cool to see.

Borinquen Crash Bt. Basin
"Borinquen Field, in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, 1945. Later renamed Ramey AFB. Today the location is known as Crash Boat Beach and is popular with tourists and locals for swimming, scuba, snorkeling and surfing. The crash boat slips have largely silted in with sand over the last 60 - 70 years. Most young men would have found this spot to be really sweet duty. Crash Boat Beach is in the Northwest corner of Puerto Rico and Ramey AFB is now a military/civilian joint use airport that goes by Rafael Hernandez Airport. Few people today know the origin of the name of the beach. Photo courtesy of Charles Derr, Jr."

Borinquen Basin, 1947
Photo courtesy of Charles Derr, jr.

P-572 Borinquen Field, later Ramey AFB, PR, 1946. Photo by Charles Derr, Sr.

 

[Luis H]

you have pictures to share of before and after?

I did find some of my pictures from Crash Boat beach, from the early 70's. They are not very good pictures, but they are the best that I have.

These are just scans of 4 pictures at a time. I have not been able to find the negatives.


On the top left picture you can see the two north piling structures with the bridges between them completely intact.
The top right picture shows the 5 sets of piling structures, but the two south bridges are already missing. This picture must be from the mid-70's or a bit later.
The bottom right picture is looking north on the beach, so the pier is not in view.
The bottom left picture is from Isla Verde (Cangrejos), not Crash Boat Beach.


On a side note: These are all dive pictures of dive trips from my high school (Colegio San Ignacio) marine biology club. On the bottom right picture the guy with the net and a blue shirt actually ended up studying marine biology after high school. He got his PHD in marine biology and became a professor of Marine Biology at the University of Puerto Rico. I have seen some of his published studies, but I am not a biologist, so they are way over my head. lol

Here are some underwater pictures from Crash Boat Beach. You can see the pilings on three of the pictures.

The picture on the bottom right is the parking lot at Crash Boat Beach. This had to have been on a weekend and it is amassing that there was hardly anyone there. The parking lot was empty.
That car was my dad's. I think it was a Plymouth Duster...
The two pictures on the left are from Parguera.

A few more pictures showing divers and the Crash Boat Beach pilings behind them:

 

[Jake 10]

Thank you very much for sharing