Puerto Rico diving - yay or nay?

[Barnaby'sDad]

Is there no diving on Vieques? Curious if anyone has? personally I love PR just as a destination for family. So if there is diving to do there, even if it isn’t ideal, it would be helpful info. For myself and the OP.

There is. There’s an operator based out of Ceiba/the old NAS Roosevelt Roads. I haven’t used them, but I’m curious about diving Vieques, as well.

I lived at RR many years ago. We used to snorkel at Vieques. The main thing I remember is there being a BUNCH of sea urchins, lol.

 

[SloppyJoe]

Hell Santa Barbara has DOZENS of those purple butt stabbers. Thankfully I haven’t had the pleasure of “shaking hands” with one but they are nice to look at. Thanks for the heads up and I’ll retire back to the peanut gallery. I don’t want to hijack the thread. I’ll leave with this one thought.
Even though it’s forbidden, the idea of diving the biobay SOUNDS awesome. Though I’d never disturb or destroy marine habitats willfully.

 

[yle]

Had a trip planned to Indonesia this November but had to push out to 2021, thank you COVID! Hoping to dive somewhere in Nov. Curious about PR. For those who have been, do you recommend?

I've been to PR several times, diving off the west end of the island, Rincon and Parguera, as a couple others have mentioned. They were both decent. The Rincon diving was at Desecheo, the small island about 10 miles off the coast, and was pretty cool. Parguera diving was off the wall that runs along the south side of the island (check out Google Earth... the wall is visible in the satellite image.)

Haven't been over to Culebra; the drive from San Juan to the west end of the island is pretty quick and simple, I chose that over the hop to Culebra.

Compared to other places in the Caribbean... it's about average. You could do better, you could do worse. The main advantage to PR is that if you only want to do a few days of diving, there is plenty of other things to do on the island and they are all easily accessible by a short (i.e. within a couple hours, east end to west end) drive.

 

[yle]

Even though it’s forbidden, the idea of diving the biobay SOUNDS awesome. Though I’d never disturb or destroy marine habitats willfully.

No reason to dive the biobay. You can see bioluminescence on just about any dive anywhere at night. Helps if you turn your light off and if there's no moon.

 

[dmaziuk]

No reason to dive the biobay. You can see bioluminescence on just about any dive anywhere at night. Helps if you turn your light off and if there's no moon.

We swam (not dived) in La Parguera and weren't overly impressed either (not after Western Australia) but Vieques is supposed to have the brightest luminescence ever?

 

[BoltSnap]

La Parguera but Vieques is supposed to have the brightest luminescence ever?

Nothing to write home about and definitely not worth the trip/money when you have FL and the USVI close by with much better diving and more variety.

 

[SloppyJoe]

That’s what our guide said. However, they had a recent hurricane when I was kayaking for the tour and they said the luminescence was reduced as a result of that. That was two years ago and I hope that it has rebounded by now. Because even at reduced luminescence it was an unforgettable experience

 

[jonhall]

For those who have been, do you recommend?

@ibj40 has mentioned the hot spots commonly recommended, Rincon (west side) and La Parguera & Guanica (southwest side), in threads on this topic from previous years. La Paraguera also has a bioluminescence bay.

I spent a week in Humacao on the southeast side of the island, pre-hurricane Irma, but had to go to Fajardo (east side) to dive. A dive shop in Ceiba, also on east side, didn't go out everyday as they had to have a certain number of divers and the only contact I had for diving out of Humacao was a guy who's boat was in need of repair, so he wasn't going out. Diving out of Fajardo was, in my opinion, the least memorable diving I have done to date. I can't even compare it with anyplace else I've been to dive. Thank goodness I was spending a 2nd week in Grand Cayman - which by the way has a bioluminescence bay as well.

go to Coz. The food is a lot better, too

Would agree to disagree - Coz has places with good food but I have been to PR twice and the food was very good. Some very good places to eat in Old San Juan as well as where I stayed in Humacao.

The US Virgin Islands are another better choice than PR

+1 on this. Big St. Croix fan. Provides variety of dives (wall, reef, wrecks, pier!!)

 

[WeRtheOcean]

Vieques is supposed to have the brightest luminescence ever?

It's the nuclear tests

 

[chillyinCanada]

@ibj40 has mentioned the hot spots commonly recommended, Rincon (west side) and La Parguera & Guanica (southwest side), in threads on this topic from previous years. La Paraguera also has a bioluminescence bay.

I spent a week in Humacao on the southeast side of the island, pre-hurricane Irma, but had to go to Fajardo (east side) to dive. A dive shop in Ceiba, also on east side, didn't go out everyday as they had to have a certain number of divers and the only contact I had for diving out of Humacao was a guy who's boat was in need of repair, so he wasn't going out. Diving out of Fajardo was, in my opinion, the least memorable diving I have done to date. I can't even compare it with anyplace else I've been to dive. Thank goodness I was spending a 2nd week in Grand Cayman - which by the way has a bioluminescence bay as well.



Would agree to disagree - Coz has places with good food but I have been to PR twice and the food was very good. Some very good places to eat in Old San Juan as well as where I stayed in Humacao.



+1 on this. Big St. Croix fan. Provides variety of dives (wall, reef, wrecks, pier!!)

I've heard that there's a relatively serious problem with theft from luggage at the airport. Does anyone have comments in this regard?