Any Swampers been to Puerto Rico?

[PvilleStang]

11 days until I tie the knot, and after we're heading to Puerto Rico, and looking to get some diving in at Fajardo. We've been looking at a website (divepuertorico.com), but am not sure a) if this is a good op, and b) what the best locales are. We'll also be staying in the San Juan area for the latter part of our honeymoon, so if there's something out there, that could also be an option.

Kevin

 

[Mack Diver]

Congrats on the pending nuptulas. I hope all goes well. I've not dove Puerto Rico, but I've heard good things about the diving there.

 

[chrispete]

Melissa and I dove Puerto Rico about four years ago. We loved most of the diving there but there were some gotchas out there. I'll dig out our logbooks and PM more info.

 

[chrispete]

(Edited - this is RumBum writing in Chris's account...)
We went to PR in 2004 so some of my info may be outdated. But here goes.
-Beware of El Conquestador (hotel) and their dive shop, Casa Del Mar. They were UNSAFE and destructive to the reef.
-There really isn't any diving in San Juan that we found.
-If you are renting a car in San Juan, buy the best auto insurance they offer. Those people make Houston traffic look downright tame. (Seriously!)
-If you're going to be on the East side (Fajardo area) you should look into diving Culebra and Viques.
-Definately kayak out to the Bioluminescent Bay. It's an experience you will never forget!
-Some cool sit intervals are the Bacardi Factory, Aricebo museum, and El Yunque National Park.
-I liked the diving on the west side better. Candyland and Sea Fan City were amazing.
-I've heard that the South is good too, with Paraguera divers. Black coral walls out there. Can't speak from my own experience though, we didn't make it that far south.
-I highly recommend Oceans Unlimited as a good operator for west side diving.
Here's a cool link for PR operators and sites:
The complete Puerto Rico scuba diving guide covering dive sites and dive centres

Hope this helps!

 

[dartref]

Recently came back from San Juan. Didn't get to dive but everything chrispete said sounds like the same stuff I was told while there. Not much diving in San Juan but the best stuff is supposed to be around on the southwest side.

 

[RTRski]

From what I've read (note the key word is read, no personal experience diving there although I have been to or thru PR more than once) Taino divers leaves out of Rincon area and dives Desecho (sp?) Island, on the SW coast. That's supposedly one of the better diving areas although it does cost a longer boat trip time-wise and I believe means you get only 2 dives/day. The deep channel around the smaller island gives a good possibility of pelagic as well as the typical reef denizen type sightings.

Took a cruise out of the Fajardo area (Windjammer Legacy used that as a port to begin with, off the Conquistador dock) years ago and wasn't impressed with what I saw of the water from the surface, in terms of vis and chop, but I wasn't diving much back then either so that foggy memory may not be worth the neuron it's still desperately clinging to.

 

[ynkedodl]

Thanks for the information so far. We would love to do some diving while we're out there. The last time I was in PR, I used divepuertorico.com and chose the Fajardo dive site. One the website the show many different divesites available, but there's no way to choose which ones you want to go to. It was a great first blue water experience, but I'm ready for something more exciting.

 

[RumBum]

I just remembered we also did some shore diving on Crash Boat beach. That was a fun shore dive. There was a lot of stuff on the pier legs.
When I googled Aguadilla, PR, I found out that the area also now has a water park. Parque Acuatico Las Cascadas
Is that something more exciting?