Puerto Rico suggestions???

[Bhtmec2]

You will need wheels as all the good dive sites are outside the SJ area. Rincon has a wall that you can dive from the beach.

We took a boat out today and dove off of Saj Juan, isla Verde to see what was out there and found a few sites to bug hunt and spear some fish. The problem is visibility. We did 2 drift dives and found this area was not bad but was nothing to compare to the west. 25-30 ft visibility, reef fish but the current is strong and you should not do this if you are a new diver. We have never seen any other divers in this area since any of us have lived here,(2-3 years). We will be doing more exploratory dives in the future as we can be there in 15 min from the ramp.

 

[joaniefm]

Just returned from Puerto Rico, had an incredible experience. Thanks to Angel Rovira formerly of La Parguera now the Florida Keys. His recommendations were very accurate. The West and Southwest provide excellent diving. I dove with Taino divers in Rincon. Extremely positive experience. They provided us with experienced divemasters who were fun and innovative. We had a good time and the restaurant next door, the Shipwreck sends delicious food out of their condition. I will be back with family and friends. Also dove twice with Island Scuba - Pedro Padilla, that was an outstanding opportunity. Pedro is a passionate about his diving, he takes really good pictures and is a true steward of the ocean environment. I will also go back to Guanica to dive with Pedro and family.

 

[Bhtmec2]

Glad you had a good trip. Do not tout on the diving here or you will ruin it for us who live here. Shoot if a bunch of Diving Tourist come down the next thing you will know up goes the prices....

Seriously the Diving here is great the only drawback are no Live aboard and no Resorts with diving packages........

I would recommend getting the "The Complete Diving Guide The Caribbean Volume 3 (Puerto Rico-US Virgin Islands-British Virgin Islands)

It is a great guide to the island and BVI and USVI......... Great to plan your dives with......

 

[jlevine]

Glad you had a great time. Angel ran a great shop in La Parguera. I very much miss diving with him.

 

[Booyakasha]

Any recs for a dive shop on the NE side of PR. We have been doing a lot of diving vacations recently and this one is for my wife and younger son who don't dive. We will be staying at the Ritz Carlton. Looking to dive 1 A.M. 2 tank before we get on the cruise ship. So it needs to be relatively close.

We will be there end of March.

Thanks,

B.

 

[joaniefm]

Thanks for the book recommendation Bhtmec2, I will be very judicious about who I tell about diving in Puerto Rico. Mainly I am sharing my information with natives and Puerto Rican friends as I understand the concern about ruining an area that is not touristy. These are people who have respect for their country. I will be back with them in January for La Vuelta.

 

[joaniefm]

To Booyakasha, hmm, the diving on the NE side is not proclaimed to be that great. I did dive with Casa Del Mar out of Fajardo. Nice operation, great boat, but the dive sites were mediocre at best. Have heard some good things about going to Culebra or Vieques, but those trips are not just am trips, they take all day. The rainforest - El Yunque is beautiful.

 

[akhardee1]

I'm also heading to the NE side of PR (Rio Grande). I'll be there in February 2011 on a trip with work so I don't have any flexibility on where I stay. Where I'm from, great vis is about 70' and average is about 25'. I'm pretty sure I'll be happy with the sites that are readily available, but I do want to make sure to choose a solid shop.

Atlantica Dive Adventures is the outfit associated with our hotel and their site doesn't exactly give me a warm, fuzzy feeling. (The About Us page is blank!) I'll certainly be checking out Casa Del Mar. Any other recommendations are greatly appreciated and a dive buddy is welcome too!

Thanks!

 

[irmo]

akhardee1: I'm diving with Sea Ventures out of Fajardo next week. I'll post something to let you know how they do. They run trips out of Humacao also which is about another 30 to 40 minutes further from Rio Grande (I am staying there also). Humacao trips leave 30 minutes later in the morning. I opted for Fajardo because I'm a rookie diver. The Humacao sites are supposed to be better, but can be subject to currents and sea conditions more suited to an experienced diver (everyone is more experienced than me, I'm newly OW certified). At least that what I was advised here on SB, so I'm glad I asked.

Anyhow, if you do a search on "Sea Ventures Fajardo", you'll get their web site. I'll let you know how our trip turns out.

 

[irmo]

Bummer...our dive this morning was canceled due to poor viz off Fajardo. Anyone have any suggestions for squeezing in a dive somewhere? We needed to go in the morning today due to family plans for Noche Buena later on. The shop moved the dive to Humaco for this afternoon so we can't make it.

We're in Rio Grande which is Northeast on the island, looking for ideas to get in the water at least once. If anyone has ideas to share please do!