SCUBA Diving Vieques & Culebra - The Spanish Virgin Islands

[exotic-expeditions]

The Spanish Virgin Islands, Vieques and Culebra, lie halfway between Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Packed with myriad beaches that are to die for, these islands also offer rich Caribbean diving and a more laid-back, casual feel than their big sister Puerto Rico.
Starting with the endless nightlife of Old San Juan, we take you away to tranquil Vieques Island for a diving tour you’ll never forget. With literally hundreds of dive sites surrounding both Vieques and Culebra, these are amazing islands that will make busy San Juan seem a million miles away.
Truly the last frontier of the U.S. of A. (U.S. citizens won’t even need a passport to travel here), these islands are the beautiful and old-school Latino-Caribbean at its best.
Vieques & Culebra Expedition

 

[chauncy19]

great sales pitch but really would like to hear about real diving experiences from both places. seem to hear a mixed bag of reviews. have always been interested in both Vieques and Culebra and would have been there if I heard more positives about them. listening....

 

[exotic-expeditions]

Bob,
As far as diving itself in Culebra and Vieques, underwater the two are pretty similar and not that far apart. A lot of the diving off of the main island of Puerto Rico is on the north-eastern side, which is the rainforest side. When there's lots of rain, the rivers flow into the ocean and visibility can be less than great. Out where these smaller islands are, visibility is typically much better. Also, when dealing with smaller islands like Culbera and Vieques, if the wind is blowing on a certain day, it's not that hard to find a cove or a different part of the island to dive off, whereas a large island isn't really practical to circumnavigate on a two tank dive.
For the reefs themselves, they are healthy and colorful with plenty of hard and soft corals, sponges, sea fans and long sea rods. There are lots of long spurs of reef, maybe 30' high at the most, with little sections of sand in between. For marine life, expect plenty of eels, turtles, and spotted eagle rays. Vieques also seems to have a lot more of the large slipper lobsters that are less common than the spiny lobsters in most of the Caribbean. An occasional manatee or bottlenose dolphin will show, as well as reef sharks.
I'd say the best part about these islands is that they just aren't dove that much and that there's a large selection of dive sites to choose from.

My guess is negative reviews of diving on these islands stems in part from the issue that there are only a few dive operators on these islands and some may not be the world's best. A lot of divers visit these islands on a long range trip starting from the main island of Puerto Rico, and this can be a very long day. A two hour boat trip in sometimes rough waters before your first dive can make for a long day of diving. That is the biggest problem in this area. If you want a larger more professional operation, you have to leave from Puerto Rico itself. If you want the convenience of diving right from Vieques or Culebra, you're stuck with a smaller boat and much less options.

Our trip will allow divers to stay on the islands, and being a custom trip organized for just this reason, we will have one of the larger professional boats come over to meet us for diving each day, eliminating the problems divers can experience here.

Hope that answers your questions,

Evan Snyder
Exotic Expeditions.

 

[chauncy19]

Evan,
sounds reasonable. unfortunately i am unable dive in Vieques and Culebra this year as I have already committed to going to bonaire. but would love to hear about the trip as its real possibility for the future. seems odd that there are not more first class options but it certainly can be why I don't hear consistently good things about either island. everything I know about them would suggest they are great places to go but...
anyway look forward to hearing about your trip!

 

[jlevine]

I would need to see more detail on this. $2600 per person for a week's accommodations and diving and some meals seems high for Puerto Rico. These would have to be very nice accommodations. Rincon and La Parguera are great bargains for diving and offer a laid back feel. It would help if you could flesh out the details.

 

[exotic-expeditions]

jlevine,

I would be happy to provide you with whatever details you'd like to know about our Culebra & Vieques Expedition. Having lived and worked in Puerto Rico for many years, I can assure you that $2600 for 7 nights accommodation, 4 days of two tank dives, flights from San Juan to Vieques and back, as well as breakfast everyday, lunch everyday, and a few dinners is not too expensive. Add to that the fact that there will be two of our guides with you (not including the local divemasters) to make sure your trip goes smoothly, as well as the fact that we are having one of the larger dive boats from eastern Puerto Rico drive over to Vieques & Culebra for each day of diving and it doesn't seem our rate is high at all. As far as our accommodation on Vieques, we'll be staying at one of the newer boutique inns. Please let us know if there are any specific questions you have about this trip and we'll be happy to answer anything we can.

Thanks for your interest,
Evan Snyder
Exotic Expeditions.

 

[molina67]

Did not see any mention of equipment for diving. Am I to assume that I would have to take all my gear with me? I am thinking of making my next dive in Puerto Rico.

 

[exotic-expeditions]

The price of this trip would only include tanks and weights for diving. If you needed to rent dive gear on this trip (BCD, regulator, wet suit), I'd estimate approximately $25 per day of diving additional cost.

Thanks for your interest,

Evan Snyder
Exotic Expeditions.

 

[roostermt]

Hi guys,

If you want to get an idea of the diving here in Vieques. We post our Daily Dive logs and have customers diving with us everyday.

Small boat yes, but the dive sites are 7 minutes or so from dock.


Rooster
Nan-Sea Charters, Vieques

 

[VDCFitz]

I have lived and dived in Vieques for over 7 years. It is without a doubt more expensive to come to Vieques and stay here than in La Parguerra or Rincon. But $2600 does seem rather expensive to me for only 4 days of diving. We do go over to PR and dive those sites when we have time. We take groups to these areas as well at least a couple of times per year. The diving is great. But for a true PR experience, you do need to spend some dive time over here on the smaller islands. Vieques has a few more amenities than Culebra, but for the most part the laid back island life and vibe is the same. There are reputable and capable dive operations on both islands. For more info on PR diving check this out: | Scuba Diving Magazine

Fitz
Vieques Dive Company
www.viequesdivers.com