Puerto Rico

I know it's a bit early for planning a trip next year, but my wife, kids
and I are going to Puerto Rico next February. I am in the middle of
getting certified as an Open Water diver in central NJ, and I have been
looking around for info on Diving in PR. I found some websites, but
they of course talk about how great their trips are and all that.

I was looking for info from a possibly unbiased audience here on r.s.l
The little that I have heard about diving there is that there isn't
much, and it's a hike to get to the places to do it.

Thanks for any info!
M@

Matt Cushing wrote:
>
> Why does the San Juan area suck, is it because it's so commercial, or

> the positioning of the island?

Its primarily two factors.

The first is that the island's location and topology produce rain in
the mountains, which becomes a lot of silt en route to the sea. The
second factor is the city and San Juan Bay, which is both a source of
pollution as well as a "bottle" that tends to concentrates it. The
many cruise ships that frequent San Juan don't help here.

The net result is pretty turbid and green water. I don't specifically
recall what my logbook said, but I'd say that the viz was less than
20ft.


-hh

I just got back from diving in the southwest corner of the island. It
was very good. Most of the time the visibility was 60-80 feet. The
water temperature was around 82 degrees. Diving was mostly walls at
80-120 feet. Second dives were 60-70 feet.

The town is very small. It's about 2:30 driving from San Juan. There
is no beach in the area, and little to do outside of diving or driving
to other areas to see the sites. Most of the time we did two dives a
day. A couple of times we did night dives, but all of this depends on
having enough divers to pay for the gas.

People say that it is not as good as other areas in the Caribbean, I'd
say it is very close to some areas--not as good as some others. I've
got to do more research. We saw a couple of nurse sharks, a hawk bill
turtle, octopus, ray and many barracuda. Cozumel is better. Some parts
of Belize are about the same. The other pluses are that the people are
very friendly and travel is very easy.

I drove through the mountains last month and 2.5 hours is about right.
There are a couple of tricky turns so get good directions. I am told
that going along the coast is prettier, but the roads are not as good.
In any case, you have to get out of San Juan and the highways--even the
toll road--are two lanes at most and not quite as good as on the mainland.

If you don't believe me, look at the condition of the cars around you.

"Joe English" <jenglish@wisperhome.com> wrote in message
news:d5ef7$4213e232$ce504905$25673@allthenewsgroup s.com...

> Greg,
>
> I will be in San Juan from 2pm until 10pm on a cruise - do I have dive
> options, or should I just imbibe on the local beverages - be advised I
> have stopped drinking for another month or so!

If you're in San Juan from 2pm until 10pm on 3/25 then you definitely have
drinking options. Fortunately that's over a month away.

Hey Greg,

did you go to Puerto Rico yet? Let me know!

M@

Matt Cushing wrote:
> Hey Greg,
>
> did you go to Puerto Rico yet? Let me know!

I'm almost home, sitting in the Ft. Lauderdale airport for a 4 hour
layover. The airport is so crowded, half the people are sitting on the
floor. The one restaurant, a nasty Chilis Too, has a line of 70 people
waiting to get in. The only redeeming feature of this airport is free
wireless internet.

So much for my airport report. The trip report is halfway done and
I'll finish it on the way to LAX and post it tonight if I'm not too
tired. Short answer: don't go there for the diving.

Hey guys,

A while back I posted to see if anyone had ever done any dives in Puerto
Rico. What I found is a bit discouraging - not a lot of good things to
say about it.

I'll be staying in Old San Juan. Does anyone have anything good to say
about diving there in February?

Thanks,
M@

Matthew Cushing wrote:
> Hey guys,
>
> A while back I posted to see if anyone had ever done any dives in Puerto
> Rico. What I found is a bit discouraging - not a lot of good things to
> say about it.
>
> I'll be staying in Old San Juan. Does anyone have anything good to say
> about diving there in February?
>
> Thanks,
> M@
Head to the southwest corner. There's lots of good diving in Mayaguez,
La Parguera, Boqueron, etc. Unfortunately, the diving around San Juan
is not so good.

Y

> A while back I posted to see if anyone had ever done any dives in Puerto
> Rico. What I found is a bit discouraging - not a lot of good things to
> say about it.
We dove with La Parguera (sp?) down on the southwest coast. Nice diving
over the edge @ 80' and lots of black coral at < 100' too