123 replies to this topic

[pocahontas]

I went to Parguera a couple of years ago and had amazing dives.

[ScubaDadMiami]

A couple of things:

San Juan is a tourist trap other than the old city. Very disappointing, and no good diving there anyway.

La Parguera has some amazing diving, and they have technical facilities there including oxygen, CCR support, etc.

If arriving via San Juan, to get to la Parguera, you have to pass over a fairly high mountain road. Not a problem on the way there, but make sure to allow proper time after completing the last dive before crossing the mountain pass on the return to San Juan for departure.

Summer is the best time to dive in Puerto Rico. It can be rough in the Winter months.

[Scubatooth]

Howard

I would agree on San Juan its nothing special, Im going to go to old san juan for a day to do some touring and photography, and i will post the results.

Would that be the west then south route leaving San Juan, or the South then west or what? (did you go through mayaguez or ponce to get to Parguera.

According to the GPS unit i have been using the highest point i have been getting to is 2250 feet on one pass coming north on the #2 from aguadilla.

I will second the tech fill and CCR support. The shop that is my host is fully tech capable and the owner is a CCR Instructor Trainer through full mix and has all the support pieces necessary including sofnalime (sorry howard no EACs, but you can ship items ahead and the shop will hold them). The other tech capable shop is in parguera. both of the operators in paraguera can do nitrox fills, and west divers can do mix fills but be aware HE is very expensive as i saw a bill for a T bottle and it was like $450-500 so FYI.

summer has been pretty good but there have been tropical waves in the area that have caused some pretty strong south winds that have made diving interesting. In the winter it can be a little more, but also in the winter is when the manta rays and humpback whales are in and makes for a good surface interval. As for water temp it gets down to like 80 in winter and has been hovering in the upper 80s to like 92 the other day. I have been in a henderson microprene and have been comfortable to a little warm in the water.

Tooth

[dustbowl diver]

WW,

Any chance of maybe doing a singles week here?? That price you floated is a pretty good deal thus far, certainly would be interested as more info appears!!

[ScubaDadMiami]

Would that be the west then south route leaving San Juan, or the South then west or what? (did you go through mayaguez or ponce to get to Parguera.

I went through different routes because of my itinerary. So I never went over the mountains to get from one place to the other.

I went from San Juan east to el Yunque, and then spent a day diving in Fajardo (fair diving but not worth a dedicated trip), which is off of the eastern part of PR. From there, we drove around the island, working our way south and then west until passing through Ponce until arriving in la Parguera. (Normally, people will pass over the mountains directly from San Juan to the south portion of the island instead of driving clockwise as we did.)

From there, I had planned to dive in Desecheo. However, my daughter, who had just gotten certified before making this trip, got an ear infection. So, I did not make that dive. Instead, I went to Rio Camuy Park and checked out the caves there. Then, we drove to San Juan for a day in the Old City and then departure.

Because of the routes we took, I never went over the high mountain passes. However, I did correspond with someone at the US Geological Survey team in PR to inquire about the height of the mountain passes just to make sure that there would not be any "flying after diving" type issues when driving over them on our intended route.

[CvilleBill]

Count me as another who's interested in diving PR & hearing more details about a possible trip!

[Scubatooth]

I will post more about my travels in PR later in the week as right now im trying to get some internship paperwork before i get busy for the next two days.

Im also trying to work on a photo gallery of all the photos i have been taking but its taking my much longer then i had planned because im having issues with my host and the gallery software the host installed on my websites server as im not able to get some functionality i need. hopefully that will be resolved in the next couple of days and i can get the photos online as i have people wanting to see the images i have taken down here who where on the boat the same day i was taking photo (and buy images a few said)

WW google mona island and see if thats a thing you would add to the trip as a add on.

[CatFishBob]

I've been interested in considering Puerto Rico for quite some time. If you get a trip together (at the right time, at a good price, etc.) I will definitely be interested.

B.

[bubbleblower]

Puerto Rico is a little known jewel in the Caribbean that offers some spectacular diving yet does not have the heavy diver traffic that many places have. With frequent flights...travel is easy and inexpensive. To reach the truly great sights of Rincon and others we'll do a shuttle van from the main airport or allow you to fly into the regional airport nearer to the pristine diving areas.

Our very own Scubatooth is doing a DAN internship and has been giving me lots of information and I am working on a reasonably priced trip in the $1000 to $1500 range including airfare.

Let us know your thoughts on this destination. -ww

This sounds great! But I am looking for trips in March and April 2008 and haven't seen any postings yet.
Can someone give me some info on these happenings?

[nurseshark]

I am also very intersted in this trip.
If it generates enough interest, please keep me updated as I have always wanted to check out this part of the world

Karen

[Motown Cheesehead]

I'm going to PR in a couple of weeks - diving in La Parguera. We're diving for the week with Parguera Divers (I think?). My buddy ended up booking the trip and we looked at ton of options. The only thing we've run into with just a couple of us going is them requiring at least 5 divers for night dives. With a full SD group - you'll be able to do all kinds of diving that I may not get to do!

[Motown Cheesehead]

Ok....got back from my PR trip last week.

Here's my feedback - first of we went during LOW season....and I mean really low season. I think my and my buddy were pretty much the only ones at the hotel most of the week. We stayed at the hotel that's linked up with Parguera Divers. They are a some good folks. We hit at a bad week, though. Not only was it low season (on a couple days we were the only 2 out on the boat), their boat was being repaired (he used a charter for the week), and the compressor was down (they were filling tanks down the street). So, we saw no drop off in service at all, personally.

We also did no afternoon dives, and only 1 night dive with Paradise divers down the street. All of this was because, during the week - it was mostly just the two of us. If SD goes with a larger group - it'd be a totally different story. Also, because we went during low season - the weekday restaurant/bars were almost non-existent. Although, near the end of the week - we found a bar/restaurant called (in American) The Mangrove. Great place!!

Back to the diving - we dove twice each morning, for 5 days and were at a different site each time. The diving was fantastic and saw things I'd never seen before. Including a HUGE nurse shark (somewhere in the 10-12 foot range...someone even suggested 14ft, but not sure). The diving was varied in terrain and sea life. You also would be well served to visit during the new (or no) moon, and do a night snorkel at the Bioluminecent Bay. It's worth checking out.

While I'm sure there is diving in other parts of the country - I'm not sure its different enough to move between a couple of different places. The people in La Parguera were very friendly and helpful - and as a small village (pop. 2000) - were very welcoming to have visitors there. The owner of both Parguera and Paradise divers (Angel and Luis, respectively) were awesome and good to deal with.

I'd go back again with a larger group during high season for sure. Let me know if you have any questions.

Here are a couple of cool underwater shots my buddy got on our last day.

[Scuba dew]

This sound like a trip I'd be interested in also. However I am limited to going btw May and Dec.

Price sound great.

[ScubaPunk]

I Love the Pics Motown.

[Madsmiley]

Im interested...Im already planning on going down either the last week of June or first week of July anyway.Will be staying in Ponce and havent been able to find any local dive shops in that area