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Scuba Diving Vacations in Puerto Rico
Both weather and geography play a role in diving conditions around Puerto Rico. Atlantic swells roll onto the beaches of the north coast through much of the year, limiting access to sites. When conditions are favorable, divers will find gentle reef slopes sporting a healthy but unremarkable mix of hard and soft coral growth. The prevailing trade winds that sweep in from the east form rain clouds that build over Puerto Rico's mountainous interior. The resultant runoff reduces near-shore visibility in many areas west of San Juan, but does not affect sites farther offshore. By contrast, the eastern end of the island receives far less rain through much of the year. The town of Fajardo is a center of diving activity, with boats departing for reefs at depths of 20 to 60 feet. This is relaxed diving, but by no means boring, as these sites hold a wide range of Caribbean marine life, including numerous invertebrates. A favorite site is Palominito’s Wall, where a sand chute cuts through a coral slope as it drops from 15 to 80 feet. The site is known for plentiful marine life, which includes plenty of reef regulars such as lobster, grouper, moray eels, turtles and eagle rays, plus a chance for sightings of dolphin and manatees. South of Fajardo, the Humacao Region adds another 20-plus dive sites within five miles of shore. This area sees less dive traffic than the Fajardo region and the underwater terrain is more varied, with numerous overhangs, tunnels and small canyons to explore. At the Cracks, a jigsaw-like seascape of caves and boulder fields hold an abundance of cleaning stations. Nearby, Red Hog provides a wall that drops from 80 feet to more than 1,000. A few miles to the east of Puerto Rico, additional dive sites are found around the smaller islands of Culebra and Vieques. Most sites around these islands have maximum depths of 60 feet or less, but will hold diver's interest with a rich assortment of marine life and interesting arrays of swim-throughs, crevices and caverns. Culebra's Cayo Raton features a semicircular reef famous for its abundant fish life, from queen angelfish and butterfly fish to parrotfish and horse-eye jacks. Vieques is home to one of Puerto Rico's three bioluminescent bays, where tiny marine organisms light nighttime waters in otherworldly blue glows. Puerto Rico's southern coast faces the Caribbean Sea, where the coastal shelf ends abruptly at an east-west wall located several miles from shore. Puerto Rico's best wall dives lie to the west, along a 20-mile section of coast between the port of Ponce and the small fishing village of La Parguera. Here, at depths of 40 to 60 feet the spur and groove reefs of the coastal shallows meet a drop off that plunges to depths beyond a 1,500 feet. There are more than 50 named sites along the wall, which is riddled with coral canyons, sea mounts, pinnacles and swim-throughs, and covered in groves of elkhorn and staghorn corals, and gardens of deep-water gorgonians and tube sponges. Among the not-to-be missed favorites are the Chimney, Black Wall and Fallen Rock, where a bus-sized boulder left a large notch in the wall when it fell away to create an outlying pinnacle. The rock is surrounded by swarming chromis, Caesar grunts, schoolmasters and Spanish hawkfish, and its exposed position creates a chance for sightings of open-water species such as ocean triggerfish, mackerels, jacks, barracuda and spotted eagle rays.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS: No passport necessary for U.S. citizens to enter Puerto Rico. No visa is required for U.S. Citizens.
Vaccinations are not required for entry into Puerto Rico. Check with your doctor and the Centers for Disease Control on recommended vaccinations for travel at cdc.gov.
When you arrive in Puerto Rico, you are still on US soil, but also very much in the Caribbean. No passport is needed, and English and Spanish are spoken in equal measure, but the culture is a blend of island styles and Latin-American traditions. San Juan is a cosmopolitan and thoroughly modern commercial center, but also a city with a long and storied history dating back to the days of Spanish treasure galleons and the real pirates of the Caribbean. The posh resorts and trendy boutiques of the Condado District are are just a short stroll away from the narrow cobblestone streets and colonial-era buildings of Old San Juan. Drive into the mountains and as four-lane highways transition into cliff-hugging single lanes you step back into an era of village life, and then into settings where nature still takes center stage. El Yunque is the only tropical rain forest in the US National Forest System, and surrounding mountains hide an eco-adventurer's dreamscape of canyons, caves and waterfalls. At Toro Verde, the mile-and-a-half long Monster is the world's longest zip line, and the Camuy River Cave Park features the world's third longest underground river. Surfers flock to world-class breaks near the west-coast town of Rincon, paddlers explore the mangrove lagoons of Parguera, and big game fishermen depart San Juan Harbor to do battle with trophy sized blue marlin. Those who prefer luxury over adventure can relax at premier resorts, play tour-worth golf courses, indulge in five-star spa services and sample the island's vibrant culinary scene.
Electricity in Puerto Rico is 110 volts, 60 cycles, so no adapter will be needed for US visitors. The country code/area code for Puerto Rico is 787. Some U.S. providers include calls and data usage from Puerto Rico so be sure to check with your provider to see if additional costs will apply. Many hotels offer WiFi.
The environmental standards that apply to water in the U.S. apply to Puerto Rico. The water is safe to drink and bottled water if preferred is available for purchase.
Both English and Spanish are the official languages in Puerto Rico, however Spanish is more frequently spoken by the people of Puerto Rico. The currency in Puerto Rico is the US Dollar.
Puerto Rico is on Atlantic Standard Time (AST) and does not observe Daylight Savings Time. Puerto Rico is 4 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (-4 GMT).
Puerto Rico is an archipelago in the Caribbean and part of the Greater Antilles. The islands are located west of the Virgin Islands and east of the Dominican Republic. The Northern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean while the Southern coast faces the Caribbean Sea. Puerto Rico is 30 miles wide North to South and 90 miles long East to West, 3,515 square miles total and includes a number of small islands, Mona to the west, along with Culebra and Vieques to the east. The capital and most populated municipality is San Juan, located on the northeastern shore of the main island The population of Puerto Rico is 3.68 million (2016).