Anybody have any good information on where to dive and company to go thru around San Juan, Puerto Rico. Will be there a day before the Cruise and would like to get a Dive in before we cruise. Would prefer something close to the Cruise Terminal.
thanks
Chris
Hi! I am an avid snorkeler, and we spent two days pre-cruise in San Juan. On investigation, I decided not to do any snorkeling there, as I was told the dive and snorkel sites right around San Juan are not the best in the world. Poor visibility was mentioned more than once.
Our two days weren't quite enough to really explore San Juan itself... it's quite a fascinating place, even for someone who would prefer to be IN the water, rather than just NEAR it.
Nevertheless, here's a recommendation from Frommers:
In San Juan, the best outfitter is Caribe Aquatic Adventures, 1062 Calle 19, Villa Nevarez, San Juan, PR 00927 (tel. 787-281-8858, www.diveguide.com/p2046.htm), which operates a dive shop behind the Normandie Hotel that's open daily from 8am to 4pm. The company offers diving certification from both PADI and NAUI; 2 checkout dives are $125 and 4 checkout dives are $245. A resort course for first-time divers costs $125. Also offered are local daily dives in the waters close to San Juan, as well as the option of traveling farther afield into waters near the reefs of Puerto Rico's eastern shore. If time permits, we recommend a full-day dive experience; if time is limited, try one of the many worthy dive sites that lie closer to San Juan and can be experienced in a half day.
And, here's a short dive review I found on Virtual Tourist, by a diver who DID dive there. He ended up at Desecheo Island, which may be a bit farther from the cruise ship area than you are looking for, but it sounds wonderful:
Red coral on the reefs of
Desecheo Island
I went scuba diving nearly every weekend that I was in San Juan. My first weekend I went out to the Eastern coast and was somewhat disappointed in the visibility and fish (or lack there of). At the end of the dive, I ask the divemaster for recommendations on dives around PR. His immediate response was "go to Desecheo." Furthermore, he even highly recommended Taino Divers in Rincón. So, that's where I went and love it.
Desecheo Island is a small, uninhabited island about 12 miles off the Western coast of PR in the Mona Passage. The island's terrain is quite rugged, rising some 600 feet out of the sea. This same profile is carried below the water's surface, sinking some 100 feet to the ocean floor. So, you can literally start a wall dive from the surface. Several pinnacles near the island also rise dramatically to the surface making for some very interesting underwater rock formations. Finally, the best thing, all three weekends that I dove Desecheo, there was no other dive boat present;so, the place is all but deserted.
Taino Divers will have everything you need. What's more, the dude that runs the dive operation is very cool and laid back. And their dive boat makes the 12 mile trip from Rincón to Desecheo Island in no time. This was truly one my favorite dive sites/experiences.
He even gives the contact information for the company he used: Address: Rincón, Puerto Rico Phone: (787) 823-6429 Website:http://www.tainodivers.com/
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