Puerto Rico is home to some spectacular underwater seascapes, popular for snorkelling and diving. Scuba diving in Puerto Rico is one of the most popular leisure activities on the island. You can wreck dive and come face-to-face with fascinating marine life and complex ecosystems. Many of the best diving sites are outside the San Juan area and are a great excuse to step out and explore the rest of the island. We have curated a list of the best scuba diving experiences in Puerto Rico.
This marine paradise is located 50 miles away from the shoreline of Puerto Rico and guarantees to be one of the best spots for scuba diving in Puerto Rico. It is located at a spot where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Caribbean Sea, uniting two amazing sites together. Mona Island is an eco-friendly reserve and a prime scuba diving destination with over 150 feet of visibility. It is a great location to visit on a houseboat/liveaboard boat since day-based boat operators rarely venture out this far. Known as the “Galapagos of the Caribbean”, Mona Island has an abundance of marine life including gigantic corals, sharks, turtles, dolphins, and even whales during the winter months. Private charters are available at Adventures Tour that departs from Cabo Rojo to reach Mona Island. These must be booked in advance. From Mayagüez, overnight trips are offered by Juliet Sailing and Diving to Mona twice a year.
Crash Boat is a popular destination among locals and visitors in the western town of Aguadilla and is a comfortable and easy dive among the most stunning beaches in Puerto Rico. There is an old navy pier that protrudes, right from the beach. Beneath it, there is a whole realm of coral reefs, fish, and turtles for divers to explore, with minimal currents and great visibility. Aquatica Surf and Dive is a nearby shop that offers rentals for gear needed for scuba diving and snorkelling as well as guided scuba diving classes off Crash Boat, Shacks Beach and El Natural Beach in Isabela.
Around the island city of Culebra, there are more than fifty different dive sites including caves, sunken vessels, and unperturbed coral reefs with difficulty levels ranging from beginner to advanced. The island has several dive shops available for renting gear and booking trips including Culebra Divers, Culebra Snorkeling and Dive Center and Aquatic Adventures. If you’re arriving from the main island, Pure Adventure departs from Ceiba and Dive Puerto Rico from Fajardo for full-day tours scuba diving trips in Puerto Rico.
The Isla de Vieques’s most popular site is Rompeolas or Mosquito Pier, a mile-long embankment on the north shore of the island. Forty feet of sheltered waters allow easy dives for novices and exciting tours for those more seasoned divers. You can also do snorkelling in the area, where you will spot green turtles, resident hawksbill, eagle rays, stingrays, moray eels, Caribbean lobsters, and a wide diversity of reef fish. Black Beard Sports and Isla Nena Scuba are Vieques’ only dive operators. Both offer PADI certifications and Discover Scuba classes too.
For an excellent wall diving experience, visit La Parguera in the south-western town of Lajas, the main departure port for The Wall (La Pared, in Spanish). Here you’ll find a long stretch of undersea wall covered with coral reefs and teeming with colourful fish and marine life. To visit different spots of The Wall, you can book a scuba diving tour with West Divers, Island Scuba or Paradise Scuba which departs from the town of Guánica. These companies also offer scuba diving for non certified divers and diving and snorkelling excursions to other locations around La Parguera and Guánica.
Best Time to Visit for Scuba Diving in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico has warm weather and remains stunning all year round, but the best time to visit Puerto Rico is from November to December. Although June to November is equally impressive, this period is just prior to the peak tourist season, has warm water, and wonderful weather perfect for visiting beaches and diving.
The average temperatures in Puerto Rico range from 70 °F to 83 °F, while the water stays between 79 °F and 84 °F. This means all you will need is a 3mm wetsuit and some reef-friendly sunscreen to dive into some of the most beautiful underwater sites in the Caribbean. Fortunately, Puerto Rico seldom gets hurricanes. Even then, hurricanes come with plenty of warning so there is no need to worry about your trip.
Have we missed out on any of your favourite spots for scuba diving in Puerto Rico? Let us know in the comments below.
