Scuba diving in pr: Puerto Rico Scuba Diving | Best Scuba Diving in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico Scuba Diving | Best Scuba Diving in Puerto Rico

A dive instructor jumps into the ocean at Crash Boat Beach.  

Enjoy everything from drift dives to easy shore dives. 

Puerto Rico has hundreds of miles of shoreline and dozens of islets and cays, making it an exciting destination for scuba diving in the Caribbean.

Whether you’re a first-timer or a dive master, you can’t miss the chance to scuba dive in Puerto Rico’s gorgeous turquoise waters. Many of the best sites are outside the San Juan area and are a great excuse to go out and explore the rest of the island. Dive shops with friendly and professional staff will assist you with booking boat trips, classes, gear, and tank rentals. For the veteran divers, seek out adventures like Desecheo, Mona Island, or The Wall near La Parguera. 

If you’ve never tried diving before, take the plunge with an easy shore dive in Vieques’ Mosquito Pier or Culebra,  for a Discover Scuba Diving Experience.

Aerial view of Desecheo Cove.

Desecheo Island

Just 12 miles off the coast of Rincón is the small island of Desecheo, a National Wildlife Refuge with some of the best-preserved coral reefs in Puerto Rico. The island itself is off limits but the waters around it are a scuba diver’s playground. All sorts of fish, crustaceans, turtles, sharks, and even dolphins and whales can be seen around Desecheo. The best way to get there is chartering a scuba diving trip through the local dive shop, Taíno Divers.

Crash Boat Beach in Aguadilla is one of the most beautiful beaches in Puerto Rico. 

An easy shore dive at one of the most beautiful beaches in Puerto Rico, Crash Boat, is a popular destination for locals and visitors in the western town of Aguadilla. There is an old navy pier that juts out right from the beach. Underneath it, there is a whole world of coral reefs, fish, and turtles for divers to discover, with minimal currents and great visibility. Aquatica Dive and Surf is a nearby shop that offers guided scuba diving lessons and trips off Crash Boat, El Natural Beach, and Shacks beach in Isabela, as well as gear rental for scuba diving and snorkeling.

Mona Island is known as the “Galapagos of the Caribbean”.

Mona Island

Known as the “Galapagos of the Caribbean,” Mona Island is an ecological reserve and a prime scuba diving destination with over 150 feet of visibility and an abundance of marine life including gigantic coral, turtles, sharks, dolphins, and even whales during the winter months. It’s mostly recommended for advanced divers because of the unpredictable currents of the Mona Passage and remoteness of the island. Departing from Cabo Rojo, Adventures Tourmarine offers private charters to Mona Island which must be booked in advance. From Mayagüez, Juliet Sailing and Diving offers overnight trips to Mona twice a year.

Visitors relax in the clear water in La Parguera.

The Wall

For exceptional wall diving visit La Parguera in the southwestern town of Lajas, which is the main departure port for The Wall (La Pared, in Spanish). Here you’ll find a long stretch of underwater wall covered with coral reefs and teaming with colorful fish and marine life. To visit different points of The Wall, you can book a scuba diving trip with West Divers, Paradise Scuba, or Island Scuba, which departs from the town of Guánica. These companies also offer Discover Scuba Diving for noncertified divers and diving and snorkeling trips to other locations around La Parguera and Guánica.

A boat sits off the coast in Culebra. 

Around the island municipality of Culebra there are more than 50 different dive sites including caves, sunken vessels, and undisturbed coral reefs with difficulty levels ranging from novice to advanced. The island has a number of dive shops available for renting gear and booking excursions including Culebra Divers, Aquatic Adventures, and the Culebra Snorkeling and Dive Center. If you’re coming from the main island, Dive Puerto Rico departs from Fajardo and Pure Adventure from Ceiba for full day scuba diving trips to Culebra.

Many dive sites in Vieques are accessible by boat from Playa Esperanza. 

The Isla Nena’s most popular site is Rompeolas or Mosquito Pier, a mile long breakwater on the north shore of the island. Forty feet of sheltered waters allow easy dives for “rookies” and exciting tours for those more experienced divers. You can also snorkel the area, where you’ll see resident hawksbill and green turtles, eagle rays, stingrays, moray eels, Caribbean lobsters, and a large variety of reef fish.

There are also over a dozen dive sites on the southern shore of Vieques, ranging from 40 to 100 feet deep. They are all accessible by boat out of Esperanza. Nurse sharks, rays, lobsters and turtles are frequent sights.  Dolphins and manatees can sometimes be spotted as well.

Isla Nena Scuba and Black Beard Sports are Vieques’ only dive operators. Both offer PADI certifications and Discover Scuba classes as well.

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Scuba Diving Puerto Rico: 5 Dive Sites You Should Experience

Scuba Diving Puerto Rico is part of our Top Dive Sites of the World

Scuba diving Puerto Rico should be near the top of every diver’s destination list. The small island is home to incredible diving and is one of the best places to dive in the Caribbean. The island and its surrounding waters are blessed with a fantastic climate. With air temperatures ranging between 70F/21c and 83f/28c year-round. While the water temperatures stays between 79F/26c and 84f/28.8c.

With a great climate, you can visit Puerto Rico year-round, although the best time is around November and December. However, be aware this is the height of the tourist season, and things can be hectic. If you prefer to visit at a quieter time, June to November is an excellent time. During this period, the waters and climate are still fantastic, with a diverse amount of wildlife to see.

If you are concerned about hurricanes, there is little need to worry. Although there are plenty of warnings, Puerto Rico is somewhat off the hurricane track. Hurricanes are rare, with the last two major hurricanes happening in 2017 and 1931.

Location

Las Cuevas

A veritable underwater amusement park Las Cuevas should be on every itinerary for a scuba diving Puerto Rico trip. The site is home to an extensive collection of tunnels, caverns, canyons, and arches. The site is relatively shallow, with a maximum depth of 30ft/9m. making it the perfect dive site for beginners or an easy second dive of the day.

Located off Desecheo Island, the site is only reachable by boat; however, it is more than worth the trip. Las Cuevas is home to a rich and diverse marine life scattered in the caverns and tunnels and on the reef outside. Exploring the walls of the caverns and arches, you can find small crabs, lobsters, and small shrimps. It is best to bring a torch to help with your discoveries. There is still plenty of marine life swimming outside the caverns and tunnels. You can encounter many different reef fish darting around and the occasional shark sleeping on the sandy bottom.

Cayo Lobito

Arguably the Puerto Rican capital of nurse sharks, a scuba diving Puerto Rico trip would not be complete without a trip to Cayo Lobito. A small shore diving site located off Culebra, Cayo Lobito is not a deep dive and is open to advanced and intermediate divers with a dive depth around 75ft/22.5m

Dropping down on the coral reef, you will find a great reef followed by nurse shark after nurse shark and another nurse shark. After getting bored with nurse sharks, you will see that you can also find jacks, barracuda, and a range of other reef fish at the site. A closer look around the coral will soon produce a host of other smaller critters, shrimps, crabs, and nudibranchs.

Aside from the great marine life, and relatively easy diving conditions, Cayo Lobito is also well known for having outstanding visibility.

B-29 Bomber Wreck

Diving the B29 wreck highlights any scuba diving Puerto Rico trip. This unique bomber crashed into the ocean in the water off Aguadilla in 1946. The wreck is only open to advanced divers since it lies on the sea bottom at a depth ranging from 111ft/34m and 120ft/37m and lies two to three miles from the coast of Aguadilla.

The aircraft was flown by 2nd Lieutenant James B. Giacomo and 2nd Lieutenant James A. Barrett, while the flight engineer was master Master Sergeant Edward Herrick. Talking about the crash, Lt. Giacomo said that the aircraft skimmed the water for around 400 feet before the nose dug into the sea and went under. The impact put enormous stressors on the plane’s superstructure, and the B29 broke around the radar dome in half. According to the surviving crew, the tail section sank rapidly, disappearing in about 45 seconds. The front of the aircraft bobbed around on the surface for around 4 minutes before plunging into the sea.

You can see the effects of the crash impact when you dive the wreck. There is a large debris field in the middle of the sandy and coral bottom. In the middle of this, you can make out the canter of the fuselage section with 140ft/60m wings. You can still see the four engines hanging off the wings. The propellers were ripped off in the crash, and all four can be found lying neatly nearby on the seafloor.

Diving the B29 is a great dive into history and a rare chance to dive with a WWII-era aircraft still in remarkably good condition. Over the years, the airframe has developed lots of coral growth, and there is lots of marine life on the wreck. When coupled with the excellent visibility at the site, make the B29 one of the most memorable dives of your scuba diving Puerto Rico trip.

Angel Reef

Angel reef would match the description if you had to describe the perfect dive and snorkeling site. This pristine dive site offers some of the healthiest vibrant coral and marine life on any scuba diving Puerto Rico itinerary.

Angel Reef is suitable for every level of diver and is relatively shallow, ranging in depth from 40ft/12m to 60ft/18m. the healthy coral supports a diverse marine ecosystem with many reef fishes darting around. You can see big schools of butterflyfish, damselfish, and grey angelfish, to name a few.

When diving Angel reef, you can also have a small looking into history since the ref is home to fish and a host of old Spanish anchors abandoned centuries ago. With perfect easy conditions, a shallow depth, and rich marine life, Angel reef is ideal for everything from a chilled-out second dive for experienced divers to a try dive or even a snorkel for non-divers.

Scuba Diving Puerto Rico Island Gem Mona Island

Mona island is the jewel in the crown of Puerto Rican diving. So much so that if your scuba diving Puerto Rico trip misses Mona Island, then you haven’t really dived Puerto Rico. Mona island is home to some incredible pelagic diving and high-octane scuba adventures. Slipping into the water off the island, you can encounter a large variety of large animals, including Humpback whales and sharks.

The island lies 50 miles off the coast of Puerto Rico, making it a long journey but won that is well worth it. While typically it is only dived via liveaboard, day boats occasionally venture out this far, and if you are offered the opportunity, you should jump at it.

The water around Mona offers unparalleled visibility that can reach a stunning 165ft/73m. its location where the Atlantic meets the Caribbean means that it is home to strong currents, and strong currents need big fish to swim in them. Diving off Mona Island, you can find beautiful corals and biodiversity. Encounters with turtles, sharks, Humpback whales, and more are regular in the right season. Many divers describe diving on Mona Island as a warm water version of Socorro or Galapagos. Due to the conditions, Mona Island is only suitable for experienced divers.

One thing to note is that if you would like to visit the land of Mona island itself, you need a permit. You can obtain a permit from the local environmental department.

Click here for more Top Dive Sites of the World

Brought To You By

Our Top Dive Sites of the World guide is brought to you by Suunto. We recommend that you use a Suunto Dive Computer when scuba diving or freediving at one of these dive sites. Suunto is the world’s leading dive computer designer and manufacturer providing diving instruments for recreational, technical, and freediving.  You can find out more at Suunto.com.

How Scuba Diving Can Help Your Mental Health

Cecily Russell October 2, 2022

It’s time to put positive mental health first with Live Unfiltered ‘s motto, “Living Without Limits”. More than 50% of people have been or will be diagnosed with a mental disorder in their lifetime, and that’s not counting those who simply haven’t been diagnosed. This is the harsh reality of the filtered, unnatural world we live in. This is a world where we are always in a hurry, in a non-stop race, where we are constantly surrounded by bright, blinding advertising and the pressure of the mental environment of society, from which it is very difficult to escape – all this, alas, leads to poor mental health and unhealthy behavior.

What solution can be found to deal with this pressure? Live without limits, trying to interact with the real, natural, unfiltered world for us by a third party – Live Unfiltered! At least for a while, free yourself from the painful attachment to the wheel of daily worries that never stops. To live without restrictions, a filter means to immerse yourself in a natural, real natural environment, for example, in the underwater world. This, in turn, is extremely conducive to positivity and mental health!

If you are a veteran scuba diver, you know how diving can improve your mental health. If you are a beginner, you may not have experienced this feeling yet. Diving and exploring the underwater world is not only a joy, but it can also significantly improve your mood, reduce stress and anxiety. A 2016 study by the University of Sheffield School of Medicine found a significant improvement in the mental health and well-being of military veterans who completed the PADI Deptherapy program. Among them were those who received physical injuries, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The people who participated in the study noted reduction in insomnia, anxiety and depression .

Diving improves mental health by improving physical condition

It’s safe to say that people who go in for diving should be in good physical health (as you noticed when filling out a medical questionnaire before diving). In addition, many divers find that the more they improve their physical health, the better and lighter they feel during their dives – think of the ease of breathing, the strength to carry equipment and the great endurance it takes to complete several dives a day!

Not only does it work one way – you need to be in good physical health to dive, but diving itself can help improve your fitness level! Diving can help lower blood pressure and improve joint flexibility. While physical health and mental health may seem like two different areas, being in poor physical shape is more likely to exacerbate psychiatric symptoms (such as anxiety and depression). Therefore, by improving your physical health through diving and regular diving, you will also improve your mental health.

Certification increases self-confidence

Many of us already know that when we achieve something, our attitude towards ourselves tends to improve. A sense of accomplishment often makes people feel successful, satisfied, and energized. A great example of such an achievement is getting a PADI certification, whether it’s an Open Water Diver course, a Divemaster qualification or something else!

In turn, your newfound self-confidence is likely to help improve your mental health.

Learn more about getting certified:

– Why it’s never too late to get certified in scuba diving

– How to prepare for an Open Water Diver course

It’s a form of meditation

you may be repeating the most important rule of scuba diving every time you dive like a mantra: never hold your breath . This is not only important for your safety, but the fact is that the frequency of your breaths can affect how you dive. Long, slow, deep inhalations and exhalations ensure optimal air intake and greater relaxation underwater. How does this relate to improving your mental health? Focusing on your breath is a key component of meditation and yoga.

In addition, meditation and mindfulness in the outside world are effective ways to deal with psychic negativity. Mindfulness has been proven to be an effective remedy for psychological distress, which can improve your mental state. The peaceful, zen-like feeling that divers experience upon ascent is very similar to that experienced after a session of meditation or breathwork.

Close connection with the global community

Not having people to talk to can make you feel lonely and isolated. Unfortunately, this can cause mental disorders such as depression.

Since diving is always an activity in close contact with a partner, that is, for two, and sometimes for several people, you will not be left alone underwater. Not to mention that the courses are often held in groups! This is well known to those divers who have taken diving courses together – and of course the instructors – they often become friends and keep in touch. Diving can help you create your own small community of local divers or buddies that you meet both on dives in your own country and abroad. In addition, as a PADI Diver, you can become part of the PADI Torchbearer community and work together to protect the ocean.

Connecting with like-minded people in an unfiltered, real-life setting is a great way to boost morale and bring adventure into your life!

You may also like:

2022 PADI Torchbearers Adventure & Aquatic Encounters

Ready to feel better?

Clearly, scuba diving can greatly improve your mental health, especially through its ability to help you live a natural, unrestricted life – Live Unfiltered . The sense of camaraderie, combined with positive achievement and meditative inner work, makes diving a magical cure for the human body and mind.

If you are a beginner, you will be pleased to know that you can start learning to scuba dive right now on the Internet. Plus, if you’re itching to dive in, the PADI Travel team is available 24/7 to help you find your next perfect scuba adventure!

GET YOUR PADI CERTIFICATION

LEARN ABOUT DIVING TOURS

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Why is scuba diving good for your health?

If you’re looking for an adrenaline rush, there’s no better way than diving. Many people spend years scuba diving without knowing the health benefits. Let’s look at some facts about diving and its impact on a person’s psychological and physical health.

• Controlled breathing An important skill that you learn while scuba diving is the ability to maintain a constant breathing rate, which in turn leads to a stabilization of the heart rate. This is due to the limited amount of air underwater. You need to breathe slowly and evenly so that the air does not run out quickly, and do not hold your breath so as not to get lung barotrauma. The skill of “smooth” breathing and knowing what to do in all emergency situations are the opportunities that you will enrich your experience during the Diver NDL course in our club.
• Physical fitness. One of the benefits of scuba diving is to improve your overall fitness level. When you dive deep into the water, muscles that are not used in normal life have to work harder. This includes strengthening the back muscles. It improves your strength, flexibility and posture. Poor posture provokes various health problems, especially with the spine. Avoid long hours of sitting in front of a computer monitor and devote this time to diving to revitalize your muscles and return them to a state of healthy tone.
• Low blood pressure
  
  When you learn to breathe under water, your heart rate will become more stable. The coolness of the water slows down the blood flow in the peripheral vessels due to their service – blood pressure rises slightly in the first few moments of diving. This is facilitated by the release of adrenaline adrenaline, caused by passion, interest and an unusual network of activities. As you continue to exercise, you learn to control your heart rate to stay calm, which lowers your blood pressure. The heart rate will automatically decrease underwater after a while, resulting in a drop in blood pressure. This is another reason why scuba diving is good for your health.
• Healing effects of water
  
  Water makes your body better both externally and internally. Full immersion in water for the body is, first of all, an imitation of being in the womb. A sense of security balances the psyche and makes it more stable. It evokes a feeling of well-being and happiness.
  Sea water, due to its high salt content, contributes to rapid dehydration of the body. To cope with dehydration, it is necessary to drink enough water to replenish the liquid supply of cells, which is also useful for the functioning of the body as a whole.
• Interaction with marine life
  
  Under the water you can meet different types of marine animals that you have never seen before. How cool would it be if you ever accidentally discovered a new kind of fish or mammal? Scientists also believe that bright colors, such as the colors on and around reefs, promote feelings of happiness and instantly change mood. Depressive mood will go away under the onslaught of this beauty.
• Exposure to sunlight
  
  Your body needs extra sunlight, especially those who live in St. Petersburg, for example. Sunlight promotes the absorption of vitamin D, which strengthens the skeletal system. You will feel cheerful and the likelihood of bone diseases will decrease dramatically. The production of endorphins is also stimulated in the presence of sunlight. When you go scuba diving, you will most likely spend several hours or days in direct sunlight. The sun is very important for people of all ages.
• Social benefits

  When you go scuba diving, you usually have a partner to ride with you. If you are new and unfamiliar with this rule, or if you do not have a buddy (partner), you have nothing to worry about. Our club will find for you a diver who has similar interests and goals to you. Diving, as a tool of socialization, will allow you to meet new people, make friends, fall in love and discover new things in people and in yourself.

• An excellent stress reliever With the constant stressful informational pressure of the surrounding reality, there comes a moment when you are not able to carry any further load – you urgently need a break. Get rid of stress by going scuba diving! You will meet different people and be able to travel with them through the most beautiful ocean and seas of our planet. This will give you the opportunity to relieve stress and escape from the hustle and bustle.

  Under water, your heartbeat and breathing slows down, while you are in silence and “solitude” in the water column, all this gives an effect similar to meditation.