Dive Review of Island Scuba in
Puerto Rico/Guanica

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Island Scuba: "Very good dive operation on SW part of island", Jan, 2017, by Mark Zahorik, IL, US ( Contributor 15 reports with 6 Helpful votes). Report 9467.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food	N/A
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I visit PR several times each winter and have logged 200+ dives there over the last 15 years. As an aside, my ranking of the best dive areas on mainland Puerto Rico is as follows (best to worse): Guanica wall on the SW coast, Desecheo island on the west coast, Patillas on the SE coast, Humacoa out of Palmas Del Mar(also SE)& finally way down the list are the dive sites in Fajardo (NE). Separately, the dive sites in both Culebra & Vieques are quite nice too. The drawback to Guanica is the long drive from most of the hotel areas in San Juan and/or Fajardo (100+ miles each way). Nevertheless, the diving is worth the drive. The other bonus to Guanica is that the south side of the island is more arid, so its much more likely to be sunny in Guanica versus Fajardo (near rain forest). I made reservations w/Island Scuba two days in advance. They had no issues taking out just two paying customers. Husband (Pedro) and wife (Nania) are owner/operators of this shop. Pedro led the group and had an unusual setup: doubles that were both sidemounted. The boat was ~32' and felt spacious w/just four onboard. Most shops in PR do not offer nitrox, so I was pleasantly surprised that they offered a 32% mix for the two tank dive. The 32% nitrox mix allowed for 62 minutes of bottom time on our first dive to 101' and 74 minutes at the shallow 55' second dive. The first dive site "Hatches" began ~55' and sloped down to 250'. Excellent vis ~120'. Saw six large moray eels, three of which were swimming in the open. Saw one 6' reef shark, lobsters, schools of French grunts, snapper. The second dive "no-name reef" had a variety of low overhangs w/lots of schools of grunts and again at least six more 6' moray eels, but vis was closer to ~70'. I brought my lionfish spear and dispatched 4. Overall, very healthy reefs w/plenty of marine life. I plan to make the drive next time I am there too...WELL WORTH THE EXTRA DRIVE!
Websites	Island Scuba
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	All over Caribbean, Hawaii, Lake Michigan wrecks, Indonesia, Palua, Yap
Closest Airport	Ponce	Getting There	Drive from San Juan (SJU)
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	78-79°F / 26-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	60-120 Ft/ 18-37 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Since it was just the divemaster and two paying customers, no real restrictions: Watch your own air & signal at half tank
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Spacious boat for our small group. Fresh water bucket for camera

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Dive Review of Island Scuba in Puerto Rico/Guanica

Island Scuba: "Very good dive operation on SW part of island", Jan, 2017,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Island Scuba in
Puerto Rico/Guanica