Dive Review of Sea Ventures/ Parguera Divers/Copamarina Resort in
Puerto Rico/Guanica

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Sea Ventures/ Parguera Divers/Copamarina Resort, Oct, 2007, by Brent Barnes, OK, USA ( Reviewer 6 reports with 5 Helpful votes). Report 3733.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This was our first trip to Puerto Rico. There are several good areas of diving on the island, but the best diving is on the southwest side (wall diving), the west end and Desecheo and Mona Islands. Flight was an easy one hop from Dallas and airport was easy to get through. Rented a minivan for our group, I believe renting a car is a must as there is quite a bit to see and do in different parts of the island. The island is absolutely beautiful with dramatic mountainous areas in the central island, rainforests in the northeast end and dry forest in the southwest. All make for an excellent half-day of land exploration. We stayed at the Copamarina Resort in Guanica, which was a 2.5 hour drive from San Juan. Highway system is modern and easy to get around and we easily found Guanica. However, getting to the Copamarina Resort is tricky and requires a drive of several miles on a very narrow and twisted paved road with virtually no signs to the resort. Recommend renting a navigation system through the rental car agency which will take you right to the resort. The resort was absolutely wonderful and top-notch with several pools, hot tubs, etc. There were few people there in October, so we asked for and received a free upgrade to a superior ocean-front room. There are two on-site restaurants, we ate at the Palms cafe which had good lunch and dinner. Did not eat at the formal restaurant but it is reportedly outstanding but expensive. This is a wonderful resort for the diver with non-diving family or kids. Dove 3 days with Sea Ventures, which is the dive shop on the resort itself and one day with Parguera Divers. Both excellent operations. Sea Ventures appears to take up to 20 divers or so, but we never had more than 7. Dive briefings were somewhat sparse. No nitrox available through Sea Ventures. First dive was on the wall, second was on a reef. Dives were generally 45 - 50 minutes and led by a guide. You had to stay with the guide through the dive, but towards the end back near the boat you were allowed to explore on your own and extend your dive as long as you wanted while coming up with 500 psi. On our third day, Sea Ventures boat's engine broke in between dives. We snorkeled while waiting for a pick-up from another boat. We did not get to make our second dive that day and were obviously not billed for the second dive. They were unable to take us out our last day, so Sea Ventures made arrangements for us to dive with Parguera Divers. Parguera Divers is approximately 25 minutes from the Copamarina Resort. They take out small groups, our three divers where the only ones on board. Dive briefing was outstanding, surface interval was at sea on the boat and sandwiches were served. Dives were loosely led by a guide and were 45 - 55 minutes. Parguera normally does nitrox, but their blender was down so again we dove air. The diving on the wall of southern Puerto Rico was very good. We dove Black Wall and Fallen Rock - the wall there is every bit as good and the coral as healthy as more famous islands for diving such as Grand Cayman and Cozumel - the main difference is the visibility in Puerto Rico will sometimes not be as good. I am told visibility on the wall of southern Puerto Rico is generally 80 feet, but we had several dives of 30 - 50 foot viz. Coral is very healthy and there were many fish, though not many large fish. Saw at least one large green moray on 6 of our 7 dives and saw several morays on some of the dives -I saw more large green morays consistently in Puerto Rico than anywhere else I have dived. Turtles were present on most dives and were not shy of divers. A couple of nurse sharks were also seen. No other pelagics, though I was told they do have whale sightings occasionally during certain seasons. Neither Sea Ventures or Parguera divers routinely offer 2-tank afternoon dives, only morning dives. Night dives are available but must have a minimum number of divers. Ponce is an interesting town and worth visiting one evening. The short hike to the Cabo Rojo lighthouse on the southwest tip of the island has dramatic scenery and is worth the drive and hike. I also recommend a night snorkel in the bioluminescent bay, the phosphorent show in the water is amazing and great to do with kids. English is fairly widely spoken in Puerto Rico, but I was surprised by the large number of locals that did not speak any English, especially on the southern side.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	[Unspecified]
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	81-84°F / 27-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	0
Water Visibility	30-80 Ft/ 9-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	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	Rinse bucket provided and care with cameras taken.

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Dive Review of Sea Ventures/ Parguera Divers/Copamarina Resort in Puerto Rico/Guanica

Sea Ventures/ Parguera Divers/Copamarina Resort, Oct, 2007,

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 Sea Ventures/ Parguera Divers/Copamarina Resort in
Puerto Rico/Guanica