Great Diving at the Wall in La Parguera
If you are headed to Puerto Rico for vacation and want to do some SCUBA diving, there are a few different regions that are popular for diving — the north-east (including Culebra and Vieques), the south and the west.
During a trip to the south-west part of the island, we found some diving that I thought was the best I’ve experienced here in PR. That region is home to "the Wall" and the diving was great!
Our Dive Experience So Far
We live the north-east part of Puerto Rico and we enjoy the diving here — but we are less than impressed. We look at diving in this area simply as "time underwater". But, as they say "a bad day diving is better than a good day at work". Having read in numerous dive magazines about how great the diving is in Puerto Rico, we figured that we must be missing something — so we ventured out. During a visit to Guanica, we decided we had to check out the south-west below the surface.
Our Trip into La Parguera
The company we went with is no longer in business, but there are a couple dive shops located in La Parguera and surrounding towns.
Most tours like to go early, before the seas pick up, so plan accordingly. Since we were diving in open ocean, and the waves can get rough, we all set up our own BCs and tanks before leaving the dock. The crew gave us a brief boat orientation and then we headed out into the ocean.
The boat ride was approximately 30 minutes each way. The first 20 minutes are in a calm channel, then you head out into open seas where the waves pick up. Luckily it wasn’t too rough that day, but Ray was glad he took his Dramamine! Once at the first dive site, they gave us a dive briefing, then we got geared-up and jumped in!
The Diving
What can I say? It was fantastic! Diving the wall here was comparable to Cozumel, but without the current. The water was warm, the visibility was great — probably around 70 feet. There was a slight current on our second dive, but it was not too bad. We went during a rainy day, so unfortunately the sun was not out. I imagine, if the sun was out, the reefs would have been spectacular.
Our first dive site is known as both Black Wall and Effrie’s. It was on the wall, starting at about 60 feet and from there it goes down to more than 200 feet. Of course, we only dove to about 85 feet and then worked our way back up. It was great. We were able to get a 48-minute dive at that first site.
After a nice, long surface interval, we had our second dive at a site known as Old Buoy. Another nice wall dive, but of course shallower this time. Our maximum depth on this dive was about 60 feet. There were all sorts of canyons and trenches we swam in/trough. We stayed down only about 35 minutes, but I could have stayed all day!
At both sites, the walls and reefs were covered with fans, corals, sponges and all sorts of sea life. Everything was very colorful, healthy and alive.
Details
Here are dive companies in the area:
Paradise Scuba and Snorkeling Center. Check out their website or call them at (787)899-7611.
Island Scuba in Guanica offers dives of The Wall also. You can visit their website for more information.
Papayo Divers in Lajas that also offers dives of The Wall. You can visit their website for more information.
If you're happy, let them know it — Don't forget to tip your your bartender, tour guide or trip operator if you enjoyed yourself. Gratuities are appreciated and typically aren't included in the price they charge you.
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