Dive Review of Oceans Unlimited, Taino Divers, and Parguera Diver/N/A in
Puerto Rico/West Coast

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Oceans Unlimited, Taino Divers, and Parguera Diver/N/A, Jun, 2004, by Edward Clapp, CA, USA ( Reviewer 3 reports). Report 1254.
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	Puerto Rico's diving is good but not first class and it's expensive ($70 - $90 for a two tank boat dive). I can't recommend going just for the diving, but the island has remarkable beauty making it worthwhile to visit; diving can be a part of it. Here are some of the things you should see in Puerto Rico: o Phosphorescent Bay, an explosive night underwater light display (no diving, but be sure the boat you go on allows you to swim); you get to see fish swimming as dancing lines of light. o Rio Camuy, a cave system formed by the 3rd largest known underground river. o El Yunque, a tropical rain forest, with lovely hiking. o Old San Juan, a beautiful city with fascinating architecture, enclosed in a fortress system. Caveats: don't leave valuables visible in your car anywhere on the island. They are likely to disappear. You almost certainly will need a car and driving patterns on the island are, um, different than they are on the mainland. There were a number of commonalities among the dive operations. All had useful websites, were helpful with arrangements, and were competent and pleasant. They worked pretty much the same way, too. The boat leaves 8:00-ish, you dive, eat lunch which they provide, dive again, and return 3:00-ish. Briefings are adequate but (and?) there are no warnings about keeping hands off things or harrassing the animals. The areas have been fished (though that's no longer allowed at Desecheo, maybe - see below), so you won't see much by way of big fish. You are required to dive with the group lead by a divemaster; profiles are sensible but require either computers or faith in the divemaster. OU and Taino primarily dive off Desecheo Island, and at the end of the dive with them it's OK to use remaining air at shallow depth near the boat. Snorkling is possible for those who don't dive. PD dives off a wall and the boat is anchored too deep for this: you come up with the divemaster. Warning: it's not exactly calm out there and people were sea-sick on all three boats. Differences. Oceans Unlimited (www.oceans-unlimited.com) OU has a large boat with a good-sized cabin with a head. It's got tables and indoor seating for a dozen or so people. With fewer people, or if most are on deck, there's space to stretch out for a nap. They also provide the best lunches. Given their size, they can spread out stuff for you to build your own sandwiches. But their boat is located quite a ways from their dive destinations and about a 45 minute ride. OU also arranges trips to Mona Island, some 50 miles out, which people who've been there say is magnificant, though a recent Undercurrent review disagreed. On one dive, OU permitted a diver to hunt for lobsters with a pole with a metal loop at the end. Their policy permits this, with the expectation divers will be "taking only what they will eat, considering the size of the animal and of course releasing the animal if it is harboring eggs." The divemaster once pulled a crab out of a hole to show to people on the boat (I don't know how its fate). Taino Divers's (www.tainodivers.com) TD's boat isn't large, they have shade but no real cabin, and their lunches are premade with no suggestion that you could make specific requests, which they do accept. If you have food preferences, you'd best let them know in advance (though you might want to bring backup food: on one of our trips a vegetarian's request was forgotten). One oddity about the operation is how you get on and off the boat: it's driven onto the beach and everyone forms a human chain to load it and then climbs aboard. The process is reversed at the end of the trip. The divemasters were good at spotting fish. They were also good at "encouraging" them to leave where they were so divers can better appreciate them. On one dive, a nurse shark and an octopus were accorded this treatment. They weren't so good at customer's needs. My dive buddy has ear problems, which we repeatedly reminded divemasters about. On our last TD dive of the 2nd day, the divemaster decided on a dive called "The Caves", which featured swimthroughs at shallow and varying depths. As described, the dive was to start with a few swimthroughs and then move to deeper water without the up-and-down that can be hard on ears. Once in the water, she seemed to have forgotten about the latter part. After a few swimthroughs, we gave up and stayed outside, but she didn't get the hint and never did the second part of the dive. This was a contributing factor to my dive buddy missing out on a day with Parguera Divers. TD does an occasional Mona Island dive. Parguera Divers's (www.pargueradivers.com) Their boat also isn't large and it too has some shade but doesn't have a real cabin. But then, the trip out is only 25-30 minutes and they generally get back 12:30-1:00. As with TD, their lunches are premade and again you're not asked about preferences. They do wall diving, so as mentioned before, you can't get a lot of bottom time in and there's no point getting on the boat if you intend to merely snorkle. There may be scheduling issues for the different boats. Parguera apparently dives if weather permits, regardless of the number of customers but TD needs to have enough to commit to a dive. I didn't get that impression from OU, but don't know for sure. All the operations were clear about when dives were happening and we had no difficulty with cancellations.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Hawaii, California coast from San Diego to Monterey, Florida, and over half a dozen places in the Caribban.
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, noCurrents
Water Temp	80-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	0
Water Visibility	80-100 Ft/ 24-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Required to dive with divemaster
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 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	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Didn't check.

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Dive Review of Oceans Unlimited, Taino Divers, and Parguera Diver/N/A in Puerto Rico/West Coast

Oceans Unlimited, Taino Divers, and Parguera Diver/N/A, Jun, 2004,

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 Oceans Unlimited, Taino Divers, and Parguera Diver/N/A in
Puerto Rico/West Coast