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Dive Review of Taino Divers in
Puerto Rico/Desecheo Island

Taino Divers, Jun, 2007,

by Ian Kennedy, California, USA (Contributor Contributor 13 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 3442.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 3 stars Food 3 stars
Service and Attitude 3 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving 1 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 3 stars
Comments We spent about a week in PR in late June. The southern part of the island was off the tourist trail and interesting. It looked a lot like a typical Caribbean island, with lots of stray dogs running around, chickens, little road-side shacks and so on. The interior mountains were very nice. We encountered nice beaches on the west side of the island, from Boqueron up to Rincon. We spent most of our time at Rincon which is a mecca for board riders in winter when the swells get up. We stayed in one of the Punta Villas condos that was nice except for the lack of hot water – a good thing the cold water was at least tepid.

I went diving with Taino Divers in Rincon for 3 days. I had met the co-owner, Carson, on a live-aboard on the GBR in Australia in September in 2006; we stayed in touch. We went to Desecheo Island each day for a two tank trip. It is about 40 minutes in their small twin outboard boat from Rincon. The boat holds up to about 12 divers. Part of the fun is the loading process – all customers and crew help lift tanks and gear off a truck and shuttle it along a human chain over to the boat that is beached alongside. The reverse procedure applies when you get back home. The boat does not have a head and does not offer a lot of shade. Pick the starboard side for the ride home to avoid a thorough salt spray soaking.

Each dive is led by a dive-master. Photographers would be advised to ask to dive as a separate pair so that they could have more time to observe and shoot. In fact, this suggestion was made, post-dive, by a divemaster to some photographers. The visibility was great – at least 100 feet on each dive. Conditions are great for all levels of divers. We encountered significant current on only one dive that made an ascent up the anchor line advisable. Depths ranged from about 25 feet to about 70 feet.

All the dives take place close to the island. There are many swim-throughs and small caverns that make for interesting underwater topology. There are some corals but they are not abundant. On the other hand, we came across several unexploded bombs that were left over from the US military use of the island. They add an element of interest to dropping the anchor. The fish life was good in some areas, lacking in some other sites. I saw one turtle, one barracuda, but no sharks at all, over my 3 days. The rest of the fish included the usual characters – parrot fish etc. So although the conditions were excellent, I could not say that the fish life was as abundant or varied as other dive locations that I have seen (Fiji and Cozumel spring to mind).

Taino Divers did an excellent job of taking care of us. The dives were well organized, customers were treated well, the dive-masters were knowledgeable, enthusiastic and courteous. In general, a very nice group of people to spend 3 days diving with.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving Eastern Pacific, Western Pacific, Caribbean
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm
Water Temp 82-84°F / 28-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 80-100 Ft/ 24-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions A DM went down on each dive, but you could ask to do your own thing if you wanted to I think.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles 1 or 2 Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 2 stars
Small Critters 2 stars Large Fish 1 stars
Large Pelagics 1 stars

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

Subject Matter 2 stars Boat Facilities 1 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 2 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments [None]
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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