Dive Review of Taino Divers/Coconut Palms Inn in
Puerto Rico/Rincon

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Taino Divers/Coconut Palms Inn: "lovely trip", Dec, 2015, by Michael Joest, Kehl, DE ( Top Contributor 49 reports with 30 Helpful votes). Report 8787.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Puerto Rico – Rincon Part I Why is paradise so difficult to reach? I guess the place would be too crowded if not. On American Airline I went via Philadelphia to San Juan. Arrival 11 p.m , so I chose to catch up on sleep before continuing my trip to Mayaguez. AA did a good job, my luggage was checked through all the way from Frankfurt to Mayaguez, survived 3 flights and was on Cape Air flight to M. together with me. A twin engine Cessna took us, we had our first impressions and sightseeing of the countryside, green everywhere and beautiful coastline. We passed through clouds and scratched along these only few meters above, a wouh moment for me. With rental car I reached my hotel in Rincon, the Coconut Palms Inn. It´s a small but lovely privately run place right on the beach. You will find everything for self catering in the room, microwave, refrigerator, tea and coffee making facilities, a grill place outside on the balcony. However with so many restaurants for every taste and budget around town, I chose to try as many as possible. I had mouthwatering meals, rib night at the Shipwreck, fresh oyster at some street stall, surf and turf, salmon chowder ….. yummy. On the Internet I found Taino Divers which got good marks and recommendations. I went straight to them. Taino could not remember my e-mails with flight schedules and my planned diving days here. They had to look into their files to find me again. I was lucky, on Mo. space was still available, Tue. They so far had no bookings , Wed. would give me one more diving day, Thur. they had to pull the boat out of the water for some maintenance, Fri. still a big question mark. I had told them by e-mail I´d planned on 5 days of two tank diving with the chance to go to Desecheo once or twice. T D charge 120 $ for two tank dive, which I feel is a bit high on the ladder of dive rates. This amount they charge in Palau on Japanese Golden Week, but only then. It was strange with Taino. My first @ got answered immediately. They told me they need the phone number of the space I stay at in Rincon and my credit card details. First they got right away, the second I offered on a safe form of their website. Then they just said, they have space available every day during my time there, I should turn up on arrival. First day of diving started with bad news. The skipper decided not to go to Desecheo, it was too windy, so too choppy a ride out and weather forecast wasn´t good. Actually, I´m so sick of all these I think lame excuses which I heard during all my diving vacations. I feel I missed so many awesome dives just because someone was not in the right mood, wanted to save petrol, cause beginners were on board, the sea or current was too rough ….etcetera. Sometimes I just can´t believe this anymore. On the other hand you could say, I was lucky to have missed these, I might not be around anymore if not. Who knows the truth? We did two dives from the boat close to the mainland. Vis was less than 10 m water temperature 27 C, some scattered nice coral and sponges on boulders in sandy patches. There was some colorful fish life around, two barracuda, one moray eel, one lobster – a good intro dive but not much more. At the harbor no working jetty, so the boat comes as close as possible to the beach. All divers and snorkelers form a line to get all gear and tanks from the truck bed onto the Katmandu. This for 120 – I mean I don´t mind carrying gear and tanks once in a while. In southern Europe this is daily routine. In many Asian countries you don´t touch your gear at all and pay less than here. The boat is rather small, shade you will only find around the wheel, so better bring plenty of sunscreen. Dive time ran around 50 min, I surfaced with 100 bar. Rincon is a lovely town scattered along beaches and hills, seems to be a surfers paradise. Went to the famous „La Caverna“ near Camuy, it´s an impressive cave system where you ride down to the entry with a little train then hike deep into the cave. There are huge stalactites which nature formed into weird monuments, there are sinkholes with opening to sky and jungle, impressive to see. Bats hang around the ceiling from which water drops all the time, it´s drinking water quality so just turn your head up and open your mouth when you are thirsty. Diving with Taino on Wednesday started well with the chance to go and dive Desecheo. It´s a 45 min ride out to the island. Taino Divers give a good dive briefing and boat procedure. Big surprise, they don´t insist on buddy teams, so when you are good on air you can still cruise along the reef while your buddy slowly ascends for safety stop and boat. Vis was great estimated 50 m plus, water temp 27 C, boulders with scattered sponges and coral, not a lot of fish around. 3 nurse sharks were cruising by, there are some nice swim through close to the shore, which give opportunity for some shots of surf hitting the island right above your head. You are not allowed to visit the island, it´s a protected area and once was a target practice place for the air force. It seems unexploded bombs, still active, are somewhere around, one lies in 9 m of water. Thursday diving was off due to maintenance on the boat. For Friday they had not enough bookings. So out of 5 planned diving days I only got 2. I asked Taino for other dive centers around Rincon. They told me these are only offering shore based diving. Do you expect your dive center to check with competitors to give you the chance of more diving, when they can´t offer you all? Actually some do or at least call and check the other center for dive schedules to inform their customers. Coconut Palms Inn is a lovely home away from home. Pelicans fly along the beach, all of sudden folding their wings and head diving in to catch some fish. It´s spectacular to watch them, but rather difficult to zoom in on with your camera. I tried several times to catch them but never managed to get the right moment, so gave it up. The sunset is breathtaking nearly every late afternoon you will see this amazing spectacle of nature.
Websites	Taino Divers
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	worldwide
Closest Airport	Mayaguez	Getting There	via San Juan
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	surge
Water Temp	27-28°C / 81-82°F	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	15-50 M / 49-164 Ft
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters	N/A	Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
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	[None]

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Dive Review of Taino Divers/Coconut Palms Inn in Puerto Rico/Rincon

Taino Divers/Coconut Palms Inn: "lovely trip", Dec, 2015,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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 Taino Divers/Coconut Palms Inn in
Puerto Rico/Rincon