Most people get the diving bug simply from snorkeling. Then comes the lessons for SCUBA diving and then after the sport diving begins inevitably the truly adventurous begin looking for more diving challenges such as tri-mix air for deeper dives, cave diving or wreck diving.
Puerto Rico has a few cool wrecks to dive and every diver should make a mark on their diving dance card to check these out:
The reef life around Puerto Rico is amazingly diverse. With brightly colored fishes, eagle rays, morays, groupers, and the occasional nurse shark. There are numerous shipwrecks that are still hidden in the shallow water surrounding Puerto Rico waiting to be discovered and occasionally gold doubloons are still found.
Here are a few more wreck diving destinations in Puerto Rico:
AIRPLANE
The Airplane wreck is the remains of a six passenger Piper Cherokee monoplane. The Piper, which was built in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, is now resting in 50 feet of water. Much of the aircraft is covered by sponge and coral and the reef life is usually very active for both day and night dives.
DESTROYER
There is an old, decommissioned Navy destroyer sunk off the east end of Vieques Island. The ship was once used for target practice and is now very broken up and scattered in 35 to 40 feet of water. The Destroyer wreck is resting on a sandy bottom and holds a good amount of marine life.
TUG BOAT
This wreck is an 80 foot long, ocean going tug that ran aground on Culebrita Reef. The wreck is sitting upright and intact in very shallow water of only 40 feet and is ideal for divers just learning to explore wrecks because of it's shallow placement. Coral, sponge and a good assortment of marine creatures can be found all over this wreck.
BARGE
An old sugar cane barge of unknown origin lies about one mile off the shore of Cayo Santiago off Humacao. This wreck lies intact and upright in forty feet of water on a sand and grass bottom. The marine life is fairly sparse but there is almost no current and is easy for new divers to navigate.
If you are ready to visit
Puerto Rico, get a copy of your birth certificate and get your passport ready and visit soon. The diving is good almost all year round and it's the best from May through October.
Labels: Puerto Rico, puerto rico travel, PuertoRico, San Juan Puerto Rico