California Diver wants to visit PR

    Puerto Rico people- wanna help me out?


    I am going to be going to Puerto Rico in mid-late March with my family (my retired parents and my brother). The rest of them do not go near the water and think I am a lunatic, but they are essentially giving me free reign while we're there to go diving and fishing:


    My experience is limited to the West Coast - Southern California, Norcal, Baja/Sea of Cortez - as well freshwater in Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, where I've done 2 tournaments. This will be my first endeavor in the Caribbean.


    I'm principally a shore-based reef diver, and that will probably be dictating how I do this trip, unless I get on a boat.


    My questions are:


    -How easy is renting a car and driving to shore-based dive spots? Crime and getting the car broken into?
    -My parents are mainly interested in hiking in the forests in the interior, so we will likely be staying at a hotel in the northeast. Is Fajardo (and places nearby) divable by shore? Is it easy to get on ferries with spearfishing gear to Culebra?
    -I have read about reserves, but am unclear as to their locations.
    -Realistically, I'm not looking to come in with guns blazing. I know every place has its overfishing problems, and I also need to try to take and eat within my means for my shore stay. So, presuming that I manage to dive and successfully catch some fish, are there restaurants that will cook people's catches for a fee?
    -Are bull sharks an issue? I will put fish on the float as a precaution anyways.
    -Are these the absolute latest edition of the regulations? http://www.caribbeanfmc.com/RE…-pr/Rgl6768--feb-2004.pdf
    -Lastly, I've always been perfectly comfortable diving solo, but it never hurts to have a buddy.


    More questions later probably!


    Gracias a todos.


    Alex Stover

    Alex

    Hi Alex, Lots of questions.......


    It's real easy to rent a car and go diving you can go pretty much all over the island and do some shore diving and actually you can hit real nice reefs all around, anything from real shallow to real deep. Fajardo is a real good area for shore fishing and also to find someone with a boat that will take you fishing. Also Fajardo is where you take the ferry boat to Culebra Island, you can take your gear with you but the captain of the ferry boat will hold your gun during the travel to and from Culebra and give it back to you upon arrival to port. Travel time to and from Culebra is 1:15 min more or less and cost $2.25 each way. There is only one reserve on Culebra and is well marked but the rest of the Island is diveable from shore. The restaurant owners are pretty friendly and I'm shure they can cook your catch. The best way to enjoy the Island is to try and stay a few days and I'm more than shure that your parents will love the little island. You'll get a chance to catch fish, lobsters, conch and octopus. Bull sharks are not an issue but them 12 foot tigers will get real annoying sometimes, nah I'm just kidding! Sharks are not a real issue you might not even see one during your stay but if you do and you think you can handle it they are fair game here. Nurse sharks are protected. You got a better chance of having a big barracuda snatching fish from your float. Those regulations you have there are outdated so are the latest ones since we're on the process of doing the new regs. But don't worry much since you might never be aproached by any game warden during your lifetime here in P.R. But don't get me wrong most seriuos spearos and fishermen here do go with the law. Let me know when you're coming for shure and if I'm here we can do a little fishing or hook you up with one of the locals. I go to culebra a couple times each month and we can hit the shores for shure or do a some from a boat depending on how things are going by then. If any more questions feel free to PM me and I will help you as much as I can.

    Much appreciated billy! Exactly the kind of info i needed. i will keep you updated on my exact plans. Looking forward to meeting some pr spearos and experiencing
    the caribbean for the first time!

    Alex

    I just got back yesterday.


    Unfortunately, things turned into a bit more of a family-oriented trip due to both my parents' ill health at the time, combined with some wind and poor diving conditions. Nonetheless, I was able to get in two solid dives.


    Impressions in brief, from the perspective of a west coaster: WOW, the water is warm in that part of the world. The idea of salt water over 80 degrees was totally foreign to me before now. It felt amazing. Secondly, even though the viz was "bad" at 10-15 feet, now I actually can understand how that would be considered bad, since in CA we're actually spoiled in the sense that we can locate divable reef structure very easily from the surface (either shore or boat) based on the kelp beds, and the flow of geography/geology on land and into the water. By contrast, any good rocky reef that I was able to locate in Puerto Rico from shore was a lot more at random, so I can see how 30-100 foot of viz would be a big advantage - or even a necessity - to hunting. Lastly, everyone I ran into in Puerto Rico was extremely friendly and hospitable :)


    I was able to shoot two fish -one of which was a lionfish. Those things were everywhere :( The other was a small parrotfish that made excellent ceviche.


    Short video of footage I was able to get:


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiGHROilycU

    Alex

    Cool video, vis was bad by our standards but it gets like that sometimes this time of the year around that area. Another friend of mine was fishing Vieques that same day and told me thas vis was bad and he was fishing from a boat. So maybe next time.....:)

    Nice video. Which side of the island did you dive? I'm thinking about doing a long weekend down there over the next couple of months.

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