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The Cracks
DEPTH: 60 feet | SKILL LEVEL: Novice | ACCESS: Boat
A short ride from the dock at Palmas del Mar resort near Humacao, The Cracks is the archetypal eastern site. From above, the reef looks like a giant jigsaw puzzle with its interlocking shapes just slightly askew. In between the rocks, the area's trademark channels are an arcade of marine life, with dozens of gobies tending shop at cleaning stations.
The Reserve
DEPTH: 50 feet | SKILL LEVEL: Novice | ACCESS: Boat
Also within a stone's throw of the dock at Palmas del Mar, The Reserve was named for the quantity and variety of tropical marine life gathered on this high-relief spur-and-groove reef system. Smaller tropicals are the rule, but don't be surprised if you turn the corner on a log-sized hogfish or two.
South Point
DEPTH: 10-70 feet | SKILL LEVEL: Novice | ACCESS: Boat
Boats from Fajardo make the trip to Palominitos Island and South Point at the tip of the island. Spur-and-groove fingers grow from a sandy bottom that slopes from 10 feet down to 35 feet. A brief wall coated with coral and sponges plummets from 35 feet to 70 feet. Invertebrates crowd the top reef and turtles are often found in the shallows
.Cayo Diablo West
DEPTH: 5-45 feet | SKILL LEVEL: Novice to Intermediate | ACCESS: Boat
Another Fajardo dive, access to Cayo Diablo can be limited by swells and wind. When the time is right, however, this is the right place. A fringing reef wraps the island in rings of hard and soft corals. Currents range from mild to strong, bringing in clear water along with schools of barracuda and the occasional eagle ray. There's a beach for surface intervals with some good snorkeling right in front.
Cayo Raton
DEPTH: 50 feet | SKILL LEVEL: Novice | ACCESS: Boat
Located on the west side of the island of Culebra, the Cayo is a small rocky islet. A patch reef on the east side is swarmed by schools of Spanish and French grunts intermixed with French and queen angels, jacks and rock beauties. Tangles of sponge add a touch of color to the volcanic reefscape, while large boulders provide ground for unlimited exploration.
Magical Mystery Tour
DEPTH: 20-40 feet | SKILL LEVEL: Novice to Intermediate | ACCESS: Boat
Presumably this Culebra site was named for its ability to take divers' breath away. More evidence of the area's volcanic origins can be seen in the maze of tunnels, archways and swim-throughs, all coated with coralline algae, corals and sponges in intense, psychedelic colors.
Desecho Island
DEPTH: 20-130 feet | SKILL LEVEL: Intermediate to Advanced | ACCESS: Boat
Located 14 miles off of Rincón, on the west side of the island. Thrust up by a slip fault in the ocean floor and surrounded by really, really, really deep water, Desecho is a gem. The sedimentary rock at the base of the island has been honeycombed by waves over the millennia, leaving caves above water and plenty of terraces, caverns and crevices below. Miles of red and lavender rope sponge snake over the rocky bottom with herds of black durgons, chromis and trumpetfish scooting in, among and between. The backside of Desecheo is a shallow coral garden, including an incredible field of five- to six-foot lavender sea fans.
Mona Island
DEPTH: 20-130 feet | SKILL LEVEL: Novice to Advanced | ACCESS: Boat
Beyond Desecheo is Mona, which lies halfway between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. The 45-mile ride can be rough, but the island has been nominated as a national marine sanctuary. The island is a platform that rises from mile-deep water. Despite having a diveable area of less than five square miles, Mona packs variety and intensity into every acre. Extensive, well-developed spur-and-groove systems, patch reefs, fringing reefs and deep vertical walls would be enough reason to visit. But the island also has an extensive system of underwater caverns called La Carmelitas in depths of 20 feet to 60 feet. The tunnels and undercuts swarm with fish and sessile life and giant basket sponges cling to the ledge at 100 feet. The southeastern edge of the island is rimmed by the Carabinero drop-off. From shore, the bottom extends out about 200 yards, sloping down to about 33 feet. From there, things get vertical, dropping to a narrow ledge at 50 feet, and then it's a straight shot down to 3,000 feet. The wall supports colonies of black corals and a wide variety of sponges.
Fallen Rock
DEPTH: 75-120 feet | SKILL LEVEL: Novice to Advanced | ACCESS: Boat
From La Parguera, divers have access to one of the most outstanding walls in the Caribbean. Fallen Rock is a site which is typical of this wall; which means, it's not at all a typical dive. Spur-and-groove bottom covers the top of the wall, offering up hordes of colorful tropicals and a dense bramble of branching corals and sponges. Swimming around a promontory, divers encounter a huge chunk of limestone the size and shape of a school bus lying on a ledge at 120 feet. The top soars up to 80 feet, and on, over and around it are battalions of soldierfish, chromis, wrasses, trumpets and triggerfish. Opposite the boulder is a crater in the wall, thickly hung with masses of row-pore sponge and a forest of bushy black coral. Between the sponges and corals is a plush carpet of anemones, encrusting sponge, rare orange ball corallimorphs, bristle and plume worms and bluebell tunicates. The entire wall is spectacular, and this site gets a solid "wow!" rating from everyone who sees it--which are very few, since there are only two operators in La Parguera.
Disney
DEPTH: 10-130 feet | SKILL LEVEL: Novice | ACCESS: Boat
Just so you don't think Parguera is all deep drops, we include Disney, so named because "it just doesn't look real." Indeed, the place has an Alice in Wonderland quality to it: mushrooms of mounding coral 12 to 15 feet tall and up to 30 feet in diameter. These giants are huddled so close together they look like haystacks, their undersides thickly coated with brilliant red and orange encrusting coral spotted with sprigs of delicate purple hydrocoral and colorful tunicates. The shallow side of the site is a grove of enormous old elkhorn colonies, their gnarled trunks groaning to support massive canopies of twisted branches. The bottom is at 10 to 12 feet, and the branch tips just break the surface at low tide. Hand-sized redlipped blennies crowd the branches.
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