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Dive Review of Parguera Divers in
Puerto Rico/La Parguera Wall

Parguera Divers, Nov, 2006,

by Mort Rolleston, DC, US (Sr. Reviewer Sr. Reviewer 11 reports). Report 3648.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 3 stars
Service and Attitude 4 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving 1 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 2 stars
Comments While attending a big family get together at Rincon, my wife and I decided to drive an hour and a half to the southwestern side of the island to explore Parguera Wall for a day. We dove two sites: Steps and Mojarra – both of which averaged about 60-70 feet in depth. The weather was nice, the water warm (low 80s), and the waves only a small issue (three feet or so).

The Steps site was disappointing on various counts. First, the dive shop (which was perfectly fine otherwise) had the rule that all divers had to follow a guide – no exceptions. I don’t know if that is a law or is in response to past problems or if the shop gets a lot of beginners and just wants to be overly safe. Given we had about a dozen divers, this was frankly a pain as we had to dive to the proverbial lowest common denominator. Indeed, we had to wait at the start for ten minutes under the boat for a couple of divers who had trouble descending. In addition, what few fish there are were scared away by the large group. Second, our tanks were only filled to 2800 psi. Third, the wall itself was not particularly awe inspiring (compared in my experience anyway to walls off New Providence and the Great Barrier Reef or even the ledges off Catalina Island). On the plus side, the small canyon in the coral that paralleled the edge of the wall was fun to explore and the soft coral (similar to Bahamas or Key Largo) seemed quite healthy. And the visibility was exquisite. The fish highlight was a very interestingly colored hogfish who was definitely not camera shy and hung out with me for quite a while.

Mojarra was a much better dive. In part, it was because we hung out way behind the big armada of guided divers chugging away at full steam and took some time to explore. It also had more fish (but still pretty underwhelming), including small black triggerfish and blue chromis above the reefs, a pair of angelfish, goatfish, grunts, small wrasses, and butterflyfish. We did see a couple of nurse sharks under the ledges. Indeed, the whole site was basically several very large rock/coral formations with wide sandy channels in between and many crevasses beneath. The coral, mostly soft, also seemed quite healthy and featured some very bright green/yellow barrel sponges.

As I said in another entry, overall, diving in western Puerto Rico is perfectly fine in the sense that any diving in clear tropical water with a few fish and some reefs is never a bad thing. However, I don’t think I’d recommend going only or primarily to dive.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving Nassau, Bonaire, Great Barrier Reef, wrecks off North Carolina and in St Lawrence River Canada, Key Largo FL, Ko Samui Thailand, Catalina Island CA, Monterey CA
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, dry Seas choppy
Water Temp 83-0°F / 28--18°C Wetsuit Thickness 5
Water Visibility 100-0 Ft/ 30-0 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions All divers in boat had to follow a guide as a group
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

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

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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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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