Some of the best dives in Puerto Rico are right off the eastern coast. Two dozen dive sites south of Fajardo are within a 5-mile (8km) radius offshore.
Set adjacent to a collection of boutiques, bars, and restaurants at the edge of Palmas del Mar's harbor, Palmas Dive Center, Anchors Village, 110 Harbor Dr. (tel. 787/633-7314 or cellphone 787/525-0609), owns a 44-foot (13m) long diveboat with a 16-foot (4.8m) beam to make it stable in rough seas. Pennsylvania-born Bill Winnie, a 5-year veteran of other dive operations in and around Palmas del Mar, offers $150 full-day "Discover Scuba" resort courses that are geared to beginners. They include classroom testing, presentation of a video on water safety, a practice session in a swimming pool, and a one-tank afternoon dive in the open sea. Also available are both morning and afternoon sessions of two-tank dives that are available only to experienced and certified divers, priced at $95 each. Half-day snorkeling trips, priced at $55 per participant and departing for both morning and afternoon sessions, go whenever there's demand to the fauna-rich reefs that encircle Monkey Island, an offshore uninhabited cay.
