adventure travel puerto rico
The Diverse and Spectacular Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the United States that is manifested by colorful, diverse and bizarre culture. An island full of rare and wild treasures flocked by tourist during holidays and breaks. Puerto Rico offers travellers tropical beaches, dazzling nightlife and the fun January breeze in the 70′s and 80′s. Visiting Puerto Rica is a very good remedy for recession holidays because of its very affordable packages. In fact, you don’t even need tour operators to bring the pack since passport is not required. This place is a perfect and cheaper alternative to other Caribbean destinations.
Puerto Rico is rich with many spectacular natural attractions and great sites for sightseeing and tour. The island is full of captivating tourist spots on its every corner. Its diversity and range of attraction became the favorite in the Carribean. As a result, no other island can compare to a Puerto Rican holiday. Whatever you are looking for in a vacation Puerto Rico has it; romance, adventure, relaxation, history, beauty, magical places and friendly locals that will make you feel right at home. Tourists stay in the island for a whole month to literally visit all the wonder it has. Puerto Rico also exhibits family friendly attractions where time seems to stand still so you can build memories to last a lifetime.
The un-crowded beaches of Cabo Rojo is a seductive place for people finding romance, peaceful and secluded holiday or for those who would like to savor the best sea foods in the island. There you will also find rose-tinted tropical sunsets and the lighthouse where you can enjoy stunning vistas.
You can also start your holiday by exploring the mountains with an hour and a half drive from San Juan to Utuado via expressway 22 and the very scenic route 10. Make sure to take in the impressive lime stone cliffs (mogotes) on the way down route 10. Stop at Lago Dos Bocas and take a free ferry ride around the lake, if it’s the weekend you can take the ferry to one of the several restaurants on the lake and have lunch. Return to route 10 and when you reach route 111, take a left for a 20-minute detour into the town center for a look at the Old Catholic parish, built in 1872 and included in the National Register of Historic Buildings. Back on 111 head up towards Caguana and Lares, stop around Km 5 and take in the breath-taking view of the valley. Stop at the Caguana Indian Ceremonial Park for a walk through the Bateyes (Indian Courts). Follow route 111 through the beautiful Karst region into Lares and have ice cream at Heladeria Lares, famous for their unique and outrageous flavors like ajo (garlic), arroz con gandules (rice and beans) and maiz (corn). Then you can return to San Juan from Lares via route 129 through Hatillo and Arecibo and back to expressway 22. If you want to stay the night and visit other great places like Rio Abajo Forest Reserve, Arecibo Light House, the Indian Cave in Arecibo you can stay at Lago Dos Bocas at either Casa Grande Mountain Retreat or Hotel El Lago.
Puerto Rico attracts visitors not only because it is a solid choice for a holiday but because of its budget friendly packages that is very hard to resist.
Divers: would you recommend Cozumel, Caymans, Turks/Caicos, or Jamaica?
Just curious to know what others would recommend. My wife and I each are OWD with only about 30 dives logged. We like fish and coral – we’re not into wrecks or caves.
If additional info would help…we’re mid-30s, quite comfortable with international travel, sometimes bargain-conscious, good sense of adventure, but not huge partiers.
We’re also interested in Puerto Rico and Sint Maarten for non-diving reasons, but not really sure if they have good diving in those places?
The trip would take place in December 2010 or January 2011.
Thanks for any input you may have!
Of those you mentioned, I’ve only dived Coz and the Turks. Between those two it would definitely be Coz as a first choice and from what some pals of mine that have dived the others have said, they would still go with Coz themselves. It is after all, the northern extension of the 2 largest barrier reef in the world. To dive it’s southern portions would mean heading to Honduras, Belize and Costa Rica. Also excellent but pricier because of some island hopping you need to do to get to some of the dive resorts and their remoteness. On Coz you get good prices ( superb value for your dollar everywhere for everything), relatively safe environment with it being in the Yucatan and the entire island is basically one big dive shop/ charter outfit. It’s their bread and butter with divers outnumbering all the other tourists. There are reefs for all experience levels but bear in mind that it’s all mostly drift diving. You won’t be kicking much. The wildlife is amazing since it’s all a park and the corals are well protected. No fishing or hunting lobster. Nightlife is what you decide to make of it. It can get pretty wild in Carlos & Charlies, especially when the cruise ships are in or you can kick on the beach of the resort/hotel and chill. Shopping is good, there’s San Miguel’s market square. Good local dining in the area as well. You can rent a jeep or “punch buggy” and head over to the eastern side of the island for Mayan ruins or body board the surf on that side of the island. There’s an option of taking the ferry across to the Mayan Riviera or head up to Cancun for a day trip. Heck…I know you say you’re not into caves, but there are cenotes in the MR that can be snorkeled if you wish. No need to penetrate and ones like Grand cenote and Car wash are popular sites for swimmers as well as divers.
Myself, I’d go back to Coz in a heart beat (been twice). Too much to dive and not enough time to dive it.
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