Vieques

Diving on Vieques splits between shore and boat. Some sites are reached from the shore, around Esperanza Pier on the south side and at Mosquito Pier on the north, but most need a boat trip. Black Beard Sports, a PADI centre in Isabel Segundo, runs guided shore dives at Mosquito Pier while its boat dives are temporarily suspended. Vieques Fins runs two-tank trips for certified divers and courses for beginners, so checking which boats are running before a trip is worth the effort.

The reefs sit on sandy bottoms with limestone and coral mounds. Mosquito Pier is a former military pier that tops out at 12 m (40 ft). Anchor, Angel and Blue Tang reefs are all shallow, Cayo Afuera has a shallow reef within sight of Esperanza Beach, and Three Rocks Horseshoe runs from 5 to 18 m (15 to 60 ft). Turtles are regular company, sometimes staying with divers on the safety stop, alongside rays, lobsters, eels, octopus, schools of tarpon and the odd nurse shark. Visibility reaches 30 m (100 ft) at some sites.

The island suits new divers, since many sites are easy and relatively shallow, though some are deeper or have current. The north side is usually too rough for swimming, so most scuba and snorkel sites are on the south side, with Mosquito Pier on the north shore the main exception. Ashore, the former Navy lands are now a national wildlife refuge; some of it is open to the public, but much remains closed because of contamination or unexploded ordnance that the military is cleaning up.