Snorkeling Puerto Rico: Trip to the Icacos Islands

Guided Snorkel Trip to the Icacos Island 

General Description:  Rarely in life are things as good as they describe.  This snorkel trip exceeded all my expectations.  This trip to Puerto Rico was a little different than the ones in the past.  I had a new grandson to visit.  So I made a quick 5-day trip back to this Island I love so much.  While here I decided to book a snorkel day trip with pickup from my Old San Juan Location.  So with a simple internet search Snorkel Trips from San Juan, this is what I came up with.  A guided Snorkel Trip on a Catamaran called Barefoot.

My Pick up point was the old town Sheraton, a short 2 block walk from my son's apartment.  My pick up time was at 0745.  I arrived at 0730, and the bus driver was there waiting for me.  After visiting 5 or 6 other hotels for to pickup other customers, we make our way to Fajardo.  Which is about a 40-minute ride to the Marina where our catamaran the Barefoot was located.

The Crew was friendly and informative,  The crowd was the usual tourist assortment.   Once the quick safety briefing was completed we set sail to Icacos, a small set of Islands off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico.

Our first stop was Lobos (Wolf) Reef.  There were not a lot of swimmers on this trip.  Most were there to drink rum punches and pianolas on the boat. So I made the lone 100-meter swim to the Reef.   As soon as I enter the water, there was a large school of tuna below the boat. The water was crisp and clear.  As I swam out to the reef the amount of fish increased.  Once getting there was some storm damage to the windward side of the reef.  It was an excellent swim; many fish and coral.

After Snorkeling they served an incredible lunch with many drinks of choice.

Degree of Difficulty: Easy

Grid Coordinates:18.377617, -65.570713

Maps: Cayo Icacos US Topo

Finding the Beach:  Let the Barefoot catamaran take you there.  Swim for your lunch.  A great set of Islands off Puerto Rico's eastern coast.


Beach Overview:  Lobos Reef is an incredible Reef in the Icacos Island Chain.  After snorkeling for a couple of hours we made our way over to the small Island of Palominitos.  The crew beached the boat so we could enjoy the beach and walk around the island.  Supposedly many movies and a Microsoft screen saver were photographed here.  It was an amazing place and a amazing time.


Snorkeling Instructions: The boat anchored about a 100 meters north of Lobos Reef.   Once swimming to the reef it ran perpendicular to shore, parallel to the boat.  Between the boat and the reef was a rock outcrop.  The rock out crop was a natural fish attractor with hundreds of fish swimming above and circling the reef.