East Puerto Rico Scuba Diving

We are located at the new Palmas del Mar Yacht Club

Driving Directions from San Juan:

• Take Highway 52 south to Caguas,
• Look for Highway 30 to Humacao.
• Near Humacao,watch out for the Palmas Del Mar signs.
• Merge with Highway 53 for a short distance.
• Take the exit to Highway 906 East (the 2nd exit past the tollbooth)
• The main gate of Palmas del Mar Yacht Club is just up the road.
• Ask the guards how to find East Puerto Rico Divers - it’s easy.

The total drive time from San Juan is about one hour with average traffic.

East Puerto Rico Diving - Your specialist for PADI scuba diving lessons in Puerto Rico

Scuba Diving Lessons in Palmas del Mar

If you haven’t been diving Puerto Rico, it’s just about time to give it a thought, but if you have never been scuba diving at all, you are missing out on the greater part of the world! 70% of your possible holiday destinations are under water. And within this 70% you can find the most beautiful and unspoiled parts of mother nature. Have you ever been snorkeling above a colorful coral reef and you wished you could go down to have a closer look and take as much time as you like? If so, you certainly need some scuba diving lessons! Think about swimming with dolphins in the warm Caribbean sea, and discovering a whole new world full of strange lifeforms and incredible colors.

Diving Courses with East Puerto Rico Divers

East Puerto Rico Divers offers you the chance to learn scuba diving in only a few days with ease. We conduct PADI scuba diving lessons from beginner to divemaster here in Palmas del Mar. Our diving courses are held by professional PADI scuba diving instructors. Our well trained staff will teach you all you need to know about the underwater world and how you can safely enjoy your new hobby. Excitement guaranteed!

Open Water Diver Certification

We all started once with the PADI Open Water Diving Course, the beginner course. Within only four days you will learn the basics of scuba diving. You will learn about the PADI buddy system and how to handle your diving equipment, you will learn that you can breathe under water just like you can breathe on the surface and and you will also learn how to plan your own dives. After your exam, you will be a certified PADI Open Water Diver.

Advanced Open Water Diver Certification

With an additional five dives, where you learn how to navigate under water and how to dive deeper than your Open Water certification allows you. The Advanced Open Water Diver Course consists of five parts. Two are mandatory dives, deep and navigation, and three more dives are for you to select, pretty much according to your interests. Each dive has a theoretical part to it, which will be explained in detail, by your diving instructor.

Rescue Diver Certification

After you have been certified as an PADI Advanced Diver, you might want to make some fun dives, to train the skills you have learned so far and to gain some confidence. PADI requires you to have 20 dives logged by the time you start the Rescue Diver Course. If you have just finished your OWD and your AOWD you should have at least nine logged dives, four from the open water dives in your first course and five from your advanced lessons. The Rescue Diving Course is a bit demanding, because you will learn how to assist a fellow diver in case of an emergancy, so we take it serious. The course still offers a lot of fun for everybody though.

Rescue Diving Lessons in Puerto Rico

Buddy System

Since the very beginning of your scuba diving career you have learned the scuba diving is a buddy sport. The reason is obvious; in case something happens to you or to your buddy, assistance will never be far away! Like everybody else, we hope to never come in to a dangerous situation, but what if…? Do you feel confident enough to help your buddy if he/she gets tangled up in seaweed and starts to panic? Do you know what to do if your buddy suddenly looses consciousness under water? The worst case scenario in an underwater accident is if the buddy is near a panic attack himself and therefor is unable to think clear and offer the appropriate help!

PADI Rescue Diver Course

In the series of scuba diving lessons of all diving organizations worldwide, the Rescue Diver Course is considered to be the most valuable course to avoid diving accidents. Once a student has passed his rescue diver lessons he becomes a most valuable member of the diving community. Equipped with self confidence above and under water, ready to help other divers at any time, he will be welcomed into any group of scuba divers.
In the PADI Rescue Diver Course you will learn to look beyond yourself. You will learn to consider the safety and well-being of other scuba divers and value them as much as your own and most important, you will learn what to do and how to help in almost any perilous situation. You will also learn to manage more complex dive emergencies and to apply direct intervention techniques to assist others in case of an emergency. The Rescue lessons are demanding, though realistic in its conduct, content and approach. Although the nature and context in which rescue training may be used is serious, the course will be an enjoyable challenge that builds your confidence.

Prerequisites

A medical first aid course is prerequisite to become a certified PADI Rescue Diver. If you have taken medic first aid lessons within the past 24 month (e.g. driving license, fire department, school or hospital) please bring your certification. If you don’t have a medical first aid certification you can become a PADI Emergency First Responder (EFR). The EFR Course will take one day only and is conducted by a certified PADI EFR Instructor at the East Puerto Rico Diving Center in Palmas del Mar.
The PADI Rescue Diver certification and a valid medic first aid certification are also a prerequisite for all PADI leadership-level training such as PADI Dive Master and Scuba Diving Instructor.

Advanced Open Water Scuba Diving Lessons

The second part of the PADI scuba diving training is based on the premise that scuba diving gives the diver a chance to explore new interests. Once you are familiar with the basic skills you might want to exceed the 54 feet / 18 meters limit of the OWD certification and discover different plants and creatures, conquer new tasks and experience new underwater adventures. In the end of the day it’s all about feeling more confident under water; thus having lots more fun!

The structure of the PADI AOWD course is slightly different from what you have experienced in your open water lessenos. Only two of the 5 lessons are mandatory, those would be “Navigation” and “Deep Diving”. The navigation lesson will teach you to navigate under water by using a compass and natural signs, such as rock formations and sand patterns, to find your way around underwater, and most important, back to your entry point.

In the deep diving lesson you will learn in theory and practice how to dive deeper and handle greater pressure. You will learn about nitrogen narcosis and how to avoid it. The PADI Advanced Open Water Diver Certification brings you to the limit of recreational diving, (scuba diving without decompression stops) to a max. depth of 40 meters.

After you have completed the two mandatory dives, you need three more dives to obtain the AOWD certification or one more dive to be certified as a PADI Adventure Diver. Until here the PADI scuba diving education is the same for all students. From here on after PADI gives you the freedom of choice to follow your particular interests and maybe even develop a whole new hobby.

To complete your Advanced Open Water Course you may choose three of the following lessons:

• Multilevel and Computer Diving - To improve your dive planing
• Night Diving - To discover a whole new environment
• Peak Performance Buoyancy Dive - To better your buoyancy skills
• Search and Recovery Dive - To better your navigation skills
• Underwater Naturalist Dive - To learn more about underwater life
• PADI AWARE - Fish Identification Dive - To recognize what you see under water
• Digital Underwater Photography Dive - To shoot your first underwater pictures
• Diver Propulsion Vehicle Dive (DPV) - To save energy underwater and to have lots of fun
• Enriched Air Dive (Nitrox) - To stay longer at deeper levels

Once you are certified as an Advanced Diver you will feel far more confident under water and maybe you even want to learn more about scuba diving. If this is the case, you may want to find out more about the PADI Rescue Diver Course.

If you have any additional question, feel free to use our Contact Form, we will respond a.s.a.p.

How you easily learn to dive with East Puerto Rico Divers

The PADI Open Water Diving Course is your first step to become a certified scuba diver.
Here is a short description on how you will learn to dive in only a few days.
After an introductory briefing, where a qualified and well trained PADI Diving Instructor will explain to you in detail how the diving lessons will be scheduled, you might want to watch the PADI Open Water video. The video is funny and entertaining and will pretty much explain all what awaits you during the PADI Open Water Course.

Your personal diving instructor will than make you familiar with the physics and physiology of your new hobby. Don’t worry, you don’t need a PhD to learn how to dive. Fact is, you are going to explore an entirely different environment than you are used to. You will have to learn certain skills and rules and you will also learn what to do in the unlikely event, something does not go according to plan underwater.

The PADI open water course is built upon repetitive learning. During your scuba diving lessons, you will hear, see, read and experience each important part of your scuba diving course several times. This way, we will make sure, you fully understand all vital aspects of your new hobby.
The PADI open Water book “Go Dive”  is included in the course price. The book will explain everything in detail again. Additionally will your scuba diving instructor explain all you have to know about recreational diving, once more in the classroom.
To finalize the theoretical part of your scuba diving course, you are required to pass an exam of 50 questions. No worries, everybody can do it after a proper diving course and we haven’t failed anybody yet!

Besides the rather dry, theoretical part of your scuba diving lessons, there are the wet parts and they promise to be a lot more fun! The PADI Open Water Course consists out of several shallow water sessions, where you learn how to breathe under water and how to handle your scuba diving equipment, and four so called ‘Open Water Dives’ which we have described in detail below..

Open Water Scuba Diving Lessons

Open Water Dive Lesson One

• Briefing
• Equipment preparation
• Don and adjust equipment
• Pre-Dive safety check ( Buddy Check)
• Entry
• Buoyancy/weight check
• Controlled descent (max. depth
• 12m/40ft)
• Underwater exploration
• Ascent
• Exit the water
• Debrief and log dive

Open Water Dive Lesson Two

• Briefing
• Equipment preparation
• Don and adjust equipment
• Pre dive safety check ( Buddy Check)
• Entry
• Buoyancy/weight check
• (Cramp removal, self and buddy)*
• (25 metre/yard tired diver tow)*
• (Snorkel/regulator exchange)*
• Controlled descent (max. depth 12m/40ft)
• Buoyancy control – fin pivot, low pressure inflator
• Partial and complete mask flood and clear
• Regulator recovery and clearing
• Alternate air source use stationary and AAS assisted ascent
• Underwater exploration and buoyancy control
• Ascent
• Weight removal at surface
• Exit the water
• Debrief and log dive

Open Water Dive Lesson Three

• Briefing
• Equipment preparation
• Don and adjust equipment
• Pre dive safety check ( Buddy Check)
• Entry
• Buoyancy/weight check
• (50 metre/yard straight line surface swim with compass)*
• Free descent with reference to 6-9m/20-30ft (max. depth 18m/60ft)
• Buoyancy control – neutral buoyancy on bottom, fin pivot oral
• Complete mask flood and clear
• CESA (Controlled Emergency Swimming Accent)
• Buddy breathing – stationary and ascent from 6-9m/20-30ft (optional)
• Underwater exploration
• Ascent
• (Remove and replace weight system at surface)*
• (Remove and replace scuba unit at surface)*
• Exit the water
• Debriefing and dive log

Open Water Dive Lesson Four

• Briefing
• Equipment preparation
• Don and adjust equipment
• Pre dive safety check ( Buddy Check)
• Entry
• Buoyancy/weight check
• Free descent without reference no deeper than 18m/60ft
• Buoyancy control – hovering
• Mask removal, replacement and clearing
• (Underwater navigation with compass)*
• Underwater exploration
• Ascent
• Exit the water
• Debriefing and dive log

Once you obtained your diving certification, there are more scuba diving courses available where you learn how to dive deeper and how to navigate under water all by yourself and much more. The next step after the OWD is the so called AOWD or Advanced Open Water Diver. Click on the link to find out more.

Our PADI Scuba Diving Courses

Open Water Diver

Learn to dive with well trained and certified PADI Scuba Diving Instructors in Palmas del Mar. East Puerto Rico Diving offers Scuba Diving Lessons for beginners and advanced divers. Read in this article an accurate description of what you can expect in your PADI open water course. We will show you how easy you can learn to dive if you have the right instructions and supervision. Up until today, worldwide more than 12 million people, have learned to dive with PADI . Join in and explore the underwater world of Puerto Rico and Viequez accompanied by our team of scuba diving experts.

Advanced Open Water Diver

Learn to dive deeper and learn how to navigate underwater all by yourself! These are the two mandatory lessons of the PADI AOWD. The advanced diver course persists of 5 parts where from you can freely select three parts according to your personal interests. Find in this section a list of possible diving lessons to become a certified Advanced Open Water Diver. Your scuba diving instructor will explain all the possibilities to you in detail once you have arrived at our dive center in Palmas del Mar.

Rescue Diving Lessons

Learn to dive with more confidence and learn how to help other fellow divers if they come in to a dangerous situation. In the PADI Rescue Diver Course you will learn to look beyond yourself.
The Rescue lessons are demanding, though realistic in its conduct, content and approach. Although the nature and context in which rescue training may be used is serious, the course will be an enjoyable challenge that builds up your confidence not only as a scuba diver.

Scuba Diving Lessons

Every year more people are drawn into the “Fascination of Scuba Diving”. Modern scuba equipment allows us to dive to depths of a hundred feet and more. This would not be advisable without proper scuba diving lessons! There are a few hazards like pressure related injuries, such as decompression sickness or air embolism that could happen to anyone without good training by a certified scuba diving instructor. As a scuba diver you must be able to calculate how long and how deep you can safely stay underwater. You also need to learn the correct descent and ascent rates.

Scuba means “self contained underwater breathing apparatus”. Sounds complicated? It is not half as complicated as it sounds. Your scuba diving instructor will teach you how to use a PADI diving table and how to calculate your dive time and depth under water. And with the right instructions and the right dive gear you will be able to go scuba diving in no time. Now, if you are looking for the ultimate adventure than you might want to get some Scuba Diving Lessons; and Puerto Rico sure is the right place to get started!

Scuba Diving Equipment

Since we are not able to breathe under water just like fish, scuba divers depend heavyly on their scuba diving gear. What we need to feel comfortable under water and to be able to breath in this, for us, strange environment are only a couple of items. It wasn’t always like that as you sure know. Not so long ago, men could only go diving under water with a huge effort on dive gear, a lot of helping hands and a pump that delivered the air through a pipe to the diver down below. Today we have been able to reduce all that to a simple and easily manageable set of dive gear.

Here is what we need to go scuba diving now:

• A Buoyancy Control Device, or Jacket to keep us floating on the surface and buoyant below
• A Dive Tank filled with fresh clean air so we can breathe under water
• A Regulator to control the air flow from the tank through the mouth piece into our lungs
• A pair of Fins for our far too small feet, so we can swim faster and without much effort
• A Diving Mask, so we can get a clear picture under water and see where we are swimming
• And in some regions it is recommendable to use a Wetsuit, to keep warm

Is Scuba Diving Dangerous?

Fact is, that a diver may be more of a threat to aquatic animals than they would be to us. Some corals for example, can be killed by simply touching them. Most aquatic animals don’t pose any risks to divers, there are however, a few marine life forms that may harm or injure a scuba diver. Common accidents include jelly fish stings, fire corals, and crown of thorns. Sharks and poisonous sea animals, can also injure scuba divers, if they behave improperly. Unprovoked attacks on scuba divers by animals are rarely heard of. Animals behave under water much as they do above, they attack only when they are provoked.

“Scuba diving, being a visual underwater experience, doesn’t include altering the underwater habitat in any way. Divers shouldn’t touch anything, be it a plant, a cute animal or even just an object under water, that could easily have become the home of an animal over time.”

Scuba Diving the Weightless Adventure

You sure have asked yourself by now, how it feels to be submerged 50 feet, surrounded by nothing more than blue water and tropical fish. It is very similar to a space walk. With all your gear on, feeling completely weightless just like flying through space. It’s adventurous!
Once you’ve found out that you actually can breath underwater just as normal as you can breath on the surface, a whole new dimension will open up for the new born scuba diver in you. And after you’ve learned to keep your buoyancy so perfect that you can control your ascent or descent solely by breathing in and out, the real fun begins. You will than be able to fully enjoy the view and your world has just grown by a whole 70%!

Scuba Diving Certification

Once you had your scuba diving lessons and you have finished your PADI Open Water Scuba Diving Course with East Puerto Rico Divers, you will be certified by your scuba diving instructor as a PADI Open Water Diver and you will be able to enjoy your scuba diving adventures anywhere you want. But first of all enjoy scuba diving here in Puerto Rico, the best kept secret of the Caribbean! See unspoiled and healthy coral reefs, colorful and strange looking tropical fish and dolphins, rays and sharks in all shapes and colors. And it’s not like you would have to stop there; there is always the Advanced Open Water Course or if you want to take it a step further, the Rescue Diver Course…….or even master scuba diver.

If you feel like getting started with your scuba diving lessons right away, please contact us here.
Click this link to find more details about the history of scuba diving, or
read more about how You can learn to dive right here.

About Puerto Rico

When Christopher Columbus discovered Puerto Rico in 1493 he sure wasn’t aware of the fact that he found one of the most beautiful islands of the Caribbean Sea. Puerto Rico is situated south east of Florida, with Haiti and the Dominican Republic as neighbors in the west and the Virgin Islands to the east. After it’s discovery in 1493, the island enjoyed 15 more years in semi-freedom, until it was finally colonized by Spain in 1508. 13 years later, in 1521, the capital city of San Juan, was founded on the Atlantic side of the island. Puerto Rico stayed under the Spanish flag for 377 years until it was relinquished to the USA by Spain in 1898 as a result of the Spanish-American War.

Because of constitutional reforms during the early nineteenth century, the economy and the population of the island, saw a surge with hundreds of French, Corsican, Lebanese, Portuguese and Chinese families arriving in Puerto Rico. Along came large numbers of immigrants from Spain and former Spanish Colonies in South America. The local character of the island expanded to a colorful mixture of nationalities. There were other settlers like Irish, Scottish, Germans, and Italians arriving in the thousands because they were granted land from Spain during the Royal Decree of Graces in 1815 which allowed European Catholics to settle on Puerto Rico with a fair amount of free land.

Puerto Rico Today

Today Puerto Rico is a self governing, and very independent-minded, territory of the USA and enjoys a great deal of autonomy.
The climate of Puerto Rico is usually humid and hot. If you choose to wander off to higher ground, you will find some lower temperatures in the hillsides of the central and the south of the island.
During the hurricane season from May until October, Puerto Rico is like most Caribbean Islands, subject to an occasional hurricane warning.

Puerto Rico Vacations

The island has become a paradise for Caribbean cruise ships bringing visitors from around the world. The town of Old San Juan is the most popular tourist destination on Puerto Rico today.
Unlike other Caribbean islands, Puerto Rico has a very high standard of living with a vibrant industrialized economy. Puerto Rico has a fair amount of manufacturing due to favorable taxation from the U.S.

Puerto Rico in Facts and Numbers:

• Official Name: Puerto Rico, Commonwealth Territory of the USA
• Population: approx. 4,000,000 (last counted July 2003 est.)
• Capital: City San Juan - approx. 450,000 Citizens
• Land Area: 9,100 sq km
• Highest Mountain: “Cerro del Punta” 4,389 ft. (1,338m)
• Languages: Spanish, English
• Official Currency: US Dollar
• Religions: Catholic/Protestant
• Latitude/Longitude: 18º 15N, 66º 30W

Flag of Puerto Rico:

Map of Puerto Rico:

Puerto Rico Scuba Diving Tours - Scuba Diving Lessons with East Puerto Rico Diving

East Puerto Rico Diving, Palmas del Mar

Enjoy your Scuba Diving Vacations in Puerto Rico

The Crew

We are a small group of enthusiastic, dedicated scuba divers who are willing to share our favorite dive spots on Puerto Rico with You!
All members of East Puerto Rico Diving are professional PADI Scuba Diving Instructors and well experienced captains who know the area better than anyone else. We are excited about being able to offer you and your friends and family a truly unique and remarkable scuba diving experience.

Scuba Diving Tours

We offer two tank dive trips in the mornings for our fellow fun divers and afternoon trips for those who would like to discover scuba diving for the first time. We also welcome non diving guests on our afternoon diving tours, where we will bring you the best sites for snorkeling in Puerto Rico and show you the best spots to discover.
We also offer scuba diving lessons for those who would like to take the sport a step further.
East Puerto Rico Diving offers all scuba lessons from PADI Open Water Diver up to Dive Master Level. We accommodate course referrals from most scuba diving training agencies.

Night Diving

In addition to our daytime program we also offer the most exciting night dives!
Enjoy the spectacular star filled sky on our way to the dive site and discover the creatures that hide during the day and find sleepy fish whom won’t mind if you come a bit nearer by than normally.

Scuba Diving Equipment and Full Boat Charters

Our RENTAL DIVE GEAR is high quality, and new. We also offer FULL BOAT CHARTERS for sight seers, snorkeling tours, or larger groups of scuba divers.

The reason we are here is because this is where we want to be!

Please contact us at:
East Puerto Rico Diving
Humacao 00792
Palmas del Mar
Puerto Rico
Call Toll Free: 866-449-0932
Or Call from Abroad: +1 787-774-7510

Or simply use our Contact Form for inquiries and Reservation