Paradise Scuba & Snorkeling Center

Awesome owner and staff. We were never concerned of safety. Great meal on the boat. Short ride to bio bay. Started with excellent informative talk about why the water glows. Water was warm and glow was fantastic. We got to swim for an hour in the warm water. Make sure you time it for no to new moon and no rain. We went in February on a new moon, fantastic! There are many guides to choose from this is the most professional. We will be back!

Very impressed with these people. Never felt rushed with snorkeling. They did a good job pointing out things to touch and feel in the ocean or to see. Dinner was good (plan ahead of vegetarian) and the best part was the bioluminescent bay. Pay attention to the lunar calendar. Possibly one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life. Out of this world

I will be giving 5 stars just for the service they offer. You will see the glow once something moves in the water. The home made empanadas were excellent. Coupled with beer, water you name it. The boat crew are so helpful and will be there throughout. If you are not able to make to fajardo this is a must go

Hands down the most interactive snorkeling adventure! The first reason I rated them 5 stars.) They don’t just anchor at a diving spot but the crew gets in the water with you and guides you around the reef handing you sea slugs, sea stars, different crabs and point out fish.
The second reason they get a 5 is because of the captains Moms’ handmade empanadas you get in between the snorkel adventure and bio bay. My husband and I told the captain that he should REALLY consider selling extra empanadas at the end of the excursion; another group agreed with us
Thanks for the memories Paradise Snorkel & Dive

24 Jun 2015:
Don’t biolum unless you go INTO the water with mask and fins! Spectacular and the highlight of our PR trip. Our adventure began when we drove the narrow PR roads from Aguadilla (be careful and use a GPS). We got back late (with a quick detour at Krispy Kreme) but all was well worth the half-​day trip.
Kiko and his crew took great care of us. My family of 12 went on the snorkel tour, home-​made empanada tour and the biolum tour. It got better each time. The guided snorkel tour was easy and meant for new swimmers. Very cool and interesting.
The biolum snorkeling tour was the highlight. It’s difficult to describe but with the mask I could see hundreds of bright green sparkles constantly flowing off of me… every time I disturbed the water or swam against the slow current. It’s something out of Hollywood CGI. Amazing! A couple of our kin stayed onboard and the crew poured sea water over their feet so they could see the dinoflagellates. The crew said, with the half moon, that this night rated a 6 out of 10. I cannot imagine what a 10 would be like. (BTW…the boat appeared well-​maintained. I’m no scientist nor environmentalist but I didn’t see anything to suggest we were trashing the environment.)

In December 2014, my husband and I went out in the morning with these guys to scuba dive and then met up with them again at 8 o’clock to go to the bioluminescent bay that evening. The team at Paradise Scuba is knowledgeable and very friendly. We enjoyed our scuba diving trip very much as it was a beautiful clear sunny day. By the evening time my husband was very tired and thought that he would be reluctant to jump in the ocean again when we went to the bioluminescent bay. I don’t really know that he expected to see what we saw when we got into the mangroves, but when we got there, there was no keeping him from jumping into the water. We stayed in the water swimming around from the time they let us jump into the water until it was time to go (we are guessing an hour or so).You really can’t imagine how amazingly beautiful bioluminescence is until you are swimming around in it and the water is completely lit up. You feel like Tinkerbell although my husband would never admit to that. We are good swimmers but even if you’re not you will find that you can very easily float on your back because of the high salinity (it makes you very buoyant). Also, the crew provides empanadas and beer, water, and other beverages on the boat. Do not miss this opportunity. You will never have another one like it in your life!

Me and gf chose this place for our first scuba diving experience together. My first time in Puerto Rico, my first dive after PADI certificate. It ended up with me and my girlfriend puking our brains out but the overall experience was so awesome that actually we don’t consider at all this little inconvenience. Basically the people who run this business are awesome. They took us over an amazing place in the ocean. Once the engine was off, I was starting to feel sea sick so they helped me to wear the BCD and put me safely in the water. Once in the water, everything was beautiful. Corals, muray, flutes, lion fishes and red snappers. There was a second dive planned for that day but once on the boat me and my gf started to feel very bad. So they were so nice that they took us back on the dry land. Since we didn’t use the second dive, they accepted us for the bioluminescent bay excursion, for free, on the same day in the evening. Empanadas and beers everywhere, very friendly atmosphere. The captain was great with us. He was so nice to share a lot of great suggestion in order to avoid any future sea sickness. Engine off, jump into the water and magic fluorescent layer all around. Definitely I would suggest this place not only for the beauty of the scuba sites/​bioluminescent bay, but also for the kindness and competence of the people who run this business. If I’ll ever be in Puerto Rico again, I’ll definitely go back here.

Spent the day with these folks (our group did the snorkeling at 3:30 and bio bay tour at 6:30) and we all had a great time! The empanadas and drinks were a nice touch (I’ve never had anything like that included in a snorkeling trip) and much appreciated because we were all starving after the snorkeling. The staff was very knowledgable and friendly. Would definitely come back but I’d do the earlier snorkeling trip because the sun was going down and most were cold.
The bio bay trip was amazing! It was a sort of psychedelic experience swimming in glittering water due to the plankton. Definitely a cool experience that we would to again.

this is review is for the bio bay tour:
we walked in without an appointment, and luckily were able to fit us in.
The guide was very informative, giving biology intro of the luminescence of plankton
We watched the sunset.
They included empadnadas, which were very good. They also had soda and beer.
The snorkeling was interesting according to my husband. As I can’t get my ears wet, so I missed out. I wish they had helmet diving :-(It would have been better if there was floating device so for those who can not swim can also experience. As the luminescences is only seen when someone is actively moving as in swimming or moving their feet or arms back and forth.
As for taking pictures, you’ll do best with a night vision cam. As flash will not show the plankton glowing.

These guys were amazing. Great personalities and very accommodating. The whole time you’re on the boat you have access to free water, soda or beer and they also give you two empanadillas when you get on the boat. The bio luminescent bay was a thing of fantasy and it was easily worth $ 30.

If you’re ever in Puerto Rico and have a chance to go to Parguera I highly recommend you do an excursion with Paradise Scuba and Snorkeling Center. The staff is amazing.

Puerto Rico has 3 bioluminiscent bays– and there were mixed reviews of La Paraguera. I checked with Mosquito bay operators and got no tours and decided to drive south to La paraguera.
Based on Amy’s review I decided to choose Paradise scuba for the tour. I booked the snorkelling and bio luminiscent tour package. For $ 60 per pax its definitely worth it.
We have been to multiple snorkelling tours but my wife has the shivers when it comes to jump into the open seas. Capt CACHI is a marvellous guide. He ensured we banked at a 8 ft sand bar to begin the snorkelling tour. He led us and was patient enough for everyone to get used to the water and feel comfortable venturing out. There was ample sea life — from sea urchins, cucumbers to parrot n four eye fishes. After a good 1 hour swim we had a round of beer and headed back to the pier.
Here we waited for abt 20 mins for more folks to join us for the bio luminiscent bay tour. The hot chicken empanadas surely made the ride quick. Ensure you mention your dietary preference and they ll get vegie empanadas — my wife mentioned it wasn’t so great.
A 20 min ride and total darkness makes you wonder where u are. But with the first diver in the water having an alien fluorescent glow — you will be amazed.
My wife who wasnt ready to jump in (at the start of the tour) ended diving in at the bio luminiscent bay — where its pitch dark and was comfortable being the last one to get out of the water. Capt CACHI definitely made a difference to all our future snorkelling tours.
This is definitely a great tour and ask for capt CACHI he ll ensure the experience is even better.

I highly, highly recommend snorkeling with Paradise Scuba & Snorkeling Center.
We booked the package that consisted of the afternoon snorkel, empanada dinner, and evening bio-​bay snorkel. Although it took me a few attempts to get through on the phone, once I finally did it was smooth sailing from there. On the day of, we got stuck in traffic coming from San Juan and called to make sure we wouldn’t be too late. The folks at Paradise were extremely nice and made sure we had the most up-​to-​date instructions (the center has recently moved further down the same road).
The actual snorkeling was phenomenal. In the afternoon, we snorkeled around a reef with two guides who would scout locations and dive down to retrieve sea creatures for us to look at. We got to see and even touch conches, sea cucumbers, crabs, etc., many of which I might not have noticed on my own. The second stop was near an island of mangrove trees, very shallow, where we saw tons of smaller fish as well as a jellyfish. Great stuff, and already easily the best snorkeling I’ve ever done, thanks in large part to the guides. They really made sure we saw a wide variety of the underwater treasures in this part of the ocean.
Then we returned to dock for dinner, which was delivered to us on the boat. We each got two hot chicken enchiladas and as many Medalla Lights as we wanted. It turns out that the two men who were our snorkel guides are brothers, and their grandmother cooks the empanadas for the tour guests. They were delicious empanadas, and the personal touch made the dinner that much cooler. (Alas, Abuela does not sell her empanadas through any other venue, nor will she part with the recipe.)
Finally it was time for the bio bay. This was the only portion of the tour I found disappointing, no fault to Paradise. The bio bay was not the flashing lights display I’d hoped for, but instead a much more subtle effect. Nonetheless, the guides made sure to coach us on seeing the most glowing plankton, and kept our boat in the dark bay until all of the passengers were ready to go.
Some things I wish I’d known: You can bring your own beer or refreshments, and the crew of the boat will put them in a cooler for you. You do need to bring your own towel. If you have an underwater camera, the guides will take underwater photos of you and anyone else in your group. And bring a change of clothes for after if you are driving out of Pargueras, since you will obviously be wet after all that snorkeling and it does get a bit cool in the evening.
If you’re going to snorkel in Puerto Rico, I recommend you do it with Paradise. They offered a really excellent experience at a surprisingly reasonable price. It was worth the 2+ hour drive from San Juan, and was the highlight of my trip.

I went out snorkeling with a few friends whilst in Puerto Rico with Paradise Scuba and while we had a lot of fun with a great crew from the center, the sights were a bit disappointing.
If you’re looking to snorkel, La Paguera is supposed to have some of the best sites. We drove down from the Rincon, which took about an hour to an hour and a half. Heads up, navigating to Paradise Scuba is a bit tricky, as is all navigation in PR, since they generally don’t have addresses with numbers. If you’re traveling there, check out the directions on
. Once you’re close, there’s a massive sign on the side of the road that directs you to the Center.
The crew was great, and seemed knowledgable. The captain stays on the boat the entire time, and one of the guys took us out to snorkel while another group went scuba diving. The entire trip costed $ 40 per person for a full 3 hour trip out on the water, which includes gear rental and some simple sandwiches + drinks mid trip, and a local brew at the end to cap it all off.
Although we had fun snorkeling (this was my first time!) the reef in itself is very so-​so. Parts of the reef may not be «dead» so to speak, but were definitely not alive either. There’s some marine life, and my favorite part was when I was swimming in the middle of a small school of fish (!), but in general, the scene is a few fish here and there rather than the colorful tropical scene teaming with sea life I was imagining. Our guide definitely made sure that we had a good time though, bringing up sea turtles and sea urchins for us to see. There was also a mysterious creature on the coral that would instantly recoil if you touched it.
We went to two different sites, the first being a bit shallower (~6−8 ft) and second deeper (~8−10 ft). We spent most of our time at the first one, which was definitely better. The second was a bit too deep and visibility wasn’t great. They do have lifejackets if you’d like to have an easier time swimming, or aren’t that comfortable in the water, but in general, the fins make the entire swim pretty easy/​effortless.
Definitely try to go closer to the morning/​noon – the waters start to get choppier as you get into the afternoon, which makes it harder to swim and decreases visibility in general. We ended up starting late because the other party was really late due to traffic, but stayed out the entire three hours in the water. Make sure you lather up on sunblock liberally, on the entire back side of your body, as a few of us got quite a bit burnt. As a bonus, there’s a small outdoor shower = a spigot available as you come off the boat so you can get a quick rinse off and try out some of the local specialties!
If you’re interested in going, give them a call!

Our bio bay excursion was not supposed to be at La Parguera. This was Plan C. But it ended up working in our favor.
Long story short, we planned a trip to Puerto Rico during Thanksgiving. Our plan was to go to Fajardo (at the time we didn’t think there were any available options to go to Vieques without sleeping there which we didn’t want to do since our stay in Puerto Rico was short). Unfortunately, the week before our trip Fajardo went dark. See here:
.
So Fajardo was out. But then we discovered a company (East Island Excursions) that did one-​night trips to Vieques there and back. We booked that but unfortunately during our stay in Puerto Rico this option was out because of rough water conditions affecting travel between the main island and Vieques (even the ferries were supposedly cancelled).
We ended up finding La Parguera through Unilocal and it is an amazing company, with great and super friendly staff, and the the bio bay experience was awesome. I know that people say that La Parguera is the dimmest bio bay (well, Fajardo might take that title for now), but it was plenty bright the night that we went. And I have actually done the Vieques one before when swimming was still allowed there and from my recollection I think this was actually brighter. I will say though that our timing for La Parguera was perfect — the night that we went there was basically no moon.
Anyway, I should get to the most important part of this review. La Parguera is the only bio bay that allows swimming. And having swam at Vieques and La Parguera, I have to say that this makes the experience. It’s just not the same watching from a boat or bringing up a bucket to play with on deck.
For $ 30, you get two empanadillas in a little box (hot, fresh, and homemade!), drinks, and a great crew. The staff was fantastic — they were extremely friendly and were generous with the drinks.
Admittedly, it’s a long drive from San Juan. So we planned it so that we did the Rio Camuy Caves during the day since that’s sort of on the way to La Parguera.

Whaaaat an experience !! When you visit peurto Rico you have to visit this little city! As small it is has the people with biggest heart! Such humble and loving people !! I give them 1000 stars for their hospitality!
They take us in a boat and serve awesome empanadas and drinks !! The lovely sky and open boat with shining water experience was a lifetime worth!
The guide and his assistance were so sweet I never realized I met them just an hour ago! It’s a wonderful experience they let you take a dip in water and float till you want ! Must try!

We had visited La Parguera for the bio bay once before and it was… nice. This time we paid only ten dollars more per person than last time, and in the deal we got fed delicious home made empanadillas, Medalla, and got dropped off into the bay to snorkel and experience the magic for ourselves, complete with snorkel equipment.
I cannot emphasize enough, DO NOT just get boated out to the bay to see someone jump in and flail for you. It is worth EVERY PENNY AND MORE to get into the bay and experience it one on one. Swimming in the bio bay is a piece of magic that can’t be easily described. The food and drink were just icing on the cake. This is a MUST DO on every trip to PR.
Speaking of icing on the cake, after we got back to the snorkel center, we got to speak to the sweet lady who made the empanadillas and then our boat captain showed us the quick islander shortcut back to Rincon. The people here are all AMAZINGLY awesome. I’ve never had better customer service.

It’s place was so awesome, we decided to do it twice! If you go, do the snorkelling and Biobay combination. Well worth the money! Christian and Jonathan were our tour guides and they got in the water and actually took you around the reef. They pointed things out and grabbed different things off the ocean floor so you could touch and hold them. Starfish, Sea Enchants, Shrimp, a tiny Squid, Sea Cucumber, and some Conch Shells (found an empty one and got to keep it!). Dinner was cooked by the owners wife and we ate it on the boat (delicious!). After dinner we went to the Biobay, I really wasn’t prepared for how cool this would be, I figured you see a faint glow or something, NOT EVEN CLOSE! this was BEYOND AWESOME, it was something like swimming in bright glitter, (words fail me to describe this) anyway, it was so surreal, My 11 year old daughter said «It’s like being in a Disney movie» probably the best description I’ve heard. An absolute must folks!

I was only able to do the bio bay tour as the waves were nuts the week we arrived and we couldn’t go out. These guys did an awesome job with the tour. For $ 30 i got fed and jumped in to the ocean in almost pitch dark. The bio bay is indescribable. I hope everyone gets time to do this. It’s truly unique. It was like being covered in glitter and swimming in a glow stick with stars above and below you. AHHHHMAZING. Back at the shop you can see it’s a full and legitimate dive operation.

Parguera is a lovely little town on the Caribbean. We came here mainly for the Parguera Wall — the only wall dive in Puerto Rico. An added bonus was going to be the Bioluminescent bay just outside of town. We called before making the drive to find out if we could do a dive on the wall the following morning, and Luis, the owner of Paradise Scuba, persuaded us to (a) charter his gigantic dive boat for next morning (all inclusive) for a mere $ 300, and (b) spend $ 60 each that very night for a sunset snorkel, homemade empanadas, and a night-​time swim in the bioluminescent bay. Need I say that Luis is a very persuasive man?
We made it to Parguera in time, and found the dive shop right across from our hotel. A few more minutes of negotiation hammered out our deals — we’d pay for the snorkel/​swim now, but wait to pay for the boat charter until tomorrow (we were of course hoping that more divers might sign up for the trip). Really, though, the charter was a no-​brainer. He had a boat and some staff sitting idle, and was willing to take it out if we covered gas and basics. We really wanted to get in the water, and to dive this wall, and the full charter only cost $ 100 more than the basic cost for us both would have been, *without* equipment rental.
It was the snorkel & swim that we shouldn’t have fallen for. There were a total of 20 people on this little outing. The boat is 50 feet, so there was plenty of room, but that’s a lot of people splashing around near each other. The snorkel spots weren’t particularly nice to look at. In fact, the first location (no doubt picked because it was relatively shallow and a good place to gauge the abilities of the guests) was covered with dead coral. The second spot was better, but not fabulous. We headed back to the shop for the homemade empanadas. Luis’ wife made them, and they were pretty darned tasty, and I don’t know for sure that my later attack of heart burn was related to them.
Then we headed out for the bioluminescent bay. It was dark by the time we got there, so Martin and I jumped right in. It truly is beautiful to experience the plumes of green flashes as you move through the water. Meditative, even, to sit with your mask in the water and just watch the random blinking going on all around you. We stayed away from the squeals of the younger folk, and just floated serenely until summoned back to the boat. That was the best part of the day, but I don’t think it alone was worth $ 60 each. There are many smaller boats that are willing to bring you to the bioluminescent bay for probably much cheaper.
The following morning was pouring with rain. We found our divemaster Cachi at a coffee shop, and he said we would wait until the rain let up, which allowed us to enjoy a little breakfast. The rain didn’t last long, and we headed right out. On board our 50 foot boat we had the two of us, our captain (I think it was Luis Jr.), and Cachi.
Our first dive was down 100 feet at a site called Black Wall, named for its black coral. Finally we could see why Parguera was a dive destination. It was beautiful. Cachi did a fine job of escorting us through the site and pointing out smaller sea creatures. Our surface interval was pleasant as both our hosts chatted with us and helped kill the 45 minutes. The second dive was at a place called the Forest — it was a flat reef, not on the wall, but it too was chock full of living coral and fish. We were truly amazed at the number of lionfish — we saw a total of 7 on our two dives. Cool to look at, but depressing to think of the damage they can do as an invasive species.
All in all we found Paradise Scuba to be pretty-​well organized, definitely well-​equipped (my gear was in good shape and functioned perfectly), and friendly. We would definitely dive with them again. But we will pass on the evening snorkel and swim.