Snorkeling Report 

Escambron Public Beach, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Ship: Norwegian Spirit (NCL)

Sailing Date: July 12, 2008

Date of Snorkel: Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Equipment Availability:  There is no snorkeling equipment available at this site; you have to take your own.

Water Access: Beach

This was never intended as a snorkeling excursion.  The title of the trip is “San Juan Beach Escape” and we elected to give it a try, since we have had such poor luck snorkeling out of San Juan in the past (refer to our Normandie Hotel Beach Report in this section).  The beach itself is open to the public and is obviously one of the more popular beaches in the area, given the number of San Juan natives who were enjoying the beach even on a week day.

San Juan’s traffic is notorious for being slow moving and frequently jammed up, especially in the older part of the city.  Our tour bus labored along all the way past the beach front, almost to the Normandie Hotel.  In fact, the beach front where we snorkeled this time is just around the point from where we had such an unsuccessful trip in 2003 off Celebrity’s Galaxy!  Several passengers elected to walk back to the ship, undoubtedly a faster mode of transport than the bus! 

The beach itself is clean and there is plenty of shade from palm trees that separate the beach area from the roadway. There is a restaurant, snack bar, bar service on the beach itself (our waitress, Linea, was wonderful and very interested to talk to us about traveling on a cruise ship) and a toilet/fresh water shower facility.  Soda pops were free with our excursion ticket. Chez lounges are abundant in front of the restaurant and bar area, where our group was asked to settle.

There is no set snorkeling area, but we elected a shallow pool zone, sheltered from the breakers beyond by a rock barrier which had also been netted and bouyed.  The area turned out to be a fish “nursery” inhabited by all sorts and varieties of fish, but all infants and juveniles.  We did not see any adult fish at all.  There are no corals here either, only algae covered rocks thick with growth.  We snorkeled for about 45 minutes, taking about 100 pictures between the two of us, and then enjoyed our time on the beach.

Snorkeling Grade: C-