By Craig and Tia Dori
We wanted to share our experience snorkeling in Culebra Puerto Rico in March 2025. We found the snorkeling there to be a big disappointment, with bleached and dead coral reefs, and not very abundant sea life. We had read on a few websites, including this one, that Culebra is one of the best snorkeling locations in the Caribbean, and pretty much based a whole trip around that… Nothing could be further from the truth. The other community posts on this site about Culebra are out of date.
Spots We Went Snorkeling in Culebra
We went to all the supposed hot spots for the best shore snorkeling: Flamenco, Playa Carlos Rosario, Playa Tamarindo, and a couple others I’m drawing a blank on at the moment. Bottom line, they were a big disappointment… Especially Rosario and Tamarindo. The coral was in really bad shape (bleached), and very little was healthy.
This was the case pretty much everywhere we went. You could see that at one time these were most likely fabulous spots, but that simply is not the case today. Along with all the dead coral, the sea life itself was not very abundant either… Most likely because of the condition of said coral.
We had perfect conditions at the big two, Tamarindo and Rosario, and we were obviously in the right spots because of the massive (dead) coral formations. As for Flamenco, the conditions were not good the day we went, but from what we could see, it was exactly the same as everywhere else.
One place that is most likely not on anyone’s radar was Playa Sardinas. Some amazing structures as you head out towards the point (again mostly bleached out coral), with some pretty good sea life, and a fair amount of sea fans trying to make a comeback. We probably enjoyed that the most, most likely because it didn’t appear to be a spot that many go to.
One Positive Note
On the plus side, we stayed at perhaps the most fantastic AirBnB we have EVER stayed at, in the Caribbean! The place actually has a private entrance (along with many other amenities) to Flamenco!
Hello Craig and Tia, thank you for sharing this important update to the quality of the snorkeling in Culebra. Sad news.
Thanks for the update! Where is your favorite shore snorkeling in the Caribbean? For coral? And for fish? And – have you been to Vieques? Thanks!
I am so sorry to hear this news about Culebra! My very first scuba (and early snorkeling) experiences were there several years ago. So since I did not have other Caribbean snorkeling to compare it to, I was still excited by what I saw. And we had great luck seeing many sea turtles feeding at one of the spots.
Since “bleached” does not necessarily mean “dead,” hopefully Culebra’s corals will rebound! One of the dive shops there still posts great photos of critters, but they don’t really focus on coral formations. Perhaps this is why.
Culebra has some of the most amazing, unspoiled and undeveloped beaches I have ever seen anywhere in the Caribbean — no hotels or condos on them (except the little bit at Playa Flamenco), thanks to strong conservation laws. But I expect that’s of less interest to a snorkeling community. 😉
Thank you for the trip report!
I am saddened to hear this as we are heading there soon for four days. May I ask where you stayed? We have rented a $$$ house AirBnB on Flamenco and I’m curious if it’s the same place? Also, did you do any snorkeling off the main island?
Sarah: The weather was not good the one day we could have snorkeled off the main island, so we did not snorkel. This is the place we stayed. The group has three different places all near or on Flamenco. We blew our budget to stay here for a few days cause we wanted to see how the “the comfortable” people live… IT WAS SOOOO WORTH IT!
Amanda: GREAT island, and we have nothing bad to say about Culebra, and the things you mention are true. On the pictures, I believe some may be out of date, and I can understand why. They are also maybe from snorkel tours and the locations they go to off the island?
Lynn H: No, we have not been to Vieques. Our two favorite places to snorkel, and by no means are we experts, but so far they are Cooper Island, and Anegada in the BVI. A third place we really enjoyed (although not the island so much) was Divi Little Bay Beach Resort on St. Maarten.
Hope this helps!