STUNNING Octopus! So Many Turtles & Rays! Tips for Snorkeling Playa Tamarindo, Culebra Puerto Rico

[@eichelbergergary]

I am an old Culebra hand, traveling there at least 25 or 30 times since 1993...I watched your other videos first and when you noted you saw turtles and octopus, I figured you were at Tamarindo...A lot of visitors are underwhelmed when first surveying Tamarindo and often pass it by...what a mistake. It is a nearly ideal snorkeling spot, easy to access the water and the reef and incredible variety -- and very well sheltered from current and surf most days. . If you don't see turtles and sting rays at Tamarindo, you are going something wrong...not the best reef, but plenty good and because the entire channel is a no-fishing zone, the fish are amazing. You have excellent pics of filefish, trumpetfish, box fish and much more. and FYI, it was not until 2022 that I finally saw an octopus despite spending much time in the waters there and all over Culebra. Is all of your footage here your own? ...because you have both green turtles (most common) as well as hawksbills (fairly rare around there). That was stroke of luck, for sure. Next time, keep an eye peeled for the Spotted Eagle ray that lives there. AN incredible sight.

[@ChrisChrisman]

I'm jealous that you have been to Culebra so many times! What a gem! Tamarindo was our favorite snorkeling spot in all of Puerto Rico and one of our favorite spots in the world really. You are right, it doesn't look like much at first. The first night we didn't see too much, but the next day we saw everything in that video. We took all of the footage ourselves. In fact, other than some very rare cases, all of the footage on our channel is mine...or the wife's. Sounds like you have had just as hard of a time seeing an octopus as we have. If you watched our secret hike video to Playa Rosario I swam right over an octopus and didn't realize it until I was editing the video lol. I didn't realize the hawksbills were rare here. I'm not sure if we had ever seen one before that. I feel like we saw several, but maybe it was just the one. It swam right up in front of me which was awesome. I love their jagged shells. I will watch for the Spotted ray that lives there next time...cause we will definitely be going back. Good to hear from an old hand...we certainly aren't experts on Culebra, but I did try to make all these videos as accurate as possible. Thanks so much for your detailed and thoughtful comment! And thanks for watching a few videos! Take care my friend!

[@eichelbergergary]

@@ChrisChrisman thanks for your note. Of course, my obsession with Culebra means I have sacrificed the advantage you two have gained from visiting many locations and experiencing a broader range of locations. I am a bit of an old stick in the mud and find that when i like something as much as Culebra, i know everything else will end up being compared to it, and that i likely have little chance of finding a tropical location that does more for me than that. For my wife and i, it is just about perfect. We almost feel like locals. We have several friends there now. I am not a natural explorer so much, just looking for a place to experience fully. Perhaps when i am retired, i will peel myself off my old habits and visit some new places. I can attest that Culebra has enough charms to fill a lifetime of vacations if one is a fan of nature. I will add that pre-COVID Culebra was probably a good bit more more interesting for visitors, as there were several more excellent restaurants, now gone, and quite a few characters that shaped the vibe of the place significantly. I am sorry you did not have a chance to experience it then. There were several “gringos” who had well infused themselves into the local populace over the course of years and often served as a bridge between the local population and visitors. We attended an incredible community pot luck dinner one year and were made very welcome. It was an incredible experience. Culebra is changing and evolving a great deal as it becomes discovered by visitors more and more. It is great for small scale tourism but has changed toward more mass tourism it is not prepared for frankly and maybe never will be or should be. The traffic there is a lot worse and the locals resent visitors as often happens in tourism destinations. Finding the balance that best serves the island’s future is quite a topic for many….Vieques is likewise interesting but the two islands are very different despite often being described almost synonymously. We like Culebra so much better and only visit Vieques every few years and only briefly. But it is worth a look for sure.

[@eichelbergergary]

@@ChrisChrisman i am quite certain i have swum by octopus on the reef probably scores of time without knowing it. The one i saw finally, i managed to watch for about 20 minutes and then i swam away to allow some other snorkelers to observe him and minimize the intrusion. I eventually caught up with him again. He was wary but became relaxed after just a bit. The no fishing zone on the leeward side there has created an incredible haven for the marine life, amplifying the visitor opportunity. I too have gotten quite close to hawksbills as well as a gaggle of cuttlefish (27 of them at once), nurse sharks, and even a very large barracuda hovering nearby while we snorkeled in a remote area. The spotted ray is located far to the left of tamarindo as one approaches the open channel. I have seen him a dozen times or so. I used to kayak that channel a lot, including over to the luis Pena cay in some cases, and have had flying fish leap over my bow while paddling and seen large rays jumping far out of the deeper water offshore numerous times. Always something to witness.

[@eichelbergergary]

@@ChrisChrisman your video has very high reliability on recommendations for sure!

[@ChrisChrisman]

You have the best comments! I was going to respond yesterday, but had to leave the house and I wanted to give these the attention they deserve. I wish more people would engage like yourself. We (I) force ourselves to go to different places, but it is a hard decision. When you find such a magical place like Culebra it's hard to want to go anywhere else. We rarely go anywhere twice except Mexico. We often hop on a plane and head to Cozumel. It's no Culebra, but it's cheap, easy to get to, has incredible food, and has some of the best diving in the world. We read on the internet all the spots that have "the best diving in the world", but it's mostly marketing or from people that haven't dove all over the world. We have made our own first-hand list. Cozumel is truly one of the best...at least for coral. Many other places have much more wildlife, but for coral it may be the best in the world that we have seen. Culebra seemed like the diving would be fantastic, but there was an algae outbreak when we were there so the dives we did were not the best at that time. I really wish we had seen it pre-COVID. A lot of places did seem to be closed temporarily or closed for good. I hope tourism doesn't ruin it. I'm probably not helping by telling everyone how great it is :) We easily picked that over Vieques, but I would like to go there someday as well. Of course we want to go everywhere. At least Culebra isn't super easy to get to. Most people don't want to have to get on another plane or ferry once they arrive in Puerto Rico.

[@eichelbergergary]

keep an eye open for eels. plentiful there. they will bolt if they see you first.

[@ChrisChrisman]

We didn't see too many, we must have scared them away! We did see a lot diving around the corner, though. Love all your tips! Missed this one earlier.

[@harrymiram5562]

U have any footage of locals catching/eating octopus/squid? Aye know there's LOTTA local Hawaiian divers that are just Salivating/Licken their Chops, thinking about all the ways to consume cephalopods!-lol

[@ChrisChrisman]

Cephalopods haha. You did watch the video :) I like octopuses too much to eat them, but I do eat squid. We do cook sometimes on our camping adventures so maybe we can cook up some squid sometime. In our latest video, I preview some scallop hunting. In a few weeks I show an awesome way to eat those. The ships captain told us how to make them. You are from Hawaii? I love Hawaii! The wife and I snorkeled with sharks up in North Shore and went scuba diving and sky diving as well. Not trying to pimp out my channel, but here is the playlist if you get bored: kzbin.info/aero/PLPUW87hzdoY0shgUijhcD1zOQRwnshFyS I still need to make a video of scuba diving in Honolulu. We saw a ton of turtles and one hiding octopus. Thanks for the great comments. You crack me up!

[@eichelbergergary]

right, please don't eat the big brain animals...in some places in Culebra, they were known to be very tame because no one fished them...years ago, you could reliably see "Larry" on the far side of Luis Pena, but he is gone now...likewise, used to see lots of conch in the wild, but once discovered, they were exploited out of residence around the island..Such a shame. You will still see their shells in and out of the water that have mostly washed from offshore (often dumped en mass by fishermen who discovered a territory and scooped them all up, discarding the shells with the telltale cut in the dome that releases the animal from its shell...the shells you see in the water are often occupied by the BIG (and mean) devil crabs. Do NOT pick them up! You may lose a few fingers.