Must Do Activities In Puerto Rico | Snorkeling In San Juan

The Condado Lagoon is a thriving urban ecosystem that is home to beautiful tropical fish, corals, sea cucumbers, and sea stars, and even endangered manatees. If you're wondering where you can have an unforgettable snorkeling experience on your own without a tour guide, look no further. Today we're going to go snorkeling in the Laguna del Condado. I've been seeing a lot of questions on Facebook lately about snorkeling in Puerto Rico, which makes me super happy because snorkeling is my favorite thing, and it's a great eco-friendly activity to do while you're in Puerto Rico. So there are so many wonderful places to snorkel in Puerto Rico, but one of my favorites is still the Condado Lagoon. It's right in the middle of the city, so if you're staying in Condado, it's super easy to walk to, or you can park along Ashford somewhere. This is the entrance to the Playita del Condado in front of the Condado Plaza Hotel. And here there are some really cool informational panels about the Condado Lagoon as an ecosystem. They're kind of faded out, but basically they tell you about the endangered species here. We have the endangered manatee here, brown pelicans, and so many cool fish. And here, you can't really see it anymore, but there's actually a map of the artificial reefs they've put in, which makes this place so much fun for snorkeling. And now there's even more artificial reefs across the bridge, which I'll show you. As you can see, it's really crowded, way more crowded than normal because it's Mother's Day, but it's great to see people out enjoying nature with their families. And I'm really happy because today is my first Mother's Day as a mother. As you can see, I'm even rounder than normal. And so I'd like to start out by giving you guys a little map of this beach underwater. So on the left side of the beach over here, that's where you can find the artificial reef modules that have been put in. In the middle, there's this beautiful seagrass meadow where you can find huge schools of fish. And on the right, that's where you're going to go for more advanced snorkeling. And you have to be really careful because of the rocks and because it can get really shallow really quick and you don't want to rub your belly against any corals. Okay, and then the last part I'm going to show you, I'm going to swim under the bridge to the other side, which is like the actual body of the lagoon, and try to find some really fun marine invertebrates to show you there. Something that's really nice about snorkeling is that you can get past those crowds at the shore and feel like you're really immersing yourself in nature. Let's dive in and see what we can find. By the rocks, you can usually find large schools of small fish like these glassy sweepers. The artificial reef modules are designed to provide substrate for corals and scientists have actually planted corals on them just like you plant a plant. These reefs provide shelter for juvenile parrotfish, pufferfish, and shrimps. It's always fun to spot a sneaky flounder. Other commonly found fish in the lagoon include goatfish, which have cute whiskers, sergeant majors, which are the bright yellow and black striped fish that Crash Boat Beach is famous for, and French angelfish. Some of the reef modules are shape-like semis, which are sacred sculptures of the Taino Indians. Here you can see a small barracuda, some grunts and porkfish, and even some juvenile snappers. Check it out, it's a sea cucumber! The sea cucumbers found in the lagoon are called three-rowed or chocolate chip sea cucumbers, and they come in two different colors. Let's go over to the seagrass meadows a little bit, maybe we can find some big schools of sea cucumbers. The seagrass meadows are feeding grounds for large schools of blue tangs, surgeonfish, and parrotfish. Parrotfish are extremely important members of reef ecosystems because they constantly clean algae off corals and grass. On the far right side of the playita, you'll find some large brain corals, star corals, and sponges. Be careful not to go too shallow because you don't want to rub up against the corals. One of the prettiest fish you can find here is the bluehead wrasse. Now we're going to cross under the bridge to the body of the lagoon. The crossing can be a little creepy because it gets really dark, but just keep swimming and you'll get through. Barracudas may look scary, but they're usually pretty shy. On this side of the lagoon, you can find so many beautiful red cushion sea stars. I think these sea stars are just the cutest ever because they're so chubby and come in several different colors. Under the bridge itself, you can find some wildly shaped sponges in every color of the rainbow and even spiny lobsters. So that was a really fun, amazing snorkel. Saw so many great, beautiful animals. I hope you guys really enjoyed it and that you're inspired to come to Condado Lagoon and check it out for yourself. When you're snorkeling or kayaking in Condado Lagoon, you might get really lucky and see a beautiful manatee. Just remember to give them their space if you see one. Thank you so much for watching this video and please remember to subscribe. See you on our next adventure. In our next video, we'll be visiting the Cueva de las Golondrinas in Manatee, a beautiful sea cave in the middle of a nature reserve. Thank you so much for watching and see you on our next adventure.