Puerto Rico Dive Sites

Guánica & La Parguera · Lajas

Old Buoy

Also known as: Old Bouy

Depth
59–79 ft (18–24 m)
Access
Boat dive
Type
Wall · Spur & groove / canyons
Confidence
Moderate confidence

Overview

Old Buoy (Boya Vieja) is a boat dive on the shelf-edge reef off La Parguera in Lajas, where a sloping wall is cut by canyons and trenches. Researchers describe low-relief spur-and-groove reef at roughly 59 to 79 feet, and the site has served as a university study reef and a reef-monitoring station. Green moray eels, large snappers and eagle rays are reported.[1][2][3][4]

Site characteristics

  • Wall[1]
  • Spur & groove / canyons[3]

Habitat & marine life

  • canyons and trenches along wall[2]
  • Spur & Groove (Outer-Shelf) at station 'Boya Vieja (2000)'[4]
  • Spur & Groove (Outer-Shelf) at station 'Boya Vieja (2015)'[4]
  • green moray eels, large snappers, eagle rays[1]

Marine life is what sources report having seen or commonly seeing — not a guarantee.

Safety considerations

No site-specific hazards are recorded in our sources. That does not mean there are none.

Ocean conditions change daily. Dive within your training, plan with current local information and consider a local professional guide. Full safety note.

Depth reports by source

ReportedSourceStatus
to 60 ft (18 m)PuertoRicoDayTrips.com (Gwenn)[2]Current source
59–79 ft (18–24 m)Hernández R, Sherman C, Weil E, Yoshioka P / UPR Mayagüez[3]Current source
55–105 ft (17–32 m)Colleen Ryan & Brian Savage / Complete Dive Guide Publications[5]Historical (1998)

Historical record

What a historical source reported at the time. Not verified as current — access, moorings, reef condition and names may have changed.

Listed as “Old Buoy” · 55–105 ft (17–32 m) · 1998[5]

  • boat
  • drop_off — steep slope rather than wall, cut by trenches
  • prolific, colourful sponges

Sources & verification

Last researched: 2026-10-04 · Last independently verified: not yet field-verified · Confidence: Moderate confidence

  1. 1.Dive Sites In La Parguera — Paradise Scuba & Snorkeling Center · Dive operator · Tier 2: Specialist · accessed 2026-09-25
  2. 2.Great Diving at the Wall in La Parguera — PuertoRicoDayTrips.com (Gwenn) (2026-08-15) · Travel resource · Tier 3: Corroborating · accessed 2026-09-25
  3. 3.Spatial and temporal patterns in reef sediment accumulation and composition, southwestern insular shelf of Puerto Rico (Caribbean Journal of Science 45(2-3):138-150) — Hernández R, Sherman C, Weil E, Yoshioka P / UPR Mayagüez (2009) · Scientific publication · Tier 1: Primary / authoritative · accessed 2026-09-25
  4. 4.Puerto Rico Long-Term Coral Reef Monitoring Program Database Compilation (DwC-A v1.9, GBIF dataset b3b7d5c4-f73a-475b-a203-c6a1ddd040cd, DOI 10.15468/heuugg) — DRNA Puerto Rico / NOAA CRCP (published via OBIS-USA IPT) (2022-02-13) · Government dataset · Tier 1: Primary / authoritative · accessed 2026-09-25
  5. 5.The Complete Diving Guide: The Caribbean, Volume 3 (Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands) — Colleen Ryan & Brian Savage / Complete Dive Guide Publications (1998) · Historical guide · Tier 3: Corroborating · historical

Facts are summarised in our own words from the sources above; we do not reproduce operators’ or publishers’ descriptions. How confidence is assigned.