Black Beard Sports
Black Beard Sports
5
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Monday
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Tuesday
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Wednesday
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Thursday
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Friday
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Saturday
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Full view
About
Black Beard Sports in Isabel II, is just steps away from the ferry landing. Book biobay, bike, hike, kayak, snorkeling or diving tours from any of our locations. We are. PADI GREEN STAR CENTER and only Eco tour certified on Vieques! A percent of our tours supports our community outreach programs for at risk youth. Check us out of FB or twitter. We do it right!
Isla de Vieques, Puerto Rico
Meets animal welfare guidelines
Awards
Travelers' Choice
2024
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
5.0
932 reviews
Excellent
842
Very good
55
Average
11
Poor
7
Terrible
17
Adam B
1 contribution
Feb 2020
Black Beard Sports made it super easy and convenient to schedule our biobay tour, which brought me a lot of peace of mind.
Everyone we interacted with was friendly and genuinely passionate about what they do. Our tour guide, in particular, had extensive knowledge of what makes this biobay special, and was able to answer all of our questions.
I think, by far, this tour was the most magical part of my month in Puerto Rico, and that's due in no small part to the professionalism and passion of the gang at Black Beard Sports.
If you go, wear water shoes or prepare to be barefoot. No need for a bathing suit, but you will get a bit wet.
Everyone we interacted with was friendly and genuinely passionate about what they do. Our tour guide, in particular, had extensive knowledge of what makes this biobay special, and was able to answer all of our questions.
I think, by far, this tour was the most magical part of my month in Puerto Rico, and that's due in no small part to the professionalism and passion of the gang at Black Beard Sports.
If you go, wear water shoes or prepare to be barefoot. No need for a bathing suit, but you will get a bit wet.
Written February 26, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Marie A
Riverside, CA19 contributions
Jun 2023
We're a young couple who did the Bio Bay Tour and the Hike + Snorkel Tour with Black Beard Sports. Both experiences were amazing and we're happy we chose them over other companies.
Bio Bay Tour
We did the 7PM time slot where it was still daylight at the start and was dusk by the time we arrived to the bay. The group was maxed at 10 people, which was a comfortable size to be in. JJ drove us from the shop in Isabel II to the location and told great stories about the island. He even stopped to show the crabs walking across the sand. Mave and Jordy were our guides on the water and were helpful in getting us comfortable with the kayaks. They shared interesting facts about the bay and the constellations throughout the tour. Overall had a great time, and wished we could stay all night to admire the beauty longer.
Hike + Snorkel Tour
We met at 8:45AM and returned around 12PM - perfect time to avoid the hot sun and crowds. JJ was our guide and it was only us on this tour (2 people). We went for a hike at Ruinas de la Central Playa Grande. You can visit here yourself if you're used to hiking and not interested in a guided tour, but wouldn't suggest going solo for inexperienced people as there are some loose steps. We enjoyed JJ's stories about the history of the ruins and the area.
After, we went to snorkel at Punta Arenas. This was our first time snorkeling + we're weak swimmers. JJ took time to help us get familiar and was very encouraging. This is one of the best areas for snorkeling on Vieques, and the highlights were seeing a barracuda and 4 green sea turtles. We enjoyed snorkeling with JJ so much that, after we left Vieques, we booked an impromptu catamaran + snorkel trip to Icacos (was going to be Culebra, but the sea was rough). Black Beard was by far better than the catamaran tour, and would highly recommend snorkeling in Vieques with them.
Bio Bay Tour
We did the 7PM time slot where it was still daylight at the start and was dusk by the time we arrived to the bay. The group was maxed at 10 people, which was a comfortable size to be in. JJ drove us from the shop in Isabel II to the location and told great stories about the island. He even stopped to show the crabs walking across the sand. Mave and Jordy were our guides on the water and were helpful in getting us comfortable with the kayaks. They shared interesting facts about the bay and the constellations throughout the tour. Overall had a great time, and wished we could stay all night to admire the beauty longer.
Hike + Snorkel Tour
We met at 8:45AM and returned around 12PM - perfect time to avoid the hot sun and crowds. JJ was our guide and it was only us on this tour (2 people). We went for a hike at Ruinas de la Central Playa Grande. You can visit here yourself if you're used to hiking and not interested in a guided tour, but wouldn't suggest going solo for inexperienced people as there are some loose steps. We enjoyed JJ's stories about the history of the ruins and the area.
After, we went to snorkel at Punta Arenas. This was our first time snorkeling + we're weak swimmers. JJ took time to help us get familiar and was very encouraging. This is one of the best areas for snorkeling on Vieques, and the highlights were seeing a barracuda and 4 green sea turtles. We enjoyed snorkeling with JJ so much that, after we left Vieques, we booked an impromptu catamaran + snorkel trip to Icacos (was going to be Culebra, but the sea was rough). Black Beard was by far better than the catamaran tour, and would highly recommend snorkeling in Vieques with them.
Written June 26, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Shivit B
1 contribution
Nov 2020
Had a wonderful time snorkeling with Jordi. He is a great instructor, very professional, informative and down to earth. I went there with my girlfriend on her birthday to experience snorkeling and she didn't know much swimming, Jordi pretty much stayed with her the whole time making sure she is comfortable and calm. We saw a lot of different varieties of fish including blue fish, star fish, jelly fish and even a "turtle" which was really magical. Apart from that Jordi gave us a brief history of the island , told us about the local cuisines and even showed us the great Cieba tree of Vieques on our way back. Overall it was an excellent experience , I would highly recommend black beard and diving with Jordi. Would definitely like to come back.
Written November 5, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Explorer202
13 contributions
Jul 2020 • Friends
We went on a tour with JayJay (the guide) and he was AMAZING. He really made our experience unique. He is truly very knowledgeable, he knows everything about the oceans, the species, and the history of Vieques. His radiant energy made our experience super fun. He made sure we felt comfortable at all times and transmitted this sense of calmness and security while we were in the ocean snorkeling which eased our adventure. If you want to go snorkeling it has to be with them and hopefully you get JayJay as you tour guide!
Written July 16, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Beverly H
2 contributions
Aug 2022
I was in Vieques for a week and I spent a lot of time with Black Beard Sports. I did a shore dive, two boat dives and the biobay tour. They were great!
The staff was very professional, knowledgeable, helpful and friendly. They were right on time for everything and really seemed to enjoy showing guests the best of Vieques.
All of the tours were great values and I definitely recommend working with them any time you travel to Vieques.
The staff was very professional, knowledgeable, helpful and friendly. They were right on time for everything and really seemed to enjoy showing guests the best of Vieques.
All of the tours were great values and I definitely recommend working with them any time you travel to Vieques.
Written August 30, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Heather
3 contributions
Jun 2022 • Family
We did 3 tours with Blackbeard: 2 to the bioluminescent bay in back-to-back nights, and a snorkeling tour at Puenta Arendes the third day. JJ was our driver for all 3 as well as being our snorkel guide. He goes out of his way to give you “bonus” tours on the way to a destination — like spying and grabbing a land crab on the beach at night for you to look at or swinging by the former Naval bunkers, and he even feeds feral cats so they don’t eat turtle hatchlings. He knew exactly where in the water to snorkel—and even though the conditions were not great (cloudy skies and not perfectly still water), we still saw many green sea turtles, a barracuda, a stingray, and many more thanks to him! Our guides for the bio bay were Maeve, who was incredibly knowledgeable about the bay’s science and history, and Dave “Cuba,” who literally herded fish toward us so we could see them glow underwater. Cuba also entertained my kids by supercharging glow pebbles with a laser and giving them to our kids as a souvenir. The bioluminescent bay is the most magical experience anyone can have in their lives. We would be happy to use Blackbeard again to see more magic in Vieques and would recommend them to anyone!
Written June 29, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Mikhaila V
3 contributions
Sep 2021 • Couples
This was an amazing experience! The dive instructor was so helpful. She made us feel safe and was extremely communicative. She was so knowledgable about all the animals and made sure to find animals and point them out to us. Because of her, we saw rays, turtles, a jellyfish, lobsters, and even an OCTOPUS!!!! I would recommend anyone to go here whether this is your first dive after the certification or you are an experienced diver. They even picked us up and dropped us off and set up all of our gear.
Written September 10, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Bailey H
2 contributions
Mar 2022
I took the bio bay tour and the next morning, went diving near Mosquito Pier. Both experiences were great -- the guides were very friendly and professional. The bio bay tour was breathtaking on its own, and we really appreciated the explanations about the history and science behind it all. It also seemed like a very family-friendly experience: we looked at a bunch of constellations and all the kids got a glowstick at the end.
When I was looking for companies to go diving with, Black Beard Sports was very responsive and seemed reasonably priced. It can be hard to find opportunities to go solo diving (my partner preferred to stay on land for this part), but they were able to pair me up with someone else looking to dive on the same day. The location was excellent, visibility was good, and we spotted quite a few sea creatures.
When I was looking for companies to go diving with, Black Beard Sports was very responsive and seemed reasonably priced. It can be hard to find opportunities to go solo diving (my partner preferred to stay on land for this part), but they were able to pair me up with someone else looking to dive on the same day. The location was excellent, visibility was good, and we spotted quite a few sea creatures.
Written April 15, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Peachtree
Woodstock, GA170 contributions
Jun 2022 • Family
My kids (8 and 11) and I loved our shore snorkel tour with Josue.
He was a fun and energetic guide and made sure my beginner snorkelers had fun and felt safe.
We had a fantastic snorkel at Punta Arenas and saw sea turtles, stingrays, barracuda, tarpon, etc.
We would definitely use Josue and Blackbeard again.
He was a fun and energetic guide and made sure my beginner snorkelers had fun and felt safe.
We had a fantastic snorkel at Punta Arenas and saw sea turtles, stingrays, barracuda, tarpon, etc.
We would definitely use Josue and Blackbeard again.
Written June 11, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
David W
18 contributions
Mar 2022
Excellent tour of the Bioluminescent Bay with Black Beard Sports. They do a great job of keeping the group size small (ours was about 10 people total). I also liked the see-through bottoms on the kayaks. The bay itself is spectacular but the tour guides were efficient at getting out group out there, keeping us together, and giving a good lesson on the science behind the phenomenon. I'd recommend them to my friends.
Written March 25, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi. We are a group of 6 coming in January. I'm wondering if we should call and rent snorkel equipment now, or just come into the shop when we arrive? We'd like to have snorkel equipment avaialble for the entire week we're on Vieques. Thanks!
Written September 12, 2019
Depending on where you stay most hotels have snorkel gear included in the stay
Written September 13, 2019
Hi! Do you have full-face snorkel masks? We’re visiting Vieques soon and want to know what to count on. Thanks!
Written April 17, 2019
Hmmm...I wish I knew...but we did the bioluminescent bay and you stay in the kayak, no snorkeling,
Written May 7, 2019
Hi. We are snorkelers and would like to know if the shallow reefs suitable for snorkeling depths (10'-15') are very damaged from the hurricanes. How damaged are the corals in the shallows? Still many fish?
Thank you.
Michael G
Written February 11, 2018
we are staying at a b and b near the ferry drop off. can we walk from there?
Written February 28, 2017
Thank you for contacting Black Beard sports! Yes, if you are close to the ferry landing you can walk to our store in town. We are located on the Main Street Muñoz Rivera.
Phone: 7877411892
Written February 28, 2017
I want to do the bio bay tour w kayaking. We have hotel booked in San Juan. Do we have to stay on Vieques island? Do we have to rent a car? What is best way to get there from San Juan? Thanks.
Kathy
Written January 31, 2017
Greetings Kathy,
Thank you for reaching out to us!
If you plan to tour Vieques bioluminescent bay, then yes, you'd have to spend a night on Vieques Island as the tours return well after the ferry and planes have made their final departures. If you'd like to spend the night, there are several fine hostels, hotels, bed and breakfasts, two resorts and several airbnbs to fit any traveler's budget. I'd recommend looking through Trip Advisor for recommendations on lodging or look through the Vieques Insiders our local visitor's magazine.
If you do not wish to spend the night in Vieques, there is a bioluminescent bay in Fajardo, approximately a 1-1.5 hr drive south of San Juan. You'll wish to contact the operators who provide those tours directly for information on their services and prices, as we do not have information on who they are or what they provide.
Still with me? Want to come to Vieques anyway? You can fly direct from San Juan - Vieques Airlink, Cape Air, Flamenco Air and few others service San Juan and Vieques. Check the list out in the Vieques Insiders, our local visitor's magazine.
Can't secure flights? Rent a car and leave it in the parking lot near the ferry in Fajardo or hire a taxi (~$80 one way + additional fees, speak with the taxi directly) to transport you to Fajardo where you can purchase ferry tickets. Ticket window opens 1 hr prior to ferry departure. I believe the current schedule is 4am, 9am, 1pm, 4:45pm and 8:15pm departing from Fajardo to Vieques. We do not recommend trying to bring your car rental with you. We do recommend trying to get on the earliest ferry if you wish to see the biobay on the same day as your day of travel.
Once you are in Vieques there are several carro publicos and taxis to take you to your lodging. See the Vieques Insider for a list.
We have a store in Isabel II where the ferry arrives and a store at the W Retreat and Spa and we do provide transportation from these locations out to the bio bay and back, so no need to rent a car if your only purpose to visiting Vieques is to see the bay. However there are tons of activities from beach hopping to hiking, biking, snorkeling, paddleing, and scuba diving. Come for the night, stay for a week. :)
NOTE: WE only do tours of the biobay by kayak. See Trip Advisor for recommendations of how to see the bay other than by kayak.
best regards,
Black Beard Sports
Written January 31, 2017
A Tripadvisor member
Have the same question as leehsiaohung that was asked 11 months ago and never answered: Do you have glass bottom kayaks? Thanks!
Written December 25, 2016
Thank you for the question. No, we do not have glass bottom boats. We prefer the sturdier traditional kayaks which provides more stability.
Written March 5, 2017
Greetings,
We have mountain bikes, but not road bikes. Yes we do rent them. Updated prices can be found on the website or give us a call!
best,
Black Beard Sports
Written January 31, 2017
is it possible to do the Bio bay tour without spending the night on the island?
Written February 1, 2015
Hi, and thanks for contacting Black Beard Sports.
At the moment the latest ferries and flights leave Vieques is between 6-7pm. Because the bio bay is a nighttime excursion (you see the glow best the darker it is) you would have to spend the night on the island. There are many affordable places to stay as well as some beautiful beaches and sights you can visit during your stay. Please let us know if you have any other questions. Feel free to email or call us.
Written February 2, 2015
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