Six beaches for a swim this weekend, across five stretches of the island, from Vega Alta to Aguada, and each came back clean on its latest water test, taken October 19 and 20. DRNA sampled again October 26, and its notice from that round does not list them.
Six beaches for this weekend
| # (Its number on the map above) | Beach (The beach as our guide holds it; the reading belongs to the DRNA station it sits on) | Town | What's there (Features mapped in OpenStreetMap within 350 m of the beach: presence, not a count) | Last reading (Clean: the latest published sample at the beach's DRNA station came in under the federal action value of 70 colonies of Enterococcus per 100 mL. The date is the day it was collected; each station's own number is on the beach water quality page) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Balneario Cerro Gordo | Vega Alta | restrooms, parking, food and drink and camping | Clean · Oct 20 |
| 2 | Balneario de Rincón | Rincón | restrooms, parking, food and drink and playground | Clean · Oct 19 |
| 3 | Balneario de Boquerón | Cabo Rojo | playground | Clean · Oct 19 |
| 4 | Playa del Caribe Hilton | San Juan | parking, food and drink, playground and rentals | Clean · Oct 20 |
| 5 | Playa Hilton Ponce | Ponce | parking and playground | Clean · Oct 19 |
| 6 | Balneario Pico de Piedra | Aguada | parking and food and drink | Clean · Oct 19 |
DRNA sampled again October 26. Its per-beach counts from that round are not published yet, and its notice from that round does not list any beach above.
A balneario is a public beach with an operator (usually the Departamento de Recreación y Deportes or the town), which is where the restrooms, the gate and the parking come from. Four of the six here are.
What each coast offers
On the west side, Rincón and Aguada are the easy family picks. Balneario de Rincón has restrooms, parking, food and drink and a playground, so a full day on the sand needs no planning. Balneario Pico de Piedra in Aguada is quieter, with parking and food and drink nearby, and suits a simpler afternoon.
Elsewhere the choices are just as varied. In the north, Balneario Cerro Gordo in Vega Alta is the one to try if camping appeals, with restrooms, parking and food and drink as well. In the southwest, Balneario de Boquerón in Cabo Rojo is a gated public beach with a playground. Hotel beaches round out the list: Playa del Caribe Hilton in San Juan has parking, food and drink, a playground and rentals, while Playa Hilton Ponce on the south coast pairs parking with a playground. The Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA) took seven beaches off its list this round, including Balneario Punta Salinas in Toa Baja and Balneario La Monserrate in Luquillo.
Off the list since the last notice
| Beach (Named in the previous notice, not in this one) | Town | Now (Its state today: within limits, or not sampled recently) | Sampled (The day its last published sample was collected) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Balneario Manuel Nolo Morales or Sardinera | Dorado | Above the action value | October 20 |
| Balneario Punta Salinas | Toa Baja | Above the action value | October 20 |
| Balneario Punta Santiago | Humacao | Above the action value | October 20 |
| Balneario La Monserrate | Luquillo | Above the action value | October 20 |
| Playa Buyé | Cabo Rojo | Above the action value | October 19 |
| Muelle de Arecibo | Arecibo | Above the action value | October 20 |
| Balneario Puerto Nuevo | Vega Baja | Above the action value | October 20 |
Coming off the list is not a certificate: it means this week’s notice does not name the beach, from samples taken October 26.
The weekend forecast
Saturday’s forecast is thunderstorms at three, showers at two and drizzle at one, with highs of 85 to 91°F. Rain is likely at all six. Sunday brings drizzle at four and thunderstorms at Balneario de Rincón and Balneario Pico de Piedra.
| Beach | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|
| Balneario Cerro GordoVega Alta | Thunderstorm88°F 63% rain | Drizzle87°F 67% rain |
| Balneario de RincónRincón | Thunderstorm89°F 76% rain | Thunderstorm88°F 89% rain |
| Balneario de BoquerónCabo Rojo | Showers91°F 99% rain | Drizzle89°F 91% rain |
| Playa del Caribe HiltonSan Juan | Showers85°F 90% rain | Drizzle85°F 69% rain |
| Playa Hilton PoncePonce | Drizzle87°F 87% rain | Drizzle89°F 64% rain |
| Balneario Pico de PiedraAguada | Thunderstorm88°F 84% rain | Thunderstorm87°F 84% rain |
Forecasts are Open-Meteo’s for each beach’s coordinates, read the morning this was published.
Before you go
Two beaches are under a DRNA advisory this week and best skipped until the next notice lifts it: Balneario de Patillas (Patillas) and Playa Guayanés (Yabucoa). Balneario La Monserrate (Luquillo) is not on the notice, but its own last number is above the action value: 1059.
Balneario Punta Salinas (Toa Baja) is not on the notice, but its own last number is above the action value: 1022. Playa Buyé (Cabo Rojo) is not on the notice, but its own last number is above the action value: 717.
Balneario Manuel Nolo Morales or Sardinera (Dorado) is not on the notice, but its own last number is above the action value: 323. Balneario Punta Santiago (Humacao) is not on the notice, but its own last number is above the action value: 288.
Muelle de Arecibo (Arecibo) is not on the notice, but its own last number is above the action value: 211. Balneario de Puerto Nuevo (Vega Baja) is not on the notice, but its own last number is above the action value: 121.
What a reading does and does not tell you
“Came back clean” means one water sample, taken at one station in the sampling run of October 19 and 20, came in under the 70-colony federal action value, what DRNA calls within limits. It is the strongest thing the monitoring program can say, and it is a description of that morning, not a forecast for Saturday. Rain is the variable that moves these numbers fastest: runoff after a heavy shower can put a beach over the action value hours after a clean sample was taken, and the next notice is a week away.
A beach the notice does not name was either within limits that round or was not sampled, and the per-beach counts that would say which are not published yet. An advisory is lifted by the next notice, not by the weather; DRNA’s notice is the only thing that puts a beach under one.
Every monitoring station, with its own number and its own date, is on the beach water quality page, and the official list is DRNA’s current beach notice (also a scanned PDF).
This is the 7th Where to Swim. Read the previous Where to Swim.