Six beaches for a swim this weekend, across four stretches of the island, from Lajas to Guánica, and each came back clean on its latest water test, taken October 19 and 20. DRNA sampled again November 2 and 3, 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 | Playa Rosada | Lajas | restrooms, showers and parking | Clean · Oct 19 |
| 2 | Balneario Condado | San Juan | parking and food and drink | Clean · Oct 20 |
| 3 | Playa Black Eagle | Rincón | parking, food and drink, playground, rentals and boat ramp | Clean · Oct 19 |
| 4 | Playa La Ochenta | Salinas | playground | Clean · Oct 19 |
| 5 | Playa Isla Verde | San Juan | restrooms, parking, food and drink and playground | Clean · Oct 20 |
| 6 | Playa Santa | Guánica | parking | Clean · Oct 19 |
DRNA sampled again November 2 and 3. 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. Three of the six here are.
What each coast offers
Playa Rosada in Lajas is the full-service pick of the Southwest stretch: a balneario with restrooms, showers and parking, run by the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA) together with the municipality. Down the road in Guánica, Playa Santa is also a balneario, a simpler stop with parking and little else. In San Juan, Balneario Condado puts parking and food and drink close to the sand, while Playa Isla Verde adds restrooms and a playground, which makes it the easier call for a family that wants an urban beach day without packing a plan.
Out west, Playa Black Eagle in Rincón has the longest list of anything nearby: parking, food and drink, a playground, rentals and a boat ramp, so it works for a long afternoon as much as a quick swim. Playa La Ochenta in Salinas, on the South stretch, is plainer, with a playground and not much else mapped around it. Two beaches are off DRNA’s list this week: Balneario de Patillas in Patillas and Playa Guayanés in Yabucoa, both on the previous notice and absent from this one.
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 de Patillas | Patillas | Above the action value | October 20 |
| Playa Guayanés | Yabucoa | 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 November 2 and 3.
The weekend forecast
Saturday’s forecast is thunderstorms at four and drizzle at two, with highs of 84 to 87°F. Rain is likely at all six. Sunday brings drizzle at three, showers at two and thunderstorms at Playa Rosada.
| Beach | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|
| Playa RosadaLajas | Thunderstorm86°F 96% rain | Thunderstorm88°F 84% rain |
| Balneario CondadoSan Juan | Thunderstorm84°F 100% rain | Showers84°F 100% rain |
| Playa Black EagleRincón | Drizzle86°F 74% rain | Drizzle86°F 36% rain |
| Playa La OchentaSalinas | Thunderstorm86°F 100% rain | Drizzle87°F 82% rain |
| Playa Isla VerdeSan Juan | Thunderstorm84°F 100% rain | Showers84°F 100% rain |
| Playa SantaGuánica | Drizzle87°F 96% rain | Drizzle89°F 84% rain |
Forecasts are Open-Meteo’s for each beach’s coordinates, read the morning this was published.
Before you go
Three beaches are under a DRNA advisory this week and best skipped until the next notice lifts it: Balneario Manuel Nolo Morales, Sardinera (Dorado), Tropical Beach (Naguabo) and Balneario Puerto Nuevo (Vega Baja). 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.
Playa Guayanés (Yabucoa) is not on the notice, but its own last number is above the action value: 318. 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 Patillas (Patillas) is not on the notice, but its own last number is above the action value: 173.
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 8th Where to Swim. Read the previous Where to Swim.