Icacos Island Boat Tour from San Juan: Half Day with Roundtrip Transport

What the Icacos Island boat tour from San Juan covers

There is no public ferry to the cays. Icacos lies about 1.5 miles northeast of Fajardo and the only way across is by boat, which leaves two gaps to fill if you are staying in the capital: the roughly 60-minute drive to the coast and the 15 to 20 minute crossing. This tour covers both, with an air-conditioned vehicle from your pick-up point in San Juan to the marina in Fajardo and the boat leg from there.

The time on the water splits in two. The vessel stops at Icacos so you can step off into knee-deep water, swim or snorkel straight from the shore, and walk the sand; day visitors land on the southwest beach strip, which DRNA labels Zone B for bathers and water taxis. The boat then moors for about an hour over a living coral reef for tropical fish and coral formations, and if conditions do not suit, the captain may use Tortugas Reef, Lobos Reef, Punta Aguila or Palominitos Reef instead.

Icacos is uninhabited and has nothing on it: no restrooms, no drinking water, no food service, no trash collection, no permanent shade, no lifeguards. Swimming and snorkelling are at your own risk. Lunch, bottled water, sodas and alcoholic drinks come with this booking, which counts for more here than on a mainland beach, and whatever you carry ashore goes back to the boat with you. Towels and chairs are not included, so pack a towel.

On the reef, keep off the coral. The DRNA field study recorded about a third of snorkellers doing at least one damaging thing: disturbing an organism (21.6%), kicking the reef with fins (19.6%), touching coral (15.6%). The shallow tour reef holds endangered staghorn coral, so do not stand on it, do not touch it, and expect the boat to tie to the mooring buoys. Loud sound systems are also out: DRNA Administrative Order 2025-02, signed 10 March 2025, bans voceteo across La Cordillera, with fines reaching $25,000.

Crowds on the cay follow a clear curve. Across the study zones the peak hour was 2:00 p.m., averaging about 598 people per hour, and the highest single count was 964 in the southwest bather zone at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday 28 May 2017. Pick-up for this tour starts 2 hours to 2 hours 30 minutes before the scheduled departure, which puts you on the water ahead of the midday build-up. January through March is the calmest and clearest window, sargassum peaks in June or July, and the Atlantic hurricane season runs 1 June to 30 November.

How the day runs

1. San Juan 60 min
   The driver collects guests around their pick-up points in San Juan. Once everyone is on board, the vehicle leaves the city and heads for the marina the boat departs from.
2. Fajardo 60 min
   The drive east ends at the marina in Fajardo, where all guests board and the boat leaves on the scheduled tour.
3. Cayo Icacos 240 min
   The run out passes the cays off the east coast, with views back towards El Yunque and the coastline. The usual destination is Icacos, where the catamaran or power boat stops and you disembark into knee-deep water to swim, snorkel from the beach, walk the sand or sunbathe. The second stop is a mooring over living reef for about an hour of snorkelling; depending on water conditions the captain may switch to Tortugas Reef, Lobos Reef, Punta Aguila or Palominitos Reef.

What is included

Meeting point, pickup and cancellation

• Pickup starts 2 hours to 2 hours 30 minutes before the tour time you select, depending on how many stops the driver has to make.
• Be ready at the main entrance of your designated pick-up location at the stated time. The driver waits up to 5 minutes before moving on to the next stop, and if you miss the pickup you reach the tour site on your own.
• Travellers staying outside San Juan need to come to the Caribe Hilton for the transport service.
• Cancellation: full refund if you cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
• Ages: child 1-11, adult 12+; up to 20 people per group.
• Icacos has no restrooms, drinking water or food service and no lifeguards, so use the facilities at the marina before boarding and bring a bag for your rubbish.

Other Icacos boat tours compared with this San Juan trip

The $289 starting price buys the road leg as well as the boat. The three Fajardo alternatives below start between $135 and $155 and run 5 to 6 hours, but each one has you reaching a marina on the east coast under your own steam, which means a car or a taxi from San Juan. Choose this page's tour if you have no vehicle; choose one of the Fajardo departures if you are already staying on that coast or driving yourself.

Tour details from the operator's listing, checked 13 October 2026. Prices and times can change; the booking page has the current ones.

More ways to plan your visit

Icacos from San Juan

What the 60-minute drive to the Las Croabas side of Fajardo involves and which departures work from the capital.

How to get to Icacos

Departure points compared, from the water-taxi dock to the marinas, plus the 15 to 20 minute crossing.

Snorkelling at Icacos

The two shallow reefs, the 18 to 25 ft stop and the rules that keep staghorn coral intact.