How to get to Icacos Island

Can you take a boat ride to Icacos?

Yes, and you have to: Icacos is reachable only by boat. Pick a water taxi that drops you on the sand, or a tour boat that takes you there and back.

The two kinds of boat give you very different days. A water taxi is a ferry hop: it lands you on the beach, leaves, and comes back at an agreed time. You get hours on the island, but no restroom, no lunch and no shade beyond what you carry. A catamaran or motorboat is your base for the day, with drinks, food and a toilet on board, plus a reef stop. The trade is a shorter stay on the sand.

Neither is better. A family with a toddler wants the restroom; a couple with a book and a cooler wants the hours. Our water taxi guide covers the first, and the boat tours side by side covers the rest.

How long is the boat ride to Icacos?

About 15 to 20 minutes from Fajardo, says Discover Puerto Rico. The big catamaran from Puerto del Rey lists about 45 minutes of sailing.

Ride times depend on where you start. Here is what each listing or source gives:

The ride is rarely the long part of the day. Check-in is: the full-day catamaran asks you to arrive 45 minutes before departure, the Villa Marina trip an hour. Add the drive from San Juan and an 8 a.m. sailing means leaving your hotel around 6.

Where do the boats to Icacos leave from?

Five places on the Fajardo coast: Las Croabas for water taxis, and four marinas for the tour boats.

• Las Croabas: the small fishing village on Fajardo's northeast coast. Water taxis and the beach day package leave from the dock behind Kayak Village. The San Juan day trip boats from here too.
• Puerto del Rey Marina: on State Road 3, south of town. ToPuertoRico.org calls it one of the largest marinas in the Caribbean. The full-day catamaran leaves from here, and the listing mentions free parking in the marina.
• Villa Marina: on Avenida Marina View in Fajardo, base of the 46-foot motorboat trip.
• Marina Puerto Chico: base of the snorkel cruise with slide. The listing describes an Icacos trip; its web address also mentions Vieques, so glance at the itinerary when you book.
• Sunbay Marina: where the private charter meets, at a wooden gazebo near the office. Tell the guard at the gate who you are with.

The Double Dip meets by a tree trunk painted red, white and blue near Las Croabas, with street parking. Save the pin from the listing; it is easy to drive past.

How do you get to Icacos from San Juan?

Drive about an hour east to Fajardo, use a tour with hotel pickup, or book a day trip that bundles the van and the boat.

Fajardo is about an hour from San Juan by road; ToPuertoRico.org puts it at roughly 54 minutes by map. Morning traffic out of the city can stretch that, so leave early.

• Rental car: the most flexible choice, and the only easy way to reach the Las Croabas water taxis on your own schedule.
• Hotel pickup: the Double Dip, the relax trip and the private charter list hotel pickup; on the full-day catamaran it is optional. Check which areas each one covers before you count on it.
• The bundled day: the San Juan van and boat trip picks up at San Juan hotels, drives about an hour, then boats you from Las Croabas to a beach camp with a tent, chairs and a barbecue. The listing gives about 4 hours on Icacos.

No car? This one starts at your San Juan hotel: van to Las Croabas, a short boat ride, and about four hours of beach camp on Icacos.

★ 4.3 · 7 hours · On Icacos: About 4 h on the island

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Can you drive to Cayo Icacos?

No. Icacos is an island with no road link. You can drive to the Fajardo coast and park, then take a boat for the last mile and a half.

The car gets you to the dock. At Las Croabas, the water taxi listing tells you to park at Kayak Village and walk behind the building to the dock, where the blue boat waits. At Puerto del Rey the catamaran listing mentions free marina parking. The Double Dip relies on street parking near its meeting point, so arrive early on busy days.

Lock valuables out of sight or leave them at the hotel. You will be gone most of the day.

Is there a ferry to Icacos?

No public ferry runs to Icacos. The public ferries leave from Ceiba for Vieques and Culebra; Icacos is reached by water taxi or tour boat.

This trips people up because Fajardo and Ceiba sit next to each other and both have boats. The ferries run by the Maritime Transport Authority sail from the Ceiba terminal to Vieques and Culebra, islands with towns, hotels and beaches with services. Icacos has none of that, and Discover Puerto Rico lists a water taxi or a catamaran as the ways to reach it.

How far is Icacos from Fajardo and San Juan?

About 1.5 miles off Fajardo's east coast, per Discover Puerto Rico. San Juan is roughly an hour's drive to Fajardo, then the boat.

Icacos is one of a string of cays in La Cordillera Reef Nature Reserve, which starts about a mile off the Fajardo mainland and runs about 15 miles from Las Cabezas de San Juan toward Culebra. From west to east the cays are Las Cucarachas, Los Farallones, Icacos, Ratones, Lobos, Palominos, Palominitos, La Blanquilla and Diablo.

Icacos is the largest uninhabited cay of its small chain, about 0.25 square miles according to Wikipedia. Small enough to walk the beach, big enough to find a quiet stretch on a weekday.

What happens when the boat reaches Icacos?

Expect to get your feet wet. The Double Dip listing says there are no docks at the beach, so you wade in from the boat.

Catamarans anchor off the beach and guests climb down a ladder into the water. Depth varies with where the boat can anchor and with the waves, so keep phones and cameras in a dry bag and wear water shoes. Small children get carried.

On a water taxi, agree the pick-up time with the captain before the boat leaves, and write it down. Discover Puerto Rico says the last return usually leaves around 4 p.m.

Four hours, a reef stop and a beach stop, with a shaded cabin and a restroom on board. Morning or afternoon departures.

★ 4.9 · 4 hours · On Icacos: Reef stop + beach stop

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