Ecobuzos — Los Roques Dive Operation
Los Roques is an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea roughly 150 km north of La Guaira on Venezuela's central coast, declared a national park in 1972. The reef-and-lagoon structure makes the diving shallow inside and vertical outside — one of the reasons the 2001 study by Howard Choat (James Cook University), Ross Robertson (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute) and Juan M. Posada (Universidad Simón Bolívar) measured fish populations and growth rates at marked sites here, and why the operation has described this reef as the best in the Caribbean since then.
What the operation does
Ecobuzos is a PADI 5-Star Dive Resort and DAN-affiliated dive operation working from Gran Roque. We run three departures a day at 09:30, 12:00 and 14:30, with night dives on request for advanced divers. We dive six named sites inside the park, from La Guaza's three pinnacles at 35 m to the training reefs of Madrisqui and Francisqui at 20 m, and the south reef barrier where the wall drops to 1,500 m.
The package shape
Dive packages include the flight from Caracas to Los Roques return, a standard posada with breakfast and dinner (M.A.P.), tanks, weights, a certified guide, and two boat dives per day. Packages run from two days to seven days, with an Open Water Diver package and a referral package for divers who start their theory at home. See the rate card for the archived 2012 figures, and email for current prices.
The boats
Two hulls: Salto Angel, a 30-foot Invela with capacity for 14 divers, 2× Yamaha 115 HP (2005), a rack for 24 tanks, DAN oxygen kit, first-aid kit, VHF radio and GPS. Ecobuzos, a 32-foot Chimana (2007) with 2× Yamaha 130 HP, capacity for 10 divers, and a cruise speed up to 30 knots. See the boats page for the full specifications.
The 2001 reef study
The study by Choat, Robertson and Posada tagged and measured surgeonfish, parrotfish, snappers and groupers across sites in Los Roques, and published in August 2001. Its results are why this operation has described the reef as the best in the Caribbean — not as a marketing claim, but as what the data supports. The study measured fish populations and growth rates at marked sites, and the abundance of herbivores (surgeonfish and parrotfish) matters on a coral reef because they control algae that would otherwise smother the coral.
Links into the current site
- Dive sites — the six named sites with depths, marine life and access
- Rates — the archived rate card, dated January 2012
- excursiones.htm — the park destinations page, with the six sites and the daily schedule
- english/index.htm — the English landing page, answering the Caracas-to-Los-Roques question
Who runs this
Ecobuzos is a PADI 5-Star Dive Resort and DAN-affiliated dive operation working the reefs of Los Roques National Park from Gran Roque. This site is the operation's own record of that water: the six sites we dive, the two boats we run, the course ladder, and what each of those costs.
Numbers that come from an instrument or an operations log — depth, tank rack capacity, engine horsepower, departure times — are stated as measured, next to the figure. Numbers that come from published research name the study and its authors. Rates and boat specifications inherited from the operation's original site (archived 2002–2013) are marked archived and dated, and the date is the year of the last archived capture of that specific page — not the year the site closed.
Corrections and updates: [email protected]. Every correction that changes a published number is logged with its date at the foot of the page.
Ask the dive desk
Dive bookings, course dates, group quotes and site conditions are all handled by email — we answer from Gran Roque, usually the same day. No accounts, no forms, no tracking.