How to Get to Cayo Icacos
No ferry. The water taxi crosses from Las Croabas in 15-20 minutes for $60-95; catamarans leave three marinas further south. Dock by dock, with the map.
By boat, from Fajardo, and only by boat. There is no ferry, no scheduled service and no public dock on the cay. The cheapest and shortest way across is the water taxi from the Kayak Village pier at Las Croabas: fifteen to twenty minutes, $60 a head booked direct or $95 as a beach-day package, and the boat comes back for you at an agreed hour. Everything else is a crewed catamaran from one of three marinas further south, 20 to 50 minutes out depending on the dock.
First, get to Fajardo
Fajardo is the north-east corner of the island, about an hour from San Juan. From the airport take PR-26 east onto PR-66 (a toll road) and then PR-3; for the water taxi continue to PR-987 and follow it north through Las Croabas to the pier. Allow 45 minutes with clear roads and an hour in the morning rush. There is day parking at the pier and at every marina; one reviewer of the water-taxi package wrote that “there is plenty of parking for the day as well which so no transportation needed”.
Without a car, two things work and one does not. A rideshare out to Fajardo is straightforward; the problem is the return, when nobody is waiting at Las Croabas at four in the afternoon. The catamaran operators sell a round-trip shuttle from San Juan hotels for about $50 a person with a six-passenger minimum, booked two days ahead; one platform listing bundles the drive from San Juan to Las Croabas and the water taxi for $799 for the group. What does not work is the bus: nothing scheduled serves the docks.
Two warnings from the people who have done it. The hotel pickups for the full-day catamaran start brutally early - “they pick you up at 5:40am”, one guest wrote from Old San Juan - and the shuttle collects from several hotels, so “we ended up being the first ones on and last ones off”. If you are staying in San Juan and can share a car, drive.
The four docks
Las Croabas is the fishing village at the northern tip of town, past the lighthouse road. The water taxis leave from the Kayak Village pier, which is also where the bioluminescent-bay kayaks go out at night. It is the closest point of the mainland to the cay - 4 km, which is why the crossing takes a quarter of an hour. Both water-taxi operators work from here and from nowhere else.
Marina Puerto Chico is the first of the mid-town marinas, 6 km from the cay by water. Snorkeling Puerto Rico’s afternoon cruise checks in here, and so do the self-drive mini boats that go out in a guided convoy ($225 a boat for two, plus tax). The marina has a restroom and a small shop, and the cruise’s listing tells you to use both before boarding.
Villa Marina, a few minutes further south, is the busiest dock for Icacos: Sail Getaway’s two boats (docks M-20 and M-21, by a painted tree trunk), Al Este’s two boats, which the platform sells under the company name Tena Rock, Sea Ventures’ dive-shop boat, and the direct-only operators Salty Dog, Castillo and Spread Eagle. It is 7 km from the cay; the power cats cross in 20 to 25 minutes. Check in an hour before for Sea Ventures and Al Este, 45 minutes for Sail Getaway, and read the meeting-point line twice: one guest of the luxury catamaran wrote that “the address provided on this site was incorrect I was at another place” and nearly lost a non-refundable booking.
Puerto del Rey is the big marina at the south end of Fajardo and the home of East Island Excursions, the operator with the most reviews on this coast. It is the farthest dock from the cay - 12 km - which is why their sailing catamaran takes 45 to 50 minutes and their Culebra boat leaves from here too. Check in 45 minutes before; there is a shop at the marina for breakfast.
The water taxi, in detail
East Coast Water Taxi’s boats carry six at a time (larger groups are split across two boats); Puerto Rico Water Taxi runs one 18-seat boat and confirms the exact Las Croabas dock after payment. It drops you on the beach with your things and comes back at the hour you agreed - it is not a charter, and the boat does not wait. Runs are roughly 10 to 3 or 11 to 4, year-round in daylight, weather permitting.
| Bare crossing, booked direct | Beach-day package | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $60 a head; children under 5 $40 | $95 a head, on the platform or direct |
| Minimum | one operator applies a four-person minimum | none - a couple pays $190 |
| Included | the boat, there and back | umbrellas, a cooler with water, soda and local beer, a mask and snorkel, and an optional 45-minute walk and reef swim with a guide who stays on the cay |
| Bring | everything: shade, water, food | your lunch |
The four-person minimum is the trap for couples: a bare crossing for two can cost $240 where the package costs $190 and includes the shade. The guides who stay on the cay are the other difference, and the reviews are specific about them: “Kevin and Javier welcomed us, helped us get settled, and checked on everyone throughout the day”, wrote one family; “Cooler and umbrellas were provided and they allow and additional cooler to be brought”, wrote another. Not every umbrella is a good one - one December guest got “a partial shade setup that didn’t work as well” while other groups had a canopy - so ask for the canopy when you check in.
icacos-island-water-taxi.com covers the crossing itself in more detail - the pier, the operators, the run times.
Which boat, for which day
Three honest ways across:
Water taxi beach-day package
Drops you on the sand with shade and a cooler and comes back. The one boat that goes nowhere else.
See the package →East Island sailing catamaran
Lunch, bar, reef stop and crew. Lands at Icacos "normally" - or Lobos or Palominos at the captain's call.
See the day →Sail Getaway power catamaran
Reef first, sandbar second, a cold buffet between. The quickest crewed crossing.
See the boat →Prices, ratings and review counts from our October 2026 data check; operators use seasonal pricing - treat them as the shape of the market, not a quote.
Book the water taxi package
The calendar below is the East Coast Water Taxi beach-day package from Las Croabas - the boat, the guides on the cay, the shade and the cooler. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Timing, and the things that cancel a day
Every listing on this coast calls a late arrival a no-show, so the check-in times are not advice: 45 minutes before at Puerto del Rey and for Sail Getaway, an hour before for Sea Ventures and Al Este, 1:30 pm sharp at Puerto Chico, and for the water taxi simply be on the pier at the run time with your cooler packed. The catamarans add a $3 “DRNA fee” in cash at check-in; the water taxis do not.
The sea decides the rest. The winter trade winds, December to March, make the crossing choppy and cancel the reef stop more often than people expect (“the water was a little rough with strong waves, so we chose not to go on the snorkel activity”, one Christmas-week family wrote); April to June is the calmest water. On weekends and holidays the catamarans arrive together between nine and noon. If the cay itself is the point, the water taxi on a weekday morning is the version that delivers it - the catamarans’ own pages say the captain may land you on Lobos or Palominos instead, and that choice has its own page.
Book a Boat to Cayo Icacos
The catamaran day from Puerto del Rey with lunch and a bar, rated 4.8 by 1,010 verified guests, from about $155 - or the water taxi beach day from Las Croabas from $95. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before on both (checked October 2026). Nothing on this page gets you there without a boat.
Check Availability & Book