Playa La Posita: A Puerto Rican Beach Safe From Rip Tides That Is Perfect For Little Kids

After one of the most aggravating travel days we’ve had in recent years, we settled in for our first non-resort trip with Ethan.

For our first morning in Puerto Rico we decided to go the beach. We are staying on the north coast, and there can be strong currents in December, so one of Ariel’s top priorities was finding a protected beach where we would not have to worry about huge waves and rip tides. She found a beach called Playa La Posita, in Loiza, which was not far from where we are staying in Carolina.

The main street in Carolina actually runs parallel to a pretty decent beach that’s just a few minutes walking from our AirBnB, but the waves were huge and the day we got here, swimming was actually banned because of how rough the ocean was.

So it was a good thing she found this place, as there is like a rock wall about 100 or so feet from the beach itself that broke up all the waves before they could reach us. And the waves were enormous — seeing them breaking in all their fury while sitting in a peaceful, warm lagoon was really something else.

Note that it’s not a pure lagoon, if you go too far to the left the water temperature is much much colder as the rock wall ends and the waves flood into the calm area.

We found some shade under some trees where we set up our beach chairs, and had a really nice and relaxing time. There were virtually no waves where we were and the water was very shallow, only a couple of feet deep.

One thing to note is that it’s really not so comfortable to get onto the beach from the roadside parking. There is a very sharp and rusty double guardrail that I needed to climb into the middle, then lift the kids over and hand them to Ariel who went over to the other side first. A little further down the road (where there is a guy renting beach umbrellas) there is a portion where it’s only half a guardrail so you you only need to climb over once instead of twice.

And if you proceed even a little further down the road, we saw an actual parking lot and I THINK there was a gap in the guardrail across the street from the parking lot. My guess is that is the ACTUAL entrance to the beach.

The beach itself is not the most spectacular beach we’ve ever seen, but it certainly did the trick. Another thing to note is that the sand there is really quite coarse. It wasn’t rocky or painful but it really stuck to everything.

Overall I would say it’s worth a visit from Carolina or nearby, even if the ocean isn’t as rough as it was. If you have little kids — especially a toddler — this is a great way to relax. And if it is a rough surf day, the juxtaposition of the furious ocean crashing just a few dozen yards from the serene, bath-like lagoon was totally crazy and worth the experience just for that.

Verdict: The water is warm, the waves are nonexistent, and it wasn’t crowded, even on Christmas Day. A relaxing and restorative use of the time you are given.