Aerial photographs were acquired for the Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands Benthic Mapping Project in 1999 by NOAA Aircraft Operation Centers aircraft and National Geodetic Survey cameras and personnel. Approximately 600, color, 9 by 9 inch photos were taken of the coastal waters of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands at 1:48000 scale. Specific sun angle and maximum percent cloud cover restrictions were adhered to when possible during photography missions to ensure collection of high quality imagery for the purpose of benthic mapping.Prints and diapositives were created from the original negatives. Diapositives were then scanned at a resolution of 500 dpi using a metric scanner, yielding 2.4 by 2.4 meter pixels for the 1:48000 scale photography. All scans were saved in TIF format for the purposes of orthorectification and photointerpretation. Original TIF's were also converted to *.jpg format to reduce file size and facilitate web-based image distribution. Images are currently available in jpeg format for download at 72, 150, and 500 dpi resolution. Historical images are available for some locations.