Dove with Barracuda Dive Center out of Varadero.
Patrol boat 383 wreck - Varadero
Originally used as a coastal patrol boat, this 110 metre Soviet destroyer was retained by the Cuban Navy when the Russian forces departed Cuba. The Cuban government sunk this deliberately as an artificial reef in 1996, and she sits in clear waters, upright and intact a short trip from the marina.
Amazing huge wreck of unbelievable size.
The whole ship is diveable in clear, warm waters.
The wheelhouse and decks can be reached at a depth of 16 metres, so she is well within reach of Open Water divers, and as the visibility is so good, she makes a picturesque dive.
The keel is at a maximum depth of 36 metres lying on a sandy sea-bed, and the propeller is still attached, so this is a wreck for the experienced diver too.
Penetration of this ship is limited pretty much to the wheelhouse and bridge, but access hatches give a good view of some of the holds, filled to the brim with munitions.
A military vessel as she was, the most interesting elements of this dive have to be the deck guns, canons and anti-aircraft weapons. Twin SAM launchers sit just to the rear of amidships, and there is a huge ‘sit-in' twin gun turret to the rear too. Winches and derricks add to the deck equipment still there, and the deck railings embrace the whole ship still.
A torpedo that is still complete lies on the deck amidships too, and its twin can be seen on the sea bed in parts.
A dive buddy used his secondary reg to blow bubbles into the bottom of the cannons to make the canons blow bubbles! HAHA! It was funny to watch!
