dangerousa
Registered
Hi guys anyone out there got any reports on Cuba for me. Going to Cayo Coco in October so any info would be greatly appreciated THANKS
Any uk/european divers been to Cuba
- Thread starter dangerousa
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
dbulmer
Contributor
Hi,
Was diving in Cuba 3 weeks ago but not where you are going. I was in Guardalavaca.
I enjoyed the coral but am afraid I didn't see too many fish. The equipment was good, the staff very helpful - water temperature was about 29C at the surface and 26C at 80 feet and daytime temperatures was about 32C with a slight breeze after a storm.
Visibility was 75feet plus. I enjoyed the diving immensely it was briliant so much so since I got back that I have found it difficult to get back into the work routine
As for Cuba, marvellous people but little to see or buy where I was but heck I was diving !!!
Was diving in Cuba 3 weeks ago but not where you are going. I was in Guardalavaca.
I enjoyed the coral but am afraid I didn't see too many fish. The equipment was good, the staff very helpful - water temperature was about 29C at the surface and 26C at 80 feet and daytime temperatures was about 32C with a slight breeze after a storm.
Visibility was 75feet plus. I enjoyed the diving immensely it was briliant so much so since I got back that I have found it difficult to get back into the work routine
As for Cuba, marvellous people but little to see or buy where I was but heck I was diving !!!
dbulmer
Contributor
Hi,
Was diving in Cuba 3 weeks ago but not where you are going. I was in Guardalavaca.
I enjoyed the coral but am afraid I didn't see too many fish. The equipment was good, the staff very helpful - water temperature was about 29C at the surface and 26C at 80 feet and daytime temperatures was about 32C with a slight breeze after a storm.
Visibility was 75feet plus. I enjoyed the diving immensely it was briliant so much so since I got back that I have found it difficult to get back into the work routine
As for Cuba, marvellous people but little to see or buy where I was but heck I was diving !!!
Was diving in Cuba 3 weeks ago but not where you are going. I was in Guardalavaca.
I enjoyed the coral but am afraid I didn't see too many fish. The equipment was good, the staff very helpful - water temperature was about 29C at the surface and 26C at 80 feet and daytime temperatures was about 32C with a slight breeze after a storm.
Visibility was 75feet plus. I enjoyed the diving immensely it was briliant so much so since I got back that I have found it difficult to get back into the work routine
As for Cuba, marvellous people but little to see or buy where I was but heck I was diving !!!
Hi, we´ve been to cuba a month ago. We dived in Trinidad and Maria la Gorda. The lack of fish the other poster mentioned is due to the fact that cuban-waters are somewhat overfished. Corals arent surprisingly bad, but on cause of the lack of wheeper-fish most of them are covered in algae.
The diving-shop we dived with in Trinidad was cuba-divers, a couple from Germany which have padi-dive-shops in cuba since about ten years. The facility in Trinidad was newly opened so cressi-gear is brandnew. Trinidad is not a bang to dive, they try to convince as to go to Cayo Guillermo (the same peninsula cayo coco is on). There should be a preservation area against fishing (and more the pity, of entering cubans in the area either!). So visibility is better and you are due to see coral-fishes, more anemones and great pelargics.
Maria la Gorda then was far better, it is situated in a protection park so fishing is not allowed. Barracuda/trumpet/star/angel/ray/tuna/whale
As I heard of the Cayos in Maria la Gorda are the sandflies are really a pest too. Forget repellents you can buy in cuba, take one which a strong percentage of the agent e.g. the "moggenmelk". If the sandflies bite you, the itching starts a day later, and dont retreat for two weeks!!!
The diving-shop we dived with in Trinidad was cuba-divers, a couple from Germany which have padi-dive-shops in cuba since about ten years. The facility in Trinidad was newly opened so cressi-gear is brandnew. Trinidad is not a bang to dive, they try to convince as to go to Cayo Guillermo (the same peninsula cayo coco is on). There should be a preservation area against fishing (and more the pity, of entering cubans in the area either!). So visibility is better and you are due to see coral-fishes, more anemones and great pelargics.
Maria la Gorda then was far better, it is situated in a protection park so fishing is not allowed. Barracuda/trumpet/star/angel/ray/tuna/whale
As I heard of the Cayos in Maria la Gorda are the sandflies are really a pest too. Forget repellents you can buy in cuba, take one which a strong percentage of the agent e.g. the "moggenmelk". If the sandflies bite you, the itching starts a day later, and dont retreat for two weeks!!!
:doctor: The agent is "di-ethyl-tholamyd", the repell should have at least a percentage of 20 to be of any use.
I usually dont tend to rely on such stuff (I owe a health-food-shop), but you cant imagine how it itches; You cannot sleep, and if, you wake up with blood under youre nails!
I usually dont tend to rely on such stuff (I owe a health-food-shop), but you cant imagine how it itches; You cannot sleep, and if, you wake up with blood under youre nails!
Did my first ever dive in Cuba seven years ago so it was some time ago, but i will tell you what it was like then.
If you have your own equipment take it with you the equipment we were given for our try dive was pretty poor.
Safety was not much of an issue either, we only had one reg, no buddy system was discussed or offered, we went down to 30m and in an overhead enviroment, they also tried to sell us as much beer as posible between dives.
But then having never dived before I thought this was pretty cool and a sport I could easily get into.
Having said all that though, the diving was pretty spectacular (well compared to stoney cove it is) the sea was hot(unsurprisingly we were not given wetsuits) and the Cubans were very friendly people.
We dived somewhere East of Havana but I can't remember where.
When we went tourists were mobbed by people begging, don't know what it is like now, we took chewing gum for the kids and little hotel soaps for the adults I know it looks like you are taking the p**s giving out soap but you make instant friends as they can't get perfumed soap we even had people coming up to us and showing us pictures of soap, this was seven or eight years ago so maybe it is a bit better for them now they still have the US sanctions but European tourism seams to be bringing money into the counrty.
Good luck with your diving.
If you have your own equipment take it with you the equipment we were given for our try dive was pretty poor.
Safety was not much of an issue either, we only had one reg, no buddy system was discussed or offered, we went down to 30m and in an overhead enviroment, they also tried to sell us as much beer as posible between dives.
But then having never dived before I thought this was pretty cool and a sport I could easily get into.
Having said all that though, the diving was pretty spectacular (well compared to stoney cove it is) the sea was hot(unsurprisingly we were not given wetsuits) and the Cubans were very friendly people.
We dived somewhere East of Havana but I can't remember where.
When we went tourists were mobbed by people begging, don't know what it is like now, we took chewing gum for the kids and little hotel soaps for the adults I know it looks like you are taking the p**s giving out soap but you make instant friends as they can't get perfumed soap we even had people coming up to us and showing us pictures of soap, this was seven or eight years ago so maybe it is a bit better for them now they still have the US sanctions but European tourism seams to be bringing money into the counrty.
Good luck with your diving.
Axeman
Contributor
diving in cuba is great.
I went to Santa Lucia and there was great diving.
last year I was in Marea Del Portilo and the fish were plentiful.
good luck.
I went to Santa Lucia and there was great diving.
last year I was in Marea Del Portilo and the fish were plentiful.
good luck.
Nessy
Registered
I dived Cuba last year. Great viz, nice and warm, good coral, but a lack of fish as confirmed by everyone else. In fact the picture in my profile is a dive in Cuba.
I'm sure you'll enjoy it, makes a nice change from 1m viz at the bottom of a lake in winter eh?!
Enjoy.
I'm sure you'll enjoy it, makes a nice change from 1m viz at the bottom of a lake in winter eh?!
Enjoy.
Similar threads
