Cuba north coast in January; 25 days 25 dives

[sammy631000]

Heading to Cuba for several weeks in January, independent travel. I have been told that diving on the north coast (e.g. Cayo Coco, Playa Santa Lucia, Guardalavaca) is a 50% crapshoot in January/February due to prevalence of high winter winds. Is that realistic and/or are there differences between those areas.

I have a 10-pack dive pass that will be used for the Isle of Youth. If winter high north winds story is probable...the remaining dives could be concentrated on south coast Cuba to use up my 15-pack general dive pass, however, my sights were set on Cayo Coco area as a definite dive area for beginning of trip in early January.

Feedback on Cuba north coast winter weather, best weather portals to make predictions on go/no-go e.g. prevalence of cold fronts/high winds, very much appreciated.

 

[sammy631000]

Okay updating own post since on plane to Cuba tomorrow. Good recent post in this section on Jamaica weather (sorry can't link URL since new member) and Accuweather portal convinced me to stay Cuba south coast destinations.

I will return one day for the 'aquarium fish tank' off Cayo Coco, and 'bull shark feeding' of Playa Santa Lucia (did this in 2000). I am weather fixated because Jan 2010 I was in Yucatan Mexico and only managed 2 dives in Cozumel before a Tropical Storm came through; this pushed me to try 4 cenote dives around Playa del Carmen (dive shop is Playa Scuba, Karl and Luis are very knowledgeable, great rental kit). Then in Nov 2010 Marea del Portillo- Cuba, good old Hurricane Tomas was rounding Haiti so had poor viz on all my 4 dives (small Marlin dive shop, adequate rental kit, reefs fair mostly small fish). BTW same trip late Oct Guardalavaca 7 dives (good rental kit, barracuda/huge moray eels/too many lionfish) and Santiago de Cuba- Las Corales for 2 dives (nice DM's, reef fair).

A second big reason on weather fixation is my recent upgrade (finally) to my own kit.

Cuba dive reports few, guess mostly American contributors (though I certainly thank you all for lots of great info on rest of Greater Antilles dive sites). Hopefully more Cuba reports from Canadian or Europeans will convince you its worth the hassle of traveling via Mexico.

So back in February, dive report promised for Isle of Youth, Playa Larga/Giron, Cienfuegos, and Trinidad. Outside of Maria La Gorda (far south-west of Cuba), these appear to be the top Cuba south coast dive destinations.

 

[sammy631000]

FYI...Added new thread March 2nd, 2011 entitled 'Cuba south coast- Isla de Juventad, Playa Giron'. These are my dive reports for Isla de Juventad, Playa Larga/Giron/Caleta Buena. Never did get as far as Trinidad, but Cienfuegos stole my heart for its architectural grandeur (right up there with Old Habana and Trinidad).