Dan
Contributor
Summary
This is eight-day (4-11 June 2022) liveaboard trip to Jardines de la Reina (JDR), Cuba, with Jardines Avalon III (JA3) liveaboard. The itineraries, as shown in Table 1, include 5 days of diving to a total of 20 dives. We saw a lot of Sharks, mostly Reef Sharks, a few Silky Sharks, a couple of Nurse Sharks and a flyby Whaleshark. Some other animals that I captured and jotted them down in my logbook include Arrow Crab, Atlantic Trumpetfish, Banded Shrimp, Creole Wrasse, Black Durgon, Blue Hamlet, Blue Tang, Butterflyfish, Conch, Eagle Ray, Fairy Basslet, Giant Crab, Golden Eel, Golden Hamlet, Golden Fairy Basslet, Goliath Grouper, Gray Anglefish, Green Moray, Hawksbill Sea Turtle, Hogfish, Hermit Crab, Horse-eye Jack, Indigo Hamlet, Lane Snapper, Lettuce Slug, Lionfish, Lizardfish, Moon Jellyfish, Nassau Grouper, Octopus, Great Barracuda, Parrotfish, Penderson Shrimp, Pistol Shrimp, Porkfish, Queen Anglefish, Schoolmaster Snapper, Soapfish, Spotted Drum, Spotted Moray, Spotted Trunkfish, Slipper Lobster, Southern Stingray, Spinny Lobster, Squid, Tarpon, Tiger Grouper, Yellowtail Snapper, Yellow Conie. Each diver was assigned to count selected fish and recorded on the Fish Counting Board after each dives, as shown in Figure 1, below. My assignment was to count Lionfish.
Figure 1: Selected Fish Counting of Jardins de la Reina in 7-10 June 2022
Figure 2 shows the flight, bus and boat routes (marked by red arrows) from Miami to JDR for 4-11 June 2022 trip. The flight from Miami to Havana took 75 minutes. Bus ride from Havana to Jucaro took 9 hours. Boat ride from Jucaro to JDR took 4.5 hours. JA3 moored in a mangrove bay for the entire trip. We went to dive sites with a 50’ dive boat called Buenaventura. Dive site locations are shown in Figure 3, below.
Figure 2: Flight, bus and boat routes from Miami to Jardines de la Reina
Figure 3: Jardines de la Reina Dive sites
Here are short videos of the highlight of what I saw during the week of diving in JDR:
Background
Jardines de la Reina (or Gardens of the Queen in English) is an archipelago in southeastern part of Cuba, as shown in Figure 3, above.
Jardines de la Reina - Wikipedia describes it as a marine protected area, located: 20°49′N 78°55′W / 20.817°N 78.917°W, covering about 2170 km2 (840 sq.mi).
Since I live near Houston, Texas, it was an easy 4-hour flight from Houston (IAH) to Havana (HAV) with 1 stop in Miami (MIA) with Southwest Airlines. You can also use American Airlines or JetBlue.
This is my first time in Cuba. However, I have been to Cayman (~ 400 km south of Cuba), so, I know what to expect as far as the water temperature and what wetsuit thickness I should bring. The water temperatures in JDR was about 29°C (84°F). I was comfortable with my 3mm full wetsuit. It turned out to be what I expected, as you see in Table 1, above.
The Liveaboard
JA3, as shown in Figure 4, is 49m (160-foot) long ship with 15 cabins, catering for up to 30 guests, along with two 50’ diving / fishing boats for taking divers or fishermen to diving / fishing sites, see Cuban Diving Centers Avalon CARIBBEAN NATURAL CONSERVATION CUBAN PROTECTED SPECIES MARINE PARKS for more detail info.
Figure 4: Jardines Avalon III (courtesy of Avalon Outdoor)
JA3 is run by 12 crews for 30 guests. During this trip, we had 9 divers, 1 snorkeler, and 4 fishermen. So, all single guest has his / her own cabin without single supplement charge. The crews work very hard to maintain day-to-day operation of the boat and to serve the 14 guests.
The boat layout is very functional for divers. Galley and dinning room areas are on the upper deck. Entertainment (Saloon) is on the main deck. Camera station and dive deck are outside on the back of the main deck. Guest cabins are spread in 3 decks, two in the upper deck, 3 in main deck and ten in lower deck. Above the upper deck is a sundeck with open air sitting area for people to relax in between dives.
My cabin has plenty of closet space and drawers to store belongings for 2 divers. The hosts did a great job of keeping our cabin cleaned and orderly.
To be continued in the next post (reached the maximum limit of 5 pictures / post)
This is eight-day (4-11 June 2022) liveaboard trip to Jardines de la Reina (JDR), Cuba, with Jardines Avalon III (JA3) liveaboard. The itineraries, as shown in Table 1, include 5 days of diving to a total of 20 dives. We saw a lot of Sharks, mostly Reef Sharks, a few Silky Sharks, a couple of Nurse Sharks and a flyby Whaleshark. Some other animals that I captured and jotted them down in my logbook include Arrow Crab, Atlantic Trumpetfish, Banded Shrimp, Creole Wrasse, Black Durgon, Blue Hamlet, Blue Tang, Butterflyfish, Conch, Eagle Ray, Fairy Basslet, Giant Crab, Golden Eel, Golden Hamlet, Golden Fairy Basslet, Goliath Grouper, Gray Anglefish, Green Moray, Hawksbill Sea Turtle, Hogfish, Hermit Crab, Horse-eye Jack, Indigo Hamlet, Lane Snapper, Lettuce Slug, Lionfish, Lizardfish, Moon Jellyfish, Nassau Grouper, Octopus, Great Barracuda, Parrotfish, Penderson Shrimp, Pistol Shrimp, Porkfish, Queen Anglefish, Schoolmaster Snapper, Soapfish, Spotted Drum, Spotted Moray, Spotted Trunkfish, Slipper Lobster, Southern Stingray, Spinny Lobster, Squid, Tarpon, Tiger Grouper, Yellowtail Snapper, Yellow Conie. Each diver was assigned to count selected fish and recorded on the Fish Counting Board after each dives, as shown in Figure 1, below. My assignment was to count Lionfish.
Figure 1: Selected Fish Counting of Jardins de la Reina in 7-10 June 2022
Figure 2 shows the flight, bus and boat routes (marked by red arrows) from Miami to JDR for 4-11 June 2022 trip. The flight from Miami to Havana took 75 minutes. Bus ride from Havana to Jucaro took 9 hours. Boat ride from Jucaro to JDR took 4.5 hours. JA3 moored in a mangrove bay for the entire trip. We went to dive sites with a 50’ dive boat called Buenaventura. Dive site locations are shown in Figure 3, below.
Figure 2: Flight, bus and boat routes from Miami to Jardines de la Reina
Figure 3: Jardines de la Reina Dive sites
Here are short videos of the highlight of what I saw during the week of diving in JDR:
Background
Jardines de la Reina (or Gardens of the Queen in English) is an archipelago in southeastern part of Cuba, as shown in Figure 3, above.
Jardines de la Reina - Wikipedia describes it as a marine protected area, located: 20°49′N 78°55′W / 20.817°N 78.917°W, covering about 2170 km2 (840 sq.mi).
Since I live near Houston, Texas, it was an easy 4-hour flight from Houston (IAH) to Havana (HAV) with 1 stop in Miami (MIA) with Southwest Airlines. You can also use American Airlines or JetBlue.
This is my first time in Cuba. However, I have been to Cayman (~ 400 km south of Cuba), so, I know what to expect as far as the water temperature and what wetsuit thickness I should bring. The water temperatures in JDR was about 29°C (84°F). I was comfortable with my 3mm full wetsuit. It turned out to be what I expected, as you see in Table 1, above.
The Liveaboard
JA3, as shown in Figure 4, is 49m (160-foot) long ship with 15 cabins, catering for up to 30 guests, along with two 50’ diving / fishing boats for taking divers or fishermen to diving / fishing sites, see Cuban Diving Centers Avalon CARIBBEAN NATURAL CONSERVATION CUBAN PROTECTED SPECIES MARINE PARKS for more detail info.
Figure 4: Jardines Avalon III (courtesy of Avalon Outdoor)
JA3 is run by 12 crews for 30 guests. During this trip, we had 9 divers, 1 snorkeler, and 4 fishermen. So, all single guest has his / her own cabin without single supplement charge. The crews work very hard to maintain day-to-day operation of the boat and to serve the 14 guests.
The boat layout is very functional for divers. Galley and dinning room areas are on the upper deck. Entertainment (Saloon) is on the main deck. Camera station and dive deck are outside on the back of the main deck. Guest cabins are spread in 3 decks, two in the upper deck, 3 in main deck and ten in lower deck. Above the upper deck is a sundeck with open air sitting area for people to relax in between dives.
My cabin has plenty of closet space and drawers to store belongings for 2 divers. The hosts did a great job of keeping our cabin cleaned and orderly.
To be continued in the next post (reached the maximum limit of 5 pictures / post)