UserNameBella
Contributor
After checking the forums and other online outlets for information on the diving in Cuba and not finding a lot of information I thought I would provide a little review on our diving trip to Cuba. I know that many Scubaboard members are American, and therefore can't travel to Cuba, which explains the lack of information but hopefully Obama and Raul can get the embargo lifted sooner than later so more people can enjoy this lovely budget dive vacation.
I want to point out that there were Scubaboard stickers in the dive shop and the dive shop employees were excited that I was going to review their dive shop online, so here goes.
First off, there wasn't as many big creatures as I am used to with other dive sites. There were sharks fifteen years ago, but the Cubans eat the same food as the sharks do it seems so there are none now. What we did see were, blennies, small groupers, a frogfish, stonefish, lionfish, smaller species of rays, small reef fish, pipefish, barracuda, and the usual little suspects.
Turtles only come to lay their eggs as the type of sponges they love aren't in abundance. There were many other types of sponges and the touch me nots and some of them were bigger than I have ever seen in my whole life. There was a few types of coral I have never seen before, including one that looked like spider webs. About 20% of the coral was bleached according to the DM's. This is mostly due to the high water temperature. The temperature ranged from 84-86 F. I wore just a bathing suit at 100 ft. For my Canuck friends, thats around 30 C.
What they did have was many coral caves and tunnels and swim throughs and an amazing number of wrecks, both purpose sunk and otherwise. Once you prove your ability as a diver the divemasters are more than willing to take you through these coral tunnels. Some of which are 100% cave like and range from 50-100 ft long.
Picture descending into a hole in the coral into a cavern barely wide enough to fit you and your equipment into darkness for about 70 ft and coming out a coral chimney into bright sunlight. Or descending into a hole at 40 ft and continuing on until you reach a depth of 140 ft and coming out to a beautiful deep coral wall that led to gorgeous wreck covered in sponges. My computer hated that dive, but I loved. And before any of you sound off about the depth, PADI wasn't there so I did it and I still got to keep my C-card. We ascended slowly and did a deep stop and a five minute safety stop and lived to tell the tale. However, if you can't frog kick, hate confined dark spaces or are overweight and unhealthy there was the option to circle the cavern and meet at the wall. I am proud to say I did all these caverns and coral caves without even wearing a wet suit and I only received one scratch despite holding a camera and flashlight the entire time. Not bad for a "new" diver.
The visibility was similar to what we experienced in Utila. The rainy season causes run off from the rivers and the mixture makes the viz not as great as it is during other times of the year. It was still about 60 ft or more depending on whether it had rained recently. There was no current.
The divemaster/ instructors were an amazing bunch and sometimes just let us do our own dive. The only complaint I had was dives were limited to 45 minutes unless I begged and pleaded and refused to get on the boat, then they were about 55 minutes.
All told, from Canada the two week trip including 20 dives was about 1100 Canadian loonies. You can't beat that.
I'd definitely do it again!
I want to point out that there were Scubaboard stickers in the dive shop and the dive shop employees were excited that I was going to review their dive shop online, so here goes.
First off, there wasn't as many big creatures as I am used to with other dive sites. There were sharks fifteen years ago, but the Cubans eat the same food as the sharks do it seems so there are none now. What we did see were, blennies, small groupers, a frogfish, stonefish, lionfish, smaller species of rays, small reef fish, pipefish, barracuda, and the usual little suspects.
Turtles only come to lay their eggs as the type of sponges they love aren't in abundance. There were many other types of sponges and the touch me nots and some of them were bigger than I have ever seen in my whole life. There was a few types of coral I have never seen before, including one that looked like spider webs. About 20% of the coral was bleached according to the DM's. This is mostly due to the high water temperature. The temperature ranged from 84-86 F. I wore just a bathing suit at 100 ft. For my Canuck friends, thats around 30 C.
What they did have was many coral caves and tunnels and swim throughs and an amazing number of wrecks, both purpose sunk and otherwise. Once you prove your ability as a diver the divemasters are more than willing to take you through these coral tunnels. Some of which are 100% cave like and range from 50-100 ft long.
Picture descending into a hole in the coral into a cavern barely wide enough to fit you and your equipment into darkness for about 70 ft and coming out a coral chimney into bright sunlight. Or descending into a hole at 40 ft and continuing on until you reach a depth of 140 ft and coming out to a beautiful deep coral wall that led to gorgeous wreck covered in sponges. My computer hated that dive, but I loved. And before any of you sound off about the depth, PADI wasn't there so I did it and I still got to keep my C-card. We ascended slowly and did a deep stop and a five minute safety stop and lived to tell the tale. However, if you can't frog kick, hate confined dark spaces or are overweight and unhealthy there was the option to circle the cavern and meet at the wall. I am proud to say I did all these caverns and coral caves without even wearing a wet suit and I only received one scratch despite holding a camera and flashlight the entire time. Not bad for a "new" diver.
The visibility was similar to what we experienced in Utila. The rainy season causes run off from the rivers and the mixture makes the viz not as great as it is during other times of the year. It was still about 60 ft or more depending on whether it had rained recently. There was no current.
The divemaster/ instructors were an amazing bunch and sometimes just let us do our own dive. The only complaint I had was dives were limited to 45 minutes unless I begged and pleaded and refused to get on the boat, then they were about 55 minutes.
All told, from Canada the two week trip including 20 dives was about 1100 Canadian loonies. You can't beat that.
I'd definitely do it again!
