gcarter
Contributor
Cuba Notes
Why Cuba? DS and I were talking about driving to Tobermory for a week of camping and diving since the spring. Looking forward to it, in fact. We had been last summer but were only able to get in a single 2 tank boat trip, and we wanted to do some more.
Mid July rolls around and an email lands in my inbox from Air Canada Vacations. Varadero Cuba, 7 nights all inclusive for $600. I did the math. The gas for the round trip pulling my camper and the cost of the campsite alone would pay for 1 ticket. So I then looked at dive costs. 2 x 10 dive packages, all in for $540. I could not turn it down, ESPECIALLY when I looked at the water temperatures. 100 ffw at Tobermory is cold. 100 fsw in Cuba never dipped below 27.5C - 29C at the surface. No contest.
For me, this would not be my first time in warm water as I had done my 4 OW dives in Boracay. But all 56 between then and this trip were in cold water. DS had never had a warm water opportunity at all. We were looking forward to it.
We did decide to bring our own equipment, even though gear was included in our package with Barracuda International Dive Centre. Comfort factor and all that. For exposure protection we brought 2mm shortys and wore rash guards underneath on the torso. This proved to be more than sufficient. All we needed was tanks and lead.
For each days diving, we were picked up at the resort in a tour bus. The first day, that turned out to be a pretty short drive as we were doing a boat dive and the shop's marina turned out to be just across the highway from where we were staying. We were happy to see that the provided tanks were steel 85's (Faber 12L 200 bar), which meant only 4 lbs. of lead for me and no belt - I put them in the trim pockets of my Balance. DS uses a Hog BP/W, so I think he was actually over weighted. He would likely have been neutral with an aluminum plate. Quite a difference from the 24 lbs. I wear here with my 7mm and AL80's. A second bonus was that all the tanks were equipped with convertible valves so I was OK with my Apexs yoke and DS didn't have to use the adapter with his Hog DIN.
That first day was a boat dive day. First up was patrol boat 383, a Russian vessel deliberately sunk as a dive attraction. Patrol boat 383 wreck - Varadero - The Scuba Diving Place It apparently has a twin which has been sunk off of the Caymans. The really neat thing for us with this one was the fact that our previous wreck dives were all wooden vessels in various states. It was really cool diving a large steel ship sitting upright with an intact superstructure. I could not believe how much simpler buoyancy control was with so little weight and neoprene. I had forgotten how incredible warm water visibility was. The wreck is collecting some really nice coral growth, and the fish were as you would expect. Current was virtually nil, making it a very relaxing dive. Max depth was 28 m.
The second dive was a nearby reef called sharks reef. Much to my disappointment, there were no sharks in evidence. With a max depth of 14 m, it was another relaxing dive, just a slow "stroll" around the reef taking it all in. I honestly don't have a lot of points of comparison from a health perspective, but it looked pretty healthy to me with abundant hard and soft corals and plenty of wildlife. Sadly, we saw several large and healthy lionfish, something we would see more of over the next few days.
After returning to the boat DS (a growing 17 year old) had his first respite from the resort buffet. For 12 CUC, he was served a plate containing a massive lobster tail, vegetables and fruit fresh cooked by the boat crew (I can't eat shellfish and so obviously declined). All in all, it was an excellent first day, and we made some friends we would continue to dive with over the next several days.
The second day was supposed to be another boat dive, but the boat wasn't cooperating - mechanical issues of some sort. Off to Playa Coral for some shore diving. All of the transport was in well-equipped and maintained air conditioned tour busses. After the shore entry, there is a bit of a swim out to a break in the reef. For the first tank we headed left (west), and for the second we turned right (east). This was the pattern for all of our shore dives. Although the reef itself was a nice dive, we didn't like the swim out so much. There was a fair bit of surge - especially as the day wore on - and the water was really shallow, so swimming through the channel in the reef was a bit more wok in both directions than we would have liked. The reef formations themselves were nice, lots of channels, lots of nooks and crannies for sea life, and again it looked to be in reasonable health. I saw my first moray on the swim in from the second tank, just the head poking out of a hole.
DS and I did a third dive at the same site as a night dive that evening. A much smaller group, it was just us, one other buddy pair (Italians), and 2 DMs, one leading and one trailing. It was nice that we had the opportunity to do it in daylight first - the surge going through the break in the reef was horrid, worse than during the day, but having done it twice in each direction already we knew what to expect and so it kept the stress down as we worked to avoid being pushed into the coral. The contrast in the type of life and activity was amazing, and of course looking at things under the lights revealed colours that seemed muted in the natural light of the day dives. I saw my second moray early in the dive, full view this time, moving along the bottom. I saw my first puffer fish - way cool. I discovered how fast a lobster can move. Another great dive.
Max depth on the Playa Coral dives was 11 m.
Day three was planned for the Bay of Pigs. The bus ride was long, about 2 hours each way. The site chosen was El Tanque, a shore dive between Playa Larga and Playa Giron. Similar to Playa Coral, the first tank took us left and the second right. This was a wall dive. A swim out of (maybe?) 100 m brought us gradually over some low coral formations to a depth of 11 m - 12 m and the drop off. We went to a max depth of ~ 25 m on both dives. No current to speak of meant, once again, a nice leisurely swim along the wall, leveling up as we went. Excellent corals, hard and soft, but not as many fish as the other reefs we had visited. I did see the largest crab I had ever seen either in or out of the water sitting on a ledge on the wall. On the second tank as we came back up over the lip of the drop off we came across a small steel wreck, perhaps 15 m in length. It looked like a placement as well, as it seemed to have been stripped pretty well as if it had been prepped.
On the way back we stopped for "lunch" (by this time it was around 4 pm) at a restaurant near the town of Australia. Good honest food, much better than the resort. There is nothing like a good meal and a cold beer after a dive.
Day four saw Isaac step in. By and large we didn't see too much impact where we were, but it was enough to send us back to the Bay of Pigs again if we wanted to dive that day. The site this time was El Cenote, VERY similar to the site from the previous day. Wall dive with the drop at about 12 m, but this day we went to a max of 31 m on the first dive, with 20 m the cap for the second. Also similar to the El Tanque site, there was a very similar boat near the wall edge when we turned right from the entry. The cool thing this dive was that there was a free diver on the boat as we swam up to it. When he saw us, he asked for a depth reading - 11 m. This boat looked like it had been there longer as there was a bit more growth. A bit more fish life as well - almost immediately on entry we encountered the wildlife. I really don't have much else to say on this one, but it was every bit as good as the previous day, some very enjoyable dives. Same "lunch" stop as the day before, another good meal.
Had we been able to make day 5 happen, I would have actually completed my 49th & 50th dive for the year - which I will now have to do in colder water on Sunday
. Unfortunately Isaac cancelled our day altogether. All in all, I can't really complain though. I am sure people will tell me that there are better places to dive in the Caribbean, or that there are better places to dive in Cuba. The fact is, the 9 dives we did were much more fun than what we had been planning - and at very little additional cost. DS and I are quite happy with that. I would definitely go back again, but likely to a different area. Could not beat it for the price IMO.
The bad stuff
I have discovered why people don't like diving with photographers. Too many times I was literally pushed out of the way or cut off by some idiot who didn't care about anything other than what was in front of their camera lens. Pure ignorance. I spent way too much time watching divers who had exactly zero concern for where their fins were. The sad part is that most of those divers have better buoyancy control, better trim, and better technique than me. Yet I managed to completely avoid all reef contact over 9 dives while watching those divers blithely kick the coral, grab it to steady a camera shot, etc., leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Quite pathetic really.
The resort
The resort we stayed at was the Brisas del Caribe. For the most part we were happy with it. Friday night (24th) the roof on our top floor room started leaking, but we were moved without fuss the next morning. Staff was for the most part friendly and helpful. Food was only adequate. I guess it was ok for what it was, and certainly there were plenty around us chowing down, but DS and I found most of what was on offer to be unappetizing. Most meals we ate from the fresh cooked grill, generally the best offerings. Our best meals were off-resort.
Why Cuba? DS and I were talking about driving to Tobermory for a week of camping and diving since the spring. Looking forward to it, in fact. We had been last summer but were only able to get in a single 2 tank boat trip, and we wanted to do some more.
Mid July rolls around and an email lands in my inbox from Air Canada Vacations. Varadero Cuba, 7 nights all inclusive for $600. I did the math. The gas for the round trip pulling my camper and the cost of the campsite alone would pay for 1 ticket. So I then looked at dive costs. 2 x 10 dive packages, all in for $540. I could not turn it down, ESPECIALLY when I looked at the water temperatures. 100 ffw at Tobermory is cold. 100 fsw in Cuba never dipped below 27.5C - 29C at the surface. No contest.
For me, this would not be my first time in warm water as I had done my 4 OW dives in Boracay. But all 56 between then and this trip were in cold water. DS had never had a warm water opportunity at all. We were looking forward to it.
We did decide to bring our own equipment, even though gear was included in our package with Barracuda International Dive Centre. Comfort factor and all that. For exposure protection we brought 2mm shortys and wore rash guards underneath on the torso. This proved to be more than sufficient. All we needed was tanks and lead.
For each days diving, we were picked up at the resort in a tour bus. The first day, that turned out to be a pretty short drive as we were doing a boat dive and the shop's marina turned out to be just across the highway from where we were staying. We were happy to see that the provided tanks were steel 85's (Faber 12L 200 bar), which meant only 4 lbs. of lead for me and no belt - I put them in the trim pockets of my Balance. DS uses a Hog BP/W, so I think he was actually over weighted. He would likely have been neutral with an aluminum plate. Quite a difference from the 24 lbs. I wear here with my 7mm and AL80's. A second bonus was that all the tanks were equipped with convertible valves so I was OK with my Apexs yoke and DS didn't have to use the adapter with his Hog DIN.
That first day was a boat dive day. First up was patrol boat 383, a Russian vessel deliberately sunk as a dive attraction. Patrol boat 383 wreck - Varadero - The Scuba Diving Place It apparently has a twin which has been sunk off of the Caymans. The really neat thing for us with this one was the fact that our previous wreck dives were all wooden vessels in various states. It was really cool diving a large steel ship sitting upright with an intact superstructure. I could not believe how much simpler buoyancy control was with so little weight and neoprene. I had forgotten how incredible warm water visibility was. The wreck is collecting some really nice coral growth, and the fish were as you would expect. Current was virtually nil, making it a very relaxing dive. Max depth was 28 m.
The second dive was a nearby reef called sharks reef. Much to my disappointment, there were no sharks in evidence. With a max depth of 14 m, it was another relaxing dive, just a slow "stroll" around the reef taking it all in. I honestly don't have a lot of points of comparison from a health perspective, but it looked pretty healthy to me with abundant hard and soft corals and plenty of wildlife. Sadly, we saw several large and healthy lionfish, something we would see more of over the next few days.
After returning to the boat DS (a growing 17 year old) had his first respite from the resort buffet. For 12 CUC, he was served a plate containing a massive lobster tail, vegetables and fruit fresh cooked by the boat crew (I can't eat shellfish and so obviously declined). All in all, it was an excellent first day, and we made some friends we would continue to dive with over the next several days.
The second day was supposed to be another boat dive, but the boat wasn't cooperating - mechanical issues of some sort. Off to Playa Coral for some shore diving. All of the transport was in well-equipped and maintained air conditioned tour busses. After the shore entry, there is a bit of a swim out to a break in the reef. For the first tank we headed left (west), and for the second we turned right (east). This was the pattern for all of our shore dives. Although the reef itself was a nice dive, we didn't like the swim out so much. There was a fair bit of surge - especially as the day wore on - and the water was really shallow, so swimming through the channel in the reef was a bit more wok in both directions than we would have liked. The reef formations themselves were nice, lots of channels, lots of nooks and crannies for sea life, and again it looked to be in reasonable health. I saw my first moray on the swim in from the second tank, just the head poking out of a hole.
DS and I did a third dive at the same site as a night dive that evening. A much smaller group, it was just us, one other buddy pair (Italians), and 2 DMs, one leading and one trailing. It was nice that we had the opportunity to do it in daylight first - the surge going through the break in the reef was horrid, worse than during the day, but having done it twice in each direction already we knew what to expect and so it kept the stress down as we worked to avoid being pushed into the coral. The contrast in the type of life and activity was amazing, and of course looking at things under the lights revealed colours that seemed muted in the natural light of the day dives. I saw my second moray early in the dive, full view this time, moving along the bottom. I saw my first puffer fish - way cool. I discovered how fast a lobster can move. Another great dive.
Max depth on the Playa Coral dives was 11 m.
Day three was planned for the Bay of Pigs. The bus ride was long, about 2 hours each way. The site chosen was El Tanque, a shore dive between Playa Larga and Playa Giron. Similar to Playa Coral, the first tank took us left and the second right. This was a wall dive. A swim out of (maybe?) 100 m brought us gradually over some low coral formations to a depth of 11 m - 12 m and the drop off. We went to a max depth of ~ 25 m on both dives. No current to speak of meant, once again, a nice leisurely swim along the wall, leveling up as we went. Excellent corals, hard and soft, but not as many fish as the other reefs we had visited. I did see the largest crab I had ever seen either in or out of the water sitting on a ledge on the wall. On the second tank as we came back up over the lip of the drop off we came across a small steel wreck, perhaps 15 m in length. It looked like a placement as well, as it seemed to have been stripped pretty well as if it had been prepped.
On the way back we stopped for "lunch" (by this time it was around 4 pm) at a restaurant near the town of Australia. Good honest food, much better than the resort. There is nothing like a good meal and a cold beer after a dive.
Day four saw Isaac step in. By and large we didn't see too much impact where we were, but it was enough to send us back to the Bay of Pigs again if we wanted to dive that day. The site this time was El Cenote, VERY similar to the site from the previous day. Wall dive with the drop at about 12 m, but this day we went to a max of 31 m on the first dive, with 20 m the cap for the second. Also similar to the El Tanque site, there was a very similar boat near the wall edge when we turned right from the entry. The cool thing this dive was that there was a free diver on the boat as we swam up to it. When he saw us, he asked for a depth reading - 11 m. This boat looked like it had been there longer as there was a bit more growth. A bit more fish life as well - almost immediately on entry we encountered the wildlife. I really don't have much else to say on this one, but it was every bit as good as the previous day, some very enjoyable dives. Same "lunch" stop as the day before, another good meal.
Had we been able to make day 5 happen, I would have actually completed my 49th & 50th dive for the year - which I will now have to do in colder water on Sunday
. Unfortunately Isaac cancelled our day altogether. All in all, I can't really complain though. I am sure people will tell me that there are better places to dive in the Caribbean, or that there are better places to dive in Cuba. The fact is, the 9 dives we did were much more fun than what we had been planning - and at very little additional cost. DS and I are quite happy with that. I would definitely go back again, but likely to a different area. Could not beat it for the price IMO.The bad stuff
I have discovered why people don't like diving with photographers. Too many times I was literally pushed out of the way or cut off by some idiot who didn't care about anything other than what was in front of their camera lens. Pure ignorance. I spent way too much time watching divers who had exactly zero concern for where their fins were. The sad part is that most of those divers have better buoyancy control, better trim, and better technique than me. Yet I managed to completely avoid all reef contact over 9 dives while watching those divers blithely kick the coral, grab it to steady a camera shot, etc., leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Quite pathetic really.
The resort
The resort we stayed at was the Brisas del Caribe. For the most part we were happy with it. Friday night (24th) the roof on our top floor room started leaking, but we were moved without fuss the next morning. Staff was for the most part friendly and helpful. Food was only adequate. I guess it was ok for what it was, and certainly there were plenty around us chowing down, but DS and I found most of what was on offer to be unappetizing. Most meals we ate from the fresh cooked grill, generally the best offerings. Our best meals were off-resort.
