Cuba Help

[diverdan]

Thinking about a family holiday in Cuba. I will as usual slip off for several days diving if suitable.

Grateful for any info about diving mostly in the north of the island but would be able to drive other places if diving better.

[dave archer]

Maria la Gorda, Western tip of Cuba, has some beautiful walls and reefs - loads of sponges, plenty small fishes, though not many pelagics (but a few great barracuda).

Bit far from much else though.

Havana is well worth a few days.

HTH

Dave.

[Gram43]

Hi
I went to Cuba some years ago to a place called Santa Lucia and dived with an outfit called Sharkey's. They were pretty good and the diving was great, loads to see, crystal clear and sharks, of course.
It was an all inclusive deal but the diving was cheaper if booked over there and not pre-booked as our travel agent wanted.
Sadly this was about 5 years ago and is a distant memory, however I did go to the Maldives a year after and it compared very well.

Go for it, it's worth a chance!!!

Gram43

[KimH]

We must have been there about the same time as Gram and have similar feelings.
The diving was fantastic and at that time the coral relatively untouched and plenty of life. We booked locally in the marina at Varadero which was a new resort then, I dread to think what it's like now. We dived with the Baraccuda dive club in Varadero, they were very efficient and the guides pleasant and helpful, as was everyone we met in Cuba, a wonderful country and people warm and friendly, only wish we could get back there again.
Typically for us as we arrived so did a hurricane - the weather people ought to use us as an early warning system - but in Cuban stylee they weren't in the slightest bit phased by it they just adopted plan B. Morning, check the weather forcast and dive on another part of the island, they just took us either to the north coast or down south to the Bay of Pigs to avoid the wind. This turned out to be brilliant, a vast wall of unspoilt coral and mega deep and so much of it that you could dive on it for months without repeating the same dive.

Enjoy the Cuban experience, the diving is an added bonus.

[polyene]

Originally Posted by dave archer

Maria la Gorda, Western tip of Cuba, has some beautiful walls and reefs - loads of sponges, plenty small fishes, though not many pelagics (but a few great barracuda).

Bit far from much else though.

Havana is well worth a few days.

HTH

Dave.

Any recommendations to dive centres or accommodation?
Cheers!

[dave archer]

Originally Posted by polyene

Any recommendations to dive centres or accommodation?
Cheers!

No specifics I'm afraid as I went with my club, who did all the logistics. But it seemed there was only one place in M la G, and it was inclusive accom + diving in one.
Google for it.
See: http://divermag.com/archives/nov2003/maria-nov03.html

[Billy the Kangaroo]

Be careful if you book a resort where the diving is included in the price. I have had three trips to Cuba as part of family holidays -

- one where I paid to dive - with Barracuda from Varadero - which was BRILLIANT. - Chuggging out for ages to get to wonderful wrecks - including a russian warship with 'missiles' etc in place, hand feeding boiled eggs to huge green morays, great night dive.

- and two where the diving was all-included in the hotel price. This meant a short trip in a boat to just-off the beach and in with a load of try-divers. Imagine 9 people in the water who had only done a short pool session and all the resort staff on the boat kitting and launching them. ( And you can do that for free every day. ). I even paid to go out with the other organisation.

I would recommend Cuba, but dont expect wonderful diving for 'free'.

Bill....