Trip Report Diving Jardines de la Reina in 4-11 June 2022

[Dan]

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)

 

[Dan]

Figure 5 shows, in clockwise starting from the top-left picture, entertainment room (Saloon) in main deck areas, dining room in the upper deck, outside lounge, next to the dining room, and my cabin in the lower deck.

Setting up our dive gears and getting on to diving boat were a bit different than a typical liveaboard since the mother boat (JA3) are treated as “floating” hotel. Once we kit up our dive gears at our assigned stations in the dive deck and ready to board on the dive boat, the deckhand would take our dive gears to the dive boat. We then walked to stern gate with our camera and mask stepped down to port side of the dive boat with deckhand assistance, sat on either side of the dive boat, where our gear was stationed. Once everyone was onboard, the dive boat would cruise to the dive site.

Dive briefings were conducted in JA3 dive deck on the stern of main deck. 20 minutes before diving, a bel rang to remind us to head back down to dive deck to suit up.

Figure 5: Entertainment room (top-left), dining room ((top-right), outside lounge (bottom-right) & my cabin (bottom-left)

For water entry, once the pool is open and everyone is geared up, the divers on both sides of the boat, nearest to the back of the dive boat, would get up and scoot to the landing platform on the back of the dive boat with the deckhand assistance, and do a giant stride into the water and swim away from the boat. When the water entry area is clear off divers, the next 2 divers in line follow suit one by one until all divers are in the water. DM would check with everyone if we are ready to descend. Once all is clear, we would descend and follow lead DM.

The meals (breakfast, lunch & dinner) were served buffet style. The food was excellent. Special dietary meal was served to those who asked for it.

The diving
As shown in Table 1, we did a 20 dives in 5 days, including;

• 0 dive on 5 June due to bad weather from tropical storm Agatha.
• 3 dives, including checkout dive and a night dive on 6 June.
• 5 dives, including a night dive on 7 June since we missed a diving day on 5 June.
• 4 dives on 8 June.
• 5 dives, including a night dive on 9 June since we missed a diving day on 5 June.
• 3 dives on 10 June.

Daily schedule would be posted in the dive deck’s whiteboard. A bell rang 20 minutes before the scheduled dive. Typical 4-dives / day schedule was as follows:

07:00 – Wakeup call
07:15 – Breakfast
08:00 – Get ready
08:40 – Dive 1
11:00 – Dive 2
12:00 – Lunch
15:00 – Dive 3
17:40 – Dive 4
19:00 – Dinner

Day 1 (4 June, Saturday)
We were supposed to fly to Havana on 3 June. The plan was I would fly from Houston to Miami and join dive buddies from Florida to fly together to Havana. We then stayed one night in Havana to travel early on the next day for 9-hour ride to Jucaro.

Due to tropical storm Agatha hitting Havana on 3 June, all flights to Havana were cancelled. We were able to scramble for the next available flights to Havana on the next day afternoon and rode together on a bus to Jucaro, arriving in Jucaro about midnight. We stayed in Hotel Rueda, Ciego de Avila.

Day 2 (5 June, Sunday)
It was raining heavily in the morning and port authority were not allowing any boat to go to JDR until the next morning. So we stayed in the hotel until 15:00 and boarded on JA3 around half hour later. So, no diving today.

Day 3 (6 June, Monday)
JA3 left Jucaro port around 06:00 for 4.5 hour cruise to JDR.

We made our checkout dive (Dive 1) at 12:32 in Anclitas with depth of 17m for 63 minutes. Visibility was at 20m. Air temperature was 32 ◦C. Water temperature was 29°C. No current. We saw Nassau Grouper, Octopus, Southern Ray, Spiny Lobster, Spotted Drum, Squid, Tiger Grouper.

Dive 2 was in Caballones at 15:57 with depth of 26m for 51 minutes. Visibility was at 20m. Water temperature was 29°C. Slow current. We saw Barracuda, Eagle Ray, Goliath Grouper, Hogfish, Horse-eye Jacks, Nassau Grouper, few Reef Sharks, Silky Sharks, Tarpon, Tiger Grouper, Spiny Lobster, Spotted Drum, Squid, Tiger Grouper.

Dive 3 was in A Lot of Fish, at 18:43 with depth of 25m for 53 minutes. Visibility was at 25m. Water temperature was 29°C. Slow current. We saw Hogfish fighting (as shown in Figure 6, below), Nurse Shark, few Reef Sharks, Silky Sharks, Spotted Drum.

Figure 6: Hogfish flighting

First impression of diving in JDR is great. Saw lots of Reef Sharks and Groupers.

To be continued to the next post.

 

[Dan]

Day 4 (7 June, Tuesday)
This was a long day of diving (5 dives) to make up some of the lost day of diving on 5 June.

Dive 4 was in Coral Negro 2 at 8:46 with depth of 28m for 52 minutes. Visibility was at 25m. Air temperature was 29°C. Water temperature was 29°C. Slow current. We saw Lionfish, Nassau Grouper, a lot of Reef Sharks, Southern Stingray.

Dive 5 was in Los Mogotes, at 10:54 with depth of 21m for 68 minutes. Visibility was at 25m. Water temperature was 29°C. No current. This is my favorite dive in JDR and made a video just for this dive, as shown, below. We saw Blue Tang, Creole Wrasse, Gray Angelfish, Green Moray, Octopus, lots of Reef Sharks, Southern Stingray, Tarpons, Tiger Groupers, Yellow Jacks.



Dive 6 was in La Puntica, at 15:12 with depth of 21m for 54 minutes. Visibility was at 25m. Water temperature was 29°C. Slow current. We saw Creole Wrasse, very friendly Goliath Grouper, Green Moray, Horse-eye Jacks, Lionfish, Nurse Shark, lots of Reef Sharks, Schoolmaster Snappers, Spiny Lobster, Tiger Groupers.

Dive 7 was in Intermedio, at 17:54 with depth of 20m for 60 minutes. Visibility was at 25m. Water temperature was 29°C. No current. We saw huge Crab, Lionfish, Nassau Grouper, Nurse Shark, few Reef Sharks, Spotted Moray, Scrawled Filefish, Spiny Lobster, Whaleshark!

Dive 8 was in La Boca at 21:10 with depth of 18m for 60 minutes. Visibility was at 25m. Water temperature was 29°C. No current. We saw Basket Star, Blue Tang, Four-eye Butterflyfish, Green Moray, Hogfish, huge Crab, Nassau Grouper, Octopus, Redband Parrotfish, Slipper Lobster, Spotted Drum (Jv), Southern Stingray, free swimming Spotted Moray, Spiny Lobster, Squid, Tiger Grouper.

Day 5 (8 June, Wednesday)

Dive 9 was in La Raya at 8:42 with depth of 19m for 68 minutes. Visibility was at 25m. Air temperature was 29°C. Water temperature was 29°C. Slow current. We saw Arrow Crab, Conch, Creole Wrasse, Indigo Hamlet, Lionfish, Nassau Grouper, a lot of Reef Sharks, Schoolmaster Snapper, Tiger Grouper.

Dive 10 was in Five Seas, at 11:01 with depth of 23m for 61 minutes. Visibility varied 10-20m. Water temperature was 29°C. No current. We went to the swam (mangrove) area to look for El Nino, the crocodile, brought some chicken legs, kept calling it, but it was never showed up. He is MIA. I hope he is OK. We saw a friendly Nassau Grouper kept following DM. It came to me too wanted something. Saw Eagle Ray, schooling Horse-eye Jacks following a Reef Shark, Lionfish, Banded Shrimp in Barrel Sponge, Gray Angelfish, Lettuce Slug, Pistol Shrimp making snapping sound, several Reef Sharks, schooling of 4-5 Tarpons, Tiger Grouper.

Dive 11 was in La Cana at 15:23 with depth of 22m for 56 minutes. Visibility varied 10-20m. Air temperature was 32°C. Water temperature was 29°C. No current. We saw Banded Butterflyfish, Creole Wrasse, Lionfish, Queen Angelfish, Queen Triggerfish, several Reef Sharks, Southern Stingray, Spotted Drum (Jv). Snorkeling in a shallow channel and saw schooling of squid.

Dive 12 was in Patricia at 17:46 with depth of 16m for 59 minutes. Visibility varied 10-20m. Air temperature was 30°C. Water temperature was 29°C. No current. We saw Golden Coney, Gray Angelfish, Green Moray, Schoolmaster Snappers, Nassau Grouper in cleaning station, Porkfish, several Reef Sharks, Creole Wrasse, Soapfish, Squirrelfish.

Day 6 (9 June, Thursday)
This was a long day of diving (5 dives) to make up some of the lost day of diving on 5 June.

Dive 13 was in El Farallon at 8:25 with depth of 30m for 49 minutes. Visibility was at 20m. Air temperature was 29°C. Water temperature was 29°C. No current. The bottom profile looks like channel with some coral growth above the channels forming like swim-through tunnels, We saw Creole Wrasse, Goliath Grouper, Golden Hamlet, Indigo Hamlet, Lionfish, Lizard Fish, Spotted Drum (Jv), Tarpon, Nassau Grouper, a lot of Reef Sharks, Shy Hamlet. At the end of the dive the crew fed Silky Sharks with fish scraps to see some actions. Then they took us to shallow reef for snorkeling.

Dive 14 was in Boca de Piedra at 15:09 with depth of 22m for 66 minutes. Visibility was at 15m. Air temperature was 30°C. Water temperature was 29°C. No current, We saw Arrow Crab hiding inside Barrel Sponge, Schooling Blue Tang, Black Durgon, Creole Wrasse, Garden Eels, Horse-eye Jacks, Hamlet (Jv), Lionfish, Nassau Grouper, Pistol Shrimp, Penderson Shrimp, Slender Filefish (Jv), Southern Stingray hiding under sandy bottom, Soapfish, Yellow Coney.

Dive 15 was in Peruano at 10:32 with depth of 24m for 64 minutes. Visibility was at 20m. Air temperature was 29°C. Water temperature was 29°C. No current, We saw large school of Creole Wrasse, Fairy Basslet, Four Spotted Butterflyfish, Hogfish, Great Barracuda, Moon Jellyfish, friendly Nassau Grouper, Porkfish, Queen Triggerfish, a lot of Reef Sharks, Southern Stingray, Schoolmaster Snappers, Spotted Trunkfish, Spotted Drum, Yellowtail Snapper, Schooling Blue Tang.

Dive 16 was in Los Cobos at 17:19 with depth of 16m for 54 minutes. Visibility was at 15m. Air temperature was 30°C. Water temperature was 29°C. Slow current, We saw huge Crab, Fairy Basslet, Gray Angelfish, Green Moray, Nurse Shark, large school of Porkfish, a lot of Reef Sharks, Spiny Lobster, school of Yellowtail Snapper.

Dive 17 was in Boca Anclitas at 19:14 with depth of 18m for 61 minutes. Visibility was at 15m. Air temperature was 30°C. Water temperature was 29°C. No current, We saw Arrow Crab caught a worm, Conch walking, huge Crab, Hermit Crab, huge Goliath Grouper swimming by, Spiny Lobster, Sleeper Lobster walking by, Soapfish, Trumpetfish hunting. There are enough footages with the previous night dives to make a video of Night Diving in JDR, as shown, below:



Day 7 (10 June, Friday)
This is the last day of diving.


Dive 18 was in Pipin at 8:15 with depth of 27m for 56 minutes. Visibility was at 20m. Air temperature was 30°C. Water temperature was 29°C. No current. We saw Black Grouper, Golden Hamlet, Indigo Hamlet, friendly Goliath Grouper, Nassau Grouper, a lot of Reef Sharks, Tiger Grouper, Silky Sharks near the surface. The crew fed the Silky Sharks with fish scraps after we were all back on the boat to see some Sharks actions.

We went snorkeling during surface interval, where we saw some massive Elkhorn corals. There are enough footages with the previous snorkeling adventure to make a video of Snorkeling in JDR, as shown, below:



Dive 19 was in Dark Reef at 14:48 with depth of 20m for 59 minutes. Visibility was at 20m. Air temperature was 30°C. Water temperature was 29°C. No current. We saw Great Barracuda, huge Crab, Creole Wrasse being cleaned, Green Moray, Hogfish feeding, Nassau Grouper, Spiny Lobster, Hawksbill Sea Turtle, Spotted Moray, Tiger Grouper.

Dive 20 was in Anclitas at 10:34 with depth of 18m for 62 minutes. Visibility was at 20m. Air temperature was 32°C. Water temperature was 29°C. No current. We saw Creole Wrasse being cleaned, Black Drugons, Fairy Basslet, Great Barracuda, Green Moray, Hogfish, Nurse Shark, Reef Shark, Spiny Lobster, Scrawled Filefish, Spotted Moray, Trumpetfish, Tiger Grouper.

Day 8 (11 June, Saturday)
After breakfast, we got on the bus to Havana at 8:15. Arrived at Parque Central at 14:54. Stayed in Havana for a day tour before flying home.

Conclusions
My impression of the diving and the trip are very positive. A lot of healthy reef in Jardines de la Reina. Plenty of Reef Sharks and Groupers in most of dive sites. Elkhorn corals near Pipin are very impressive.

 

[Ukmc]

Dan, thank for another great review - it is detailed but down to the point.
Was the 9 hour bus ride painful or not as bad as it sounds? Were there stops along the way to get some food, stretch out etc… Scenary along the way?

 

[Dan]

Dan, thank for another great review - it is detailed but down to the point.
Was the 9 hour bus ride painful or not as bad as it sounds? Were there stops along the way to get some food, stretch out etc… Scenary along the way?

Thanks for the compliment!

Pretty good ride. No complain. The roads are mostly good & fairly quiet outside Havana. Occasionally you see something like this:

We did stop for gas & restroom.

And dinner.

Hotel Rueda in Ciego de Avila :

My huge room at the hotel

 

[Dan]

Back in June 2022, I saw this thread:

Jardines de la Reina The Best Diving Day Ever

Would you swim with crocodiles? Award-winning underwater photographer Sean Chinn sure would! In Jardines de la Reina, an archipelago in the southern part of Cuba, lucky divers get to meet El Niño, the resident croc in these pristine mangroves. Read on to hear more about this remarkable corner of...

scubaboard.com

and responded to it:

I was there last week. Went twice to check on Nino, but he’s no where to be seen. According to Gustavo (DM of Avalon), Nino wasn’t there either on the week before our visit. That’s 2 weeks MIA. I hope he’s OK.

To those, who went there after my visit, please let me know whether you have any luck to see Niño.

 

[dflaher]

Great report again, Dan! How easy is it to book a LOB for diving JDR, in terms of State Dept restrictions, for US citizens?

 

[Dan]

Great report again, Dan! How easy is it to book a LOB for diving JDR, in terms of State Dept restrictions, for US citizens?

Thanks for your compliment!

Pretty easy. Just contact SB SME @aquabluegreg

 

[rmorgan]

Dan, thanks for a ton of excellent details and well-curated videos to boot. You put in a lot of effort here and I really appreciate it. We’re booked on JA3 in January, and this is so helpful! Do you think the storm had much impact on visibility out in the archipelago, and did I miss something, or did you only see the silkies on one dive?

 

[Dan]

Dan, thanks for a ton of excellent details and well-curated videos to boot. You put in a lot of effort here and I really appreciate it. We’re booked on JA3 in January, and this is so helpful! Do you think the storm had much impact on visibility out in the archipelago, and did I miss something, or did you only see the silkies on one dive?

Thanks for the compliment!

Visibility was so-so on Wednesday of that week. Don't remember what had caused it. I would expect the storm would affect the poor vis on Monday dive, but it was not. The best one was during the diving in Los Mogotes on Tuesday. Don't miss that dive site!

We saw Silky Sharks on Dive 13 and 18, when the crew throwing some fish scraps into the water. I'll put together some footages of that and posted the video here. It was quite a treat!