Scuba in Cuba
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finbob
Contributor
Hi everyone,
Here is a brief dive report on Cuba, just got back a couple of days ago. Hope you find it helpful:
Location: Holguin
Hotel: The hotel Paradisus Rio Deo is probably the best in Eastern Cuba. It is a 5* operation: accommodation, beach, food. The hotel provides free diving & equipment via an independent operator - the Blue World Diving Centre. The dive centre pick-up is from each hotel in the morning either at 8:15AM (deep dive) or 10:15AM (shallower dive). Both pick-up & return to and from hotels are free.
Dive Centre: The diving brief is short, buddies and dive depth established. You carry all equipment (inc tank) from Centre to the sea (30 Meters), down steel steps into the sea, swim out to boat (30 Meters) then up steps onto boat ready for transportation to dive site - usually 10 Minutes or so. I personally found the carrying of all equipment on and off the boat overwhelming due to back issues, so asked if it could be carried on and off for me - no problem. Prices are around 25 CUC/dive ($28) for those who do not have a hotel package.
The boat provides drinking water and carries around 20 divers comfortably. A DM leads the dives with another following behind. There is a decent variety of fish with interesting topology. Saw: Turtle, Barracudas, Parrot Fish, Lobster, Grouper, enormous crab, Morey eel etc.
Would like to have experienced a more pro-active help attitude from the DM team. But when asked they would respond well. George an instructor was exceptionally kind/caring.
In summation: Strongly recommendation for hotel (5* out of 5*) especially for the mature group 45+; Dive Centre Okay but not great (3* out of 5*).
UW Photography Comments: There are no facilities for cameras on the Boat on at the Dive Centre. ------- Finbob
Here is a brief dive report on Cuba, just got back a couple of days ago. Hope you find it helpful:
Location: Holguin
Hotel: The hotel Paradisus Rio Deo is probably the best in Eastern Cuba. It is a 5* operation: accommodation, beach, food. The hotel provides free diving & equipment via an independent operator - the Blue World Diving Centre. The dive centre pick-up is from each hotel in the morning either at 8:15AM (deep dive) or 10:15AM (shallower dive). Both pick-up & return to and from hotels are free.
Dive Centre: The diving brief is short, buddies and dive depth established. You carry all equipment (inc tank) from Centre to the sea (30 Meters), down steel steps into the sea, swim out to boat (30 Meters) then up steps onto boat ready for transportation to dive site - usually 10 Minutes or so. I personally found the carrying of all equipment on and off the boat overwhelming due to back issues, so asked if it could be carried on and off for me - no problem. Prices are around 25 CUC/dive ($28) for those who do not have a hotel package.
The boat provides drinking water and carries around 20 divers comfortably. A DM leads the dives with another following behind. There is a decent variety of fish with interesting topology. Saw: Turtle, Barracudas, Parrot Fish, Lobster, Grouper, enormous crab, Morey eel etc.
Would like to have experienced a more pro-active help attitude from the DM team. But when asked they would respond well. George an instructor was exceptionally kind/caring.
In summation: Strongly recommendation for hotel (5* out of 5*) especially for the mature group 45+; Dive Centre Okay but not great (3* out of 5*).
UW Photography Comments: There are no facilities for cameras on the Boat on at the Dive Centre. ------- Finbob
Wow... some of you Yanks really do believe your own propaganda.
/QUOTE]
Each American has the legal right to develop their own propaganda.
Anyway, sports are often used as a means to open up relationships with other countries. China was closed to the US until a ping pong team went there to compete.
If the two countries choose to move closer together, SCUBA might be a good start. With the US and Cuba located in the same area of ocean, there's certainly mutual interest in protecting this resource. And, it is basically non-political.
I dove with the Green Moray dive shop out of the Melia hotel in Cayo Coco while staying at the Iberostar out of Cayo Guillermo in Oct 09. The dive shop covered the cab rides (45 mins one way) throughout the week as the local Dive Center was closed during their slow season. My GF, myself and three other friends dove six consecutive days for a total of 13 dives...all daytime as night diving is not permitted in Cuba.
In our case, we would arrive, get briefed on the dive then finish gearing up at the shop, walk across the beach and wade in the water to the boat tied to a buoy in three feet of water or so. As to DM assistance, it was like any other places I have been at...if you happen to be a woman you had it made...lol. My Gf did not complain...
I found them as professionnal as any other diving organization...went through cards, logbook, forms and a check-out dive to see how we behave in the water and after that...they just led the way and let us enjoy our dives. The pairing was 1 DM per six divers. One thing that was different was the fact that when any diver got to their reserve (750 psi or the Bar equivalent), everybody had to come up which was different from what I have seen elsewhere...ie DM launch SMB and the individual and buddy go up the string, do a three min safety stop, board the boat and wait for the others to finish their dive. Considering that one of my dive buddy and good friend of mine also happens to be an Air Hog...most noticeably on deeper dives (as most divers would expect), the other divers in my party, me included, ended up providing him with some...complimentary access to our octo as well as towing service so we could all enjoy a 45 mins multi level dive.
In terms of equipement, Scubapro if I recall correctly. What was different for me were the short and fat 80 cf steel tanks (all equipped with the 230 bar valve to allow the use of DIN/Yoke reg assemblies). Last but not least, most DM used dive computers but not all...which was not a problem for us as we all had ours and were all experienced divers.
In our case, we would arrive, get briefed on the dive then finish gearing up at the shop, walk across the beach and wade in the water to the boat tied to a buoy in three feet of water or so. As to DM assistance, it was like any other places I have been at...if you happen to be a woman you had it made...lol. My Gf did not complain...
I found them as professionnal as any other diving organization...went through cards, logbook, forms and a check-out dive to see how we behave in the water and after that...they just led the way and let us enjoy our dives. The pairing was 1 DM per six divers. One thing that was different was the fact that when any diver got to their reserve (750 psi or the Bar equivalent), everybody had to come up which was different from what I have seen elsewhere...ie DM launch SMB and the individual and buddy go up the string, do a three min safety stop, board the boat and wait for the others to finish their dive. Considering that one of my dive buddy and good friend of mine also happens to be an Air Hog...most noticeably on deeper dives (as most divers would expect), the other divers in my party, me included, ended up providing him with some...complimentary access to our octo as well as towing service so we could all enjoy a 45 mins multi level dive.
In terms of equipement, Scubapro if I recall correctly. What was different for me were the short and fat 80 cf steel tanks (all equipped with the 230 bar valve to allow the use of DIN/Yoke reg assemblies). Last but not least, most DM used dive computers but not all...which was not a problem for us as we all had ours and were all experienced divers.
Just a comment about Americans traveling to Cuba. It has been forbidden since about 1960 with some jail time and fine$ attached. I've always thought that this ban should be looked at as an afront to individual rights. Wrong. You can travel anywhere you want in the USA or it's "possessions" but the State Department/Congress can legally forbid you from traveling to anywhere they decide. Personally, I think that it is because of the embarresment of the US gov't following the disaster of the Bay of Pigs fiasco. Thanks John F Kennedy for your foresight. Two things: Hopefully the Cubano's will someday throw off the collar of communism and open up their own society to the rest of the world. Or with the Castro twins nearing (hopefully again) death this may shortly be the case unless the corrupt, communist military regime insists on holding on to power and the continued suppression of the Cuban population.
Garrobo...I usually never discuss politics but I am ready to make an exception here...apparently you are speaking only from what you have been able to glean from US newspapers and TV and not from real life experience. While this may come as a shock, Cuba has opened up their society to the rest of the world a long time ago...it is the US who has decided not to enjoy it. The last time I looked it up ...it was still call a US embargo and not the opposite. Every year, and that for as long as I remember, thousands of tourists from Europe and Canada choose Cuba as a sun destination.
Corruption...has didddly s...... to do with the economic/political system in place but rather with the values of the people in place. I am quite sure that Google could point you out to some pretty darn good examples fairly close to home. I will tell you, last time I look, we were not necessarily fairing much better....
Now let's get back to scuba diving...I would like to add a comment I forgot to include in my original post regarding one of the hazards of diving in Cuba. It has nothing to do with the quality of their air but rather the fact that you have to walk, occasionally, amidst topless european sunbathers on your way to the boat and if you are not careful you could trip and injured yourself...Therefore, I would not recommend it unless having the proper PADI certification
RTee: What a laffer. The day that the Communist-controlled government allows individual political discussion, membership and a chance at the so-called "elections" they have, without the threat of prison or death on the island of Cuba, they are NOT an open society but a dictatorship with mucho blood on their hands. There are those who either have been living in a closet for the last 50 year or are so left-leaning that they just ignore the torture, death and incarceratiion which is prevelant there or subscribe to the many conspiracies floating around or are so un-American that they just want to believe the worst. Sorry for your problems. End of story.
We do go to countries for medical work, usually with Christian organizations and/or NGOs. I was hoping for Thailand/Burma border (diving in the South as a break) this summer, but it looks like an American Indian reservation in the deserts of the SE. (I am a psychologist, daughter MD)
I have heard Cuba has come along ways in the medical care of their people, but would be open to assistance. I really appreciate this first hand information, as we do not travel to destinations for diving, but when I am in a place that I can dive, I dive.
As far as the political - Corruption is everywhere, including (especially where's money's involved) the USA. I look for "safe" places that we won't be killed for caring (i.e., 5 "Doctors Without Borders" murdered in Afghanistan a few years back).
Thank you for this valuable information.
I have heard Cuba has come along ways in the medical care of their people, but would be open to assistance. I really appreciate this first hand information, as we do not travel to destinations for diving, but when I am in a place that I can dive, I dive.
As far as the political - Corruption is everywhere, including (especially where's money's involved) the USA. I look for "safe" places that we won't be killed for caring (i.e., 5 "Doctors Without Borders" murdered in Afghanistan a few years back).
Thank you for this valuable information.
Allison Finch
Contributor
I don't expect to see GARROBO flying anywhere to dive. After all....planes have left wings!
finbob
Contributor
drdaddy: Delighted to hear you are engaged in cutting-edge missionary endeavours. Cuba has one of the best medical operations globally. Their physician/patient ration is excellent. Their physicians train for 6-years and are sent around the world serving other struggling nations (Latin America/Africa in particular). In fact, I believe Havana is one of the largest med schools in Latin America, certainly responsible for training other nationals. Where they are limited is with the high tech. Of course, medicine is free in Cuba --- Hope that helps.
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