scubacan vacations

Have you been on a "fully hosted" trip to cuba

  • Yes I have

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No I haven't

    Votes: 6 100.0%

  • Total voters
    6

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vertaqua

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Has anyone been on Scubacan's "fully hosted" trips to cuba. I ve read a few articles but I'm still sceptical about the whole thing. I'd appreciate all comments both pro and con especially from US citizens that have been on said trips. I also haven't been able to log on to their website lately, if that means anything.
Thanx
 
If you're getting serious about dive travel, I'd like to suggest that familiarizing yourself with some of the publications read by seasoned dive travelers, such as "Undercurrent" http://www.undercurrent.org/ , will likely prove far more illuminating than a board poll.

Here is an item from the present, Oct '02 issue:

"If you’ve been a subscriber to Undercurrent during the past year, you’ve seen several warnings from us that Scubacan (and owner Keith Bolender), which specializes in Cuban travel, has stiffed several American divers, failing to deliver trips and then not offering refunds.

In February we reported on the travails of five Arizona divers who paid their money and arrived in Havana, only to find the live-aboard boat they had prepaid for was not operating. Bolender had not forwarded the payment, and the boat’s crew apparently had been sent home. A leader of the group, Harry Hanes of Tombstone, Arizona, vowed to pursue the matter. He hired a Canadian lawyer and on July 31 received a judgment against Scubacan for $30,325 Canadian (including attorneys’ fees). Now he has to collect.

Hanes writes, “We want to be sure these asses are driven out of the industry and kept out. Heaven forbid they slink back in under another name. Scubacan’s Web site is still up and running, so I can’t help but think they’re still open for business.'”

Best regards.

DocVikingo
 
The rest of the world, other than the United States, is having quite a good time diving in Cuba.


We (middle-aged self and wife and 13 year old daughter) just spent two weeks in Cuba, one of them mainly diving and the other driving wherever we felt like going and eating and staying wherever we wanted to--the options are plentiful--through the eastern half of Cuba.

We dove about a dozen times, as deep as 45 metres, off Veradero, Playa Giron and Isla de la Juventud. Diving at the first was pretty good while the latter two were superb, offering virgin coral and rich marine life, which included an almost too friendly 7 foot Morray eel (off V, where tourists had been feeding it), a six metre whale shark, turtles, live, active conches, huge lobsters and rays and a tremendous variety of reef fish.

The dive boats were quite seviceable, though the Isla's 42 foot twin inboard Volvo motors could get a bit smokey. The rental BC's and regs seemed to be of good quality (we brough our own), though fins and suits in odd sizes (like the size 13's I was loaned, free of charge, after losing a fin strap) could be a challenge. Dive masters were excellent: great divers and expert guides, careful about safety and --like any Cuban living there today--very cheerful and resourceful about solving problems.

The Colony hotel, on Isla, was much better than we'd been led to expect. It now features a whole double row of brand new bungalows that are very clean and comfortable --up to and including remote-controlled, electronically programmable air conditioning. The food, too, may have improved: it was certainly always plentiful and made with good ingredients. Daughter Ariel, was ecstatic about the huge quantities of fresh fruit and pure fruit juices. The quality of the preparation and spicing of the fish and meat dishes only occasionally rose much above "okay" level, however.

All in all, a superb diving experience in a somewhat challenging environment that we canadians will continue to enjoy!
 
From the Dec '02 issue of 'Undercurrent" http://www.undercurrent.org:

"Scubacan International, Keith Bolender and Antonio Avella have been charged under Section 3(1) of the Ontario Travel Industry Act (Acting as travel agents without registration). They will be summoned to appear in court on January 23, 2003 in Toronto."

Stay tuned.

DocVikingo
 
I should add that while our diving experience in Cuba was positive, our experience with the travel agent we used, Voyages Aquanauts of Quebec Canada, was so bad that we will be doing our best to charge them with fraud and sue them if they do not reimburse or otherwise compensate us for the hundreds of extra dollars we ended up having to pay and many hours of frustration and a night a absolutely terrible accommodations.

Stay away from this outfit until they clean up their act! Will inform you whether they do.
 

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