Diving Holidays in Cuba - The Ultimate Guide

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Sorry, you had to experience that first hand but yeah, Varadero, Cuba is not known as a diving destination.
 
Cayo Largo (Cuba) is only marginally better. A diver at our hotel last trip was told three days in a row 'no diving', we had been before and just showed up for the bus. We dove every day that he had been denied. (Okay, but not spectacular, diving.)
When you get paid the same if you go out or not there doesn't seem to be any incentive to go.
 
It's worth going for the experience. Parts of Cuba were beautiful...other parts not so much. I think it's important to see what a communist country is. We were on a very managed tour and frankly...the diving mostly sucked by all General Carribean standards....but still far better than Oklahoma lake diving. The Russian Patrol Boat was fun, the rest was just not that memorable. I believe there is one dive company, Barracuda, in the country and there is just no competition to be better. Fuel is allotted so I think we're we're relegated to closer dive sites. I considered it the "cruise ship" level of dive service where if you get wet and blow some bubbles, you got what you asked for.

The history of Cuba was fascinating and we had an excellent guide. The people either loved Americans or hated them depending on what government line of news they believed. The coffee and rum were great...the rest of the food, we just ate because we were hungry.

I'd love to dive Gardens of the Queen, but for the price, I'd rather go two or three times to CoZumel (but I'm horribly biased there) I think all Americans should go to Cuba to experience carrying your own toilet paper with you, bottled water in short supply, the 50's American vehicles with Chinese Diesel engines, Russian transmissions, and held together by sheer genius level mechanical ability making do with what you have, and experience what a socialist state does for its citizens. It was definately an experience. I would still go back, primarily to focus on the pre Cold War history and I'd still dive because I can dive a septic tank and be happy.

Flights are cheap. We stayed in hotels, but you can stay with families for a truly Cuban experience. I think I would like that. If you do go and dive, absolutely bring everything you could possibly need. I carried the "dive shop in a box" and used it several times for our group. Leaking orings were a given and they tried to save the old ones even when you hadn't dozens in your kit. Next time we go, I will order 1000 from the Oring store and leave them with them. Unless it was totally blown, they did not get too concerned. They also considered a 2000 psi fill adequate.

While I enjoyed Cuba for the different lifestyle, I needed to get to Cozumel when we got back for a real dive vacation.

Good luck, safe travels.
Jay
 
Thats true, it is very expensive in comparison to other livaboards, not worth it, being Cuba it should be much less expensive. The money all goes to that German company and very little money is paid to the Cubans working on it.

Agreed, given the local cost-of-living and the primitive/spartan lifestyle there, Cuba should be dirt-cheap to dive for 1st-world tourists. Singledivers.com and one of my local dive shops not long ago ran trips down there on a liveaboard and in both examples the pricing was obscene, Galapagos-level pricing!
 
It's worth going for the experience. Parts of Cuba were beautiful...other parts not so much. I think it's important to see what a communist country is. We were on a very managed tour and frankly...the diving mostly sucked by all General Carribean standards....but still far better than Oklahoma lake diving. The Russian Patrol Boat was fun, the rest was just not that memorable. I believe there is one dive company, Barracuda, in the country and there is just no competition to be better. Fuel is allotted so I think we're we're relegated to closer dive sites. I considered it the "cruise ship" level of dive service where if you get wet and blow some bubbles, you got what you asked for.

The history of Cuba was fascinating and we had an excellent guide. The people either loved Americans or hated them depending on what government line of news they believed. The coffee and rum were great...the rest of the food, we just ate because we were hungry.

I'd love to dive Gardens of the Queen, but for the price, I'd rather go two or three times to CoZumel (but I'm horribly biased there) I think all Americans should go to Cuba to experience carrying your own toilet paper with you, bottled water in short supply, the 50's American vehicles with Chinese Diesel engines, Russian transmissions, and held together by sheer genius level mechanical ability making do with what you have, and experience what a socialist state does for its citizens. It was definately an experience. I would still go back, primarily to focus on the pre Cold War history and I'd still dive because I can dive a septic tank and be happy.

Flights are cheap. We stayed in hotels, but you can stay with families for a truly Cuban experience. I think I would like that. If you do go and dive, absolutely bring everything you could possibly need. I carried the "dive shop in a box" and used it several times for our group. Leaking orings were a given and they tried to save the old ones even when you hadn't dozens in your kit. Next time we go, I will order 1000 from the Oring store and leave them with them. Unless it was totally blown, they did not get too concerned. They also considered a 2000 psi fill adequate.

While I enjoyed Cuba for the different lifestyle, I needed to get to Cozumel when we got back for a real dive vacation.

Good luck, safe travels.
Jay

Thanks for your info. I am new in diving, so interest to all details. It was my plan to go Cuba to dive this year but Corona time stop all plans(
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom