miketsp
Contributor
Well I just got back from Cuba, so here's a quick trip report.
We flew into Havana arriving early Sunday morning & checked into the hotel (Miramar
Occidental) around 08:00. Room was not made up but they let us have access to dump our bags, store valuables & documents in room safe and arrange things. Maid then arrived to clean up the room so we wandered around hotel swimming pool area for 30mins.
Hotel had a free shuttle bus to run downtown about 3 times per day but capacity was
insufficient. 20 seats for about 30 people waiting. So various people took a cab, about
8CUC. Cab back from center cost less - about 5CUC.
Spent the day in Havana, came back early & had dinner early as we had to get up early at 03:15 on following day to fly to Isla da Juventud.
Arrived at Isla da Juventud early Monday morning and dumped our stuff in the room at the El Colony hotel. Large spacious, clean room in one of the separate bungalows. Split Air conditioning with remote control and cable TV.
Separated our dive gear and off for first days diving.
At the marina there is a shed to store gear, a large tank for rinsing and a lot of hangers.
You can leave anything overnight except computers, masks and regulators.
They told us there were 2 chambers close by.
BTW they asked us to bring our own weight belts (not weight, just the belt).
The only stress was lack of weights. There wasn't enough for everybody. So the crew had to go and negotiate weights from other boats. What I didn't realise is that this problem would continue during the week. There is a shortage of lead in Cuba. So some days we would get back on the boat after lunch for the afternoon dive and we would find that our belts had been dismantled and the lead had gone to another boat or even that the whole belt had disappeared - not stolen, just borrowed, it would return shortly.
The other problem which I only noticed on the second day is that the 2kg weights varied from dull to shiny. The dull ones were pure lead and the shiny ones were much lighter tin ~1.4kg with anything in the middle. By the third day we were getting better at judging weight on the fly.
So we did the following dives:
25m 47mins Coroa da Rainha point #48
15m 50mins Paraiso do Muke point #36
The vis in the morning was about 25m+ and in the afternoon 15m+. This was to be the pattern for the following days. Vertical vis was always better than horizontal.
The first dive was the guide checking us out for the following day. He took us through some difficult ravines and short narrow tunnels to see if anyone would freak out.
The only thing I had regretted was not taking my 5mm wetsuit. I just brought a 3mm one and with the fairly long bottom times at 25-26C I was getting cold. From the third day on I put on a lycra under my wet-suit and wore a hood. Then I was fairly comfortable.
As for life, typical Caribbean, sand sharks, rays, eels, shrimp etc and various types of coral & sponges.
First day we stopped at 2 dives as everybody was tired.
Second day,
45m 47mins Cueva Azul point #7
18m 54mins No Limits 1
16m 41mins El Espigon point #37 night dive
The Cueva Azul starts with a tunnel entrance at about 15m, which you descend into and then work your way down past some big Tarpon and some narrow places to an opening in the wall at 42m. The sensation as you come out into the deep blue is fantastic. The bottom is not visible even with tremendous visibility. You go along the wall (lot of lobsters at around 45m) and then into another opening which brings you back up to the top. Those that were not happy in the tunnels avoided them and went over the wall edge.
Third day,
30m 37mins Los Mogotes point #42 (Cayo de los Indios)
7m 40mins Jibacoa/Sparta shipwrecks - cut short due to cold water 22C.
13m 50mins El Jardin de la Reina point #41-40 - low speed drift
Los Mogotes was a fabulous dive of 5 large coral/rock hummocks on a sandy bottom against the edge of a drop-off.
Fourth day,
35m 40mins Pared de Coral Negro point #1
12m 53mins Cabezon Solitario point #46
15m 46mins No Limits 2 - fabulous medium speed drift dive
In spite of the weight issue, a great time was had by all of the group.
I put a suggestion in the box that if they asked all visiting divers to bring & donate just one 2kg weight, in 30 days the issue would be resolved.
We flew into Havana arriving early Sunday morning & checked into the hotel (Miramar
Occidental) around 08:00. Room was not made up but they let us have access to dump our bags, store valuables & documents in room safe and arrange things. Maid then arrived to clean up the room so we wandered around hotel swimming pool area for 30mins.
Hotel had a free shuttle bus to run downtown about 3 times per day but capacity was
insufficient. 20 seats for about 30 people waiting. So various people took a cab, about
8CUC. Cab back from center cost less - about 5CUC.
Spent the day in Havana, came back early & had dinner early as we had to get up early at 03:15 on following day to fly to Isla da Juventud.
Arrived at Isla da Juventud early Monday morning and dumped our stuff in the room at the El Colony hotel. Large spacious, clean room in one of the separate bungalows. Split Air conditioning with remote control and cable TV.
Separated our dive gear and off for first days diving.
At the marina there is a shed to store gear, a large tank for rinsing and a lot of hangers.
You can leave anything overnight except computers, masks and regulators.
They told us there were 2 chambers close by.
BTW they asked us to bring our own weight belts (not weight, just the belt).
The only stress was lack of weights. There wasn't enough for everybody. So the crew had to go and negotiate weights from other boats. What I didn't realise is that this problem would continue during the week. There is a shortage of lead in Cuba. So some days we would get back on the boat after lunch for the afternoon dive and we would find that our belts had been dismantled and the lead had gone to another boat or even that the whole belt had disappeared - not stolen, just borrowed, it would return shortly.
The other problem which I only noticed on the second day is that the 2kg weights varied from dull to shiny. The dull ones were pure lead and the shiny ones were much lighter tin ~1.4kg with anything in the middle. By the third day we were getting better at judging weight on the fly.
So we did the following dives:
25m 47mins Coroa da Rainha point #48
15m 50mins Paraiso do Muke point #36
The vis in the morning was about 25m+ and in the afternoon 15m+. This was to be the pattern for the following days. Vertical vis was always better than horizontal.
The first dive was the guide checking us out for the following day. He took us through some difficult ravines and short narrow tunnels to see if anyone would freak out.
The only thing I had regretted was not taking my 5mm wetsuit. I just brought a 3mm one and with the fairly long bottom times at 25-26C I was getting cold. From the third day on I put on a lycra under my wet-suit and wore a hood. Then I was fairly comfortable.
As for life, typical Caribbean, sand sharks, rays, eels, shrimp etc and various types of coral & sponges.
First day we stopped at 2 dives as everybody was tired.
Second day,
45m 47mins Cueva Azul point #7
18m 54mins No Limits 1
16m 41mins El Espigon point #37 night dive
The Cueva Azul starts with a tunnel entrance at about 15m, which you descend into and then work your way down past some big Tarpon and some narrow places to an opening in the wall at 42m. The sensation as you come out into the deep blue is fantastic. The bottom is not visible even with tremendous visibility. You go along the wall (lot of lobsters at around 45m) and then into another opening which brings you back up to the top. Those that were not happy in the tunnels avoided them and went over the wall edge.
Third day,
30m 37mins Los Mogotes point #42 (Cayo de los Indios)
7m 40mins Jibacoa/Sparta shipwrecks - cut short due to cold water 22C.
13m 50mins El Jardin de la Reina point #41-40 - low speed drift
Los Mogotes was a fabulous dive of 5 large coral/rock hummocks on a sandy bottom against the edge of a drop-off.
Fourth day,
35m 40mins Pared de Coral Negro point #1
12m 53mins Cabezon Solitario point #46
15m 46mins No Limits 2 - fabulous medium speed drift dive
In spite of the weight issue, a great time was had by all of the group.
I put a suggestion in the box that if they asked all visiting divers to bring & donate just one 2kg weight, in 30 days the issue would be resolved.
