Ayisha
Contributor
I remember Jean-Michel Cousteau telling me that his father was quite impressed with Fidel Castro's interest in preserving the marine ecosystems off Cuba. A few years ago I had an invite to go to Guantanamo to dive but had scheduling conflicts. I'm not a big fan of Caribbean diving (greatly prefer the South Pacific and Asia) but I'd be interested in diving Cuba to see how it differs from other Caribbean destinations I've dived.
Hi Dr Bill, just to be clear, not all Cuban dive sites are equally good. Most are similar to the rest of the Caribbean and have their healthy colourful patches as well as bleached patches, and the larger sea life can be hit or miss. I haven't done Jardines de la Reina yet, but from everything I've heard and seen, it is consistently very healthy, colourful, and with a lot of big life.
Just to be clear, my comment about going before the "Mericans get there wasn't meant as a slight in any way... Only that if/when this happens, it will make for larger crowds and likely price increases.
Ok Stoo. Where you have larger crowds justifying price increases, you have the building of an entire infrastructure to support the larger crowds: more hotels, less natural habitat, more runoff, more waste and pollution, and more traffic and impact on the dive sites. Right now it's primarily Canadians and Europeans visiting Cuba, and it's nothing that special for us. For some Americans, it's becoming a "bucket list" item with all the numbers that might imply. Eek! The 'Mericans are coming!