(Varadero, Playa Larga,
Playa Giron)
Varadero Scuba Diving
Cuba's
privileged geographic position, it's broad continental shelf
(70.000 square kilometers, with edges almost totally covered
by carefully preserved coral reeves), and its crystal clear
waters (underwater horizontal visibility of 30 meters, or
98 feet, and tempatures usually higher than 24 Centigrade)
make the island an ideal site for diving and snorkling.
Varadero
has 32 wellestablished diving sites at Matanzas bay and on
the western side of Sabana-Camaguey archipelago, home of a
must for any experienced diver: the Ojos del Megano Blue Hole,
and enormous under-water cave located between the Los Cabezotes
and Mega-no Chico reefs, at the Bay of Cadiz.
Three
International diving centers have branches in the Peninsula,
all of them with coaches and dive masters certified by the
World Federation of Under-water Activities and the American-Canadian
Under-water Certification, and with modern equipment and transportation
means.
Most
hotels also offer diving courses for beginners, and some tourist
packages include in their price a number of day- and night-time
dives, in the open sea or at underwater caves.
A
national network of specialized medical services and decompression
chambers are available as well to guarentee maximum safety
in this activity, which is highly in demand in these beautiful
natural surroundings.
Scuba Diving Hotels |
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Best Diving Sites
The Cayo Piedras del Norte Sea Park
The only park of its kind in Cuba, and suited both for
snorkling and diving, it is located some 8 nautical
miles northeast of Varadero and extends over an area
of 2 square nautical miles. The park combines beauty
adventure, and security, and features among its attractions
the sunken remains of a yacht, a rocket launcher boat,
a 102-meter long frigate, an AN-2 passenger plane, and
a towboat, deliberately disposed of to create this attactive
sea.
The
Saturno Cave
One
the way to the "Juan Gualberto Gomez International
Airport", the Saturno Cave provides lovers of underwater
world with an option that is different: diving through
the crystal-clear waters of this 150 meter long and
20 feet deep, cavern, ideal for speleological exploration.
Bay
of Pigs
Here again is a different proposition, also
available for those staying at Varadero. Bay of Pigs,
on the Zapata Swamp, and only 105 km from Varadero,
features 2 diving centers and 14 open sea and underwater
cave-diving sites, with superb conditions for the so-called
wall diving.
Playa
Coral Depth:
20 meters
Description:
You can reach the coral barrier from the beach. There
are over 30 species of coral, some quite developed that
come up to the surface, interlinking to form channels,
passages and caves, the habitat of a peculiar and fascinating
fauna.
Las
Mandarinas Depth: 15 meters
Description: Coral patch with diverse, greatly developed
fauna, among which you will find various coral reef
fish, moray eels, (Gymnothorax sp.), groupers and large
schools of grunt (Haemuleon sp.), that eat out of the
divers' hands.
Caribe Depth: 10 meters
Description: Remains of and old German merchant ship
sunk in 1943. There are many angel fish (Pomacanthus
sp.), barracudas (sphyraena barracuda), groupers (Epinephelus
sp.), lobsters (Panulirus argus) and green moray eels
gymnothorax funebris) of up to 2 meters long which are
fed from the divers hands.
El
Cenote Depth: 25 meters
Description: A limestone formation flooded by the sea
through underground communication, with a big lake at
the entrance and side fissures that go down to great
depths. (So far they have been explored down to 70 meters.)
There is an abundance of coral reef fish. The site is
located in a Natural Reserve known as the Zapata Marshes,
in the southern part of Matanzas Province.
Punta
Perdiz Depth: 40 meters
Description: This site is located in the Bay of Pigs,
in the Caribbean Sea and you can swim up to it from
the coast. It is one of the most spectacular wall diving
sites, since the ecological conditions in the area have
favored the development of a typical and exuberant underwater
ecosystem which accompanies divers right from the coastline
down to the very edge of the wall, at a depth of scarcely
10 meters, then drops off sharply to over 300 meters. |
