Scuba Diving Matanzas Province

(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 temperatures usually higher than 24 Centigrade) make the island an ideal site for diving and snorkeling.

Varadero has 32 well established 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 guarantee maximum safety in this activity, which is highly in demand in these beautiful natural surroundings.

Best Diving Sites Matanzas Province

The Cayo Piedras del Norte Sea Park

The only park of its kind in Cuba, and suited both for snorkeling 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 attractive 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.