"The diving was excellent and I saw a proliferation of sealife. There were Eagle rays, Giant Barracuda, large French Angels, big Hog Fish and a multitude of other species. A large Bull shark was seen by another group although I unfortunately missed that! There were some good deep wall dives with a variety of soft and hard corals The barrel sponges were enormous and every dive was enjoyable (I did about 5 days). The school on Cayo Largo was Padi registered and the mini bus picked me up at my hotel."
Mick Hatswell

"Fantastic...we enjoyed every day. The condition of the reef is brilliant, warm blue green water, great visibility and plenty of proof that the Cubans respect this fantastic natural resource and are doing plenty to take care of it. We saw abundant life and the biggest grouper I have ever seen.
Accommodation is clean and comfortable and the food is varied and delicious. The Camaguey Archipelago is especially scenic and we enjoyed many sunsets with the Flamingos who after a few days, actually ignored us allowing some great photos.
The local Cuban scuba personal (at Cuba Blue Diving Centre) are much nicer than the Cubans of Florida who have taken capitalism to new lows.
Local Cubans ensure the diving is something special. They are professional and offer great value. All the international organisations are represented and the total experience left us feeling connected and thoroughly exhilarated by the experience. We now realise it was the absence of the American Influence that allowed us to enjoy the place the people and the beautiful diving."
Mick and Fiona

"Hi, my wife and I have just returned from Cayo Coco and dived with the Blue Dive Center, we were new to diving and took the SNSI easy diver course, the instructors were very caring and very patient.
The actual diving was awesome and we were lucky enough to have 3 wild dolphins visit us for a few minutes at 12m down which I will never forget. The amount of life on the reef was amazing from grouper to lion fish.
Well worth visiting as visibility was 20-30m and warm waters."
Bill Beardon, 2008.

"We dived in Cuba last year during a 3 week stay and it was the best we have experienced so far. It has the 2nd biggest reef in the world only beaten by Australia, (so the instructors informed us). And we saw loads of everything, including reef sharks and a big grouper that was a good metre across.
The cost of each dive was about £15 with our own equipment. And it was from the beach onto a hard boat for about 15 to 20 minutes off shore. PADI is not well represented on the island but I believe this is due to the political situation with the yanks. But all instructors we met were very experienced and friendly. This was from the North East side of Cuba.
Options on accommodation are very limited, and fully inclusive seems to be the most popular. The Cubans are rationed with their food, so don't expect restaurants or burger bars: practically everything is hotel based. The hotel next to ours actually had FREE diving every day. so consider this carefully when booking. It was a downer for us to pay £15 each every day when the rest of the divers on the boat paid nothing! The reef is around the Holguin area which is also where the airport is. E-mail is quite rare in Cuba although I did find an address of a marina in Holguin that claims to have an international diving school there, although we never used this school, it might give you some more info: marvita@ip.etecsa.cu
We paid about £1,300 each for a three week stay, (obviously two weeks would be less) and I promise everyone who goes to Cuba will agree it is an experience of culture they are unlikely to ever forget."
Steve and Bev

"My Wife and self went to Cuba 2 years ago and stayed in Varadero. The diving was good (where we were, sometimes current would stir up the sea and reduce vis a little) lots of wreckage from ties with USSR (military stuff). Marine life was good. We went to Bay of Pigs one day for no extra cost and that was on par with any where. Supervision was very good, particularly for any novices who were looked after with tender care. We are experienced divers in a group of 6 and the least experienced came first which we accepted. The diving appears to be state owned and instructors fear for their jobs, I think. "
Tom Watson

"Fabulous 30 m swim through. Small coral gardens at 6 m then drop off down a fantastic coral encrusted wall with Tuna, Barracuda etc. etc. swimming around close by. Absolutely superb diving with 30/40 m vis, fabulous wall dive, lots of big marine life about in large quantities, quality corals. "
Tom Watson

Rating:

"Not great - some good rays and lobster, but reefs quite dead, not many varieties of fish. I will stick to indo-pacific rather than Caribbean in future! Doesn't live up to East Africa/East Timor/Fiji"
Gemma Steel, 2006

"Amazing coral gardens ! "
Justine, 2007

"Great diving! Quite a variety of reef life although not many large fish. We did see a few turtles and a very large nurse shark. The reef appears healthy even after hurricane Ivan. The jungle on land with all the iguanas and bird life made it interesting topside too. There were less hard corals than in the Bay of Pigs but a lot more fish."
Rodrigo Sala, Canada, 2008

" A 12m dive, I saw moray eel, grouper, angle fish, puffer fish, trumpet fish and so many others that I cannot remember the names but it was an amazing dive!"
Bill Beardon

"A 12-14m dive even better than La Academya as this is where we saw the dolphins, apparently the instructor has only seen them there once before. The reef itself was incredible, with so much life and so many different fish and corals that an hour went by much to fast."
Bill Beardon

Hotel Meliá
Cayo Guillermo
Ciego de Avila
Cuba
West Indies

"There is a dive centre on the beach at Cayo Guillermo and it seems to me that their prices are similar to the UK. I paid $35 USD for one dive (my first ever). This included boat fees, an escort and kit hire. "
Barbara Mardell

Rating:

Pinar Del Rio
Cuba

"Dive operator attached to hotel - dangerous instructors! Too big for their boots, too macho, literally jumped in and swam down before anyone else left the boat, no mention of buddy checks - very friendly, but seriously would not recommend a beginner to go here if you don't know what you are up to! Good boat - platform for entry/exit etc"
Gemma Steel, 2006

"Equipment a bit leaky but friendly staff."
Rodrigo Sala, 2008

Cayo Largo
Cuba

Cayo Largo
Cuba

Hotel Jardines Los Cocos
Cayo Coco
Ciego de Avila
Cuba
Tel: +53 33 308179
E-mail: cubacon@enet.cu