Diving in Cuba

I,m considering a trip to Cuba later in the year, has anybody done any
diving there or could recommend any good diving outfits, are PADI out
there?

On 24 Jun 2004 07:34:33 -0700, guys@texip.co.uk (Guy) wrote:

> are PADI out
>there?

No - US firms are not allowed by US law to operate in Cuba
--
Pete

news 'at' melbourne 'dot' me 'dot' uk

Pete Melbourne wrote:

> On 24 Jun 2004 07:34:33 -0700, guys@texip.co.uk (Guy) wrote:
>
>> are PADI out
>>there?
>
> No - US firms are not allowed by US law to operate in Cuba
> --
> Pete
>
> news 'at' melbourne 'dot' me 'dot' uk

Used to be the case, but apparently not any more. A colleague did a couple
of PADI adventure dives with a local dive school (in a hotel) and a quick
google for PADI cuba turns up some results.

http://www.habanasol.com/scuba/padi-havana.htm

is just one of them!
--
ALTERNATIVE SAILING TERMS - Capsize:
The interior diameter of any piece of headgear, usually expressed in inches
[sometimes kilometers].
http://www.Love2Sail.co.uk

Very interesting.

I'd be a bit careful booking anything important through this guy. Just this
week, the US changed the sanctions against Cuba, making it a lot more
difficult for any US person to visit there and eliminating provisions that
allowed those who visited Cuba legally from bringing Cuban products back
with them. Even refugees in the US found their ability to visit and send
money to family cut back severely.

A card issued by a US company, through a Cuba facility, with a fee paid back
to the US company, would almost certainly get the attention of the U.S.
government. I'd have to check the sanction in some detail to tell what the
rules are for a PADI affiliate that is a separate company, chartered in a
different country, but I suspect that it would depend on whether the
affiliate was simply related by the PADI name versus a subsidiary of the US
company.

It seems to me that the risk is twofold:
1. That no card would be forthcoming at the end of training, or
2. The card that was issued wasn't issued by PADI at all.

Lee

On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 16:37:39 +0000, Lee Bell wrote:


> A card issued by a US company, through a Cuba facility, with a fee paid
> back to the US company, would almost certainly get the attention of the
> U.S. government. I'd have to check the sanction in some detail to tell
> what the rules are for a PADI affiliate that is a separate company,
> chartered in a different country, but I suspect that it would depend on
> whether the affiliate was simply related by the PADI name versus a
> subsidiary of the US company.

According to PADI, "No business may be solicited within Cuba", US run
gulags excepted. I suspect that European instructors are working in Cuba
and then getting people to post their PIC when they get home. As they're
independant instructors, PADI are probably none the wiser.

It might be easier just to do an ACUC course. They operate there legally
and their qualifications are just as valid.

I've dived in Santa Lucia. There's a trip report on my website. The bull
shark dive was the main draw, but there really wasn't anything else there,
so I'd prefer somewhere like Guardalavaca in future.

Jason


--
http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for Aussie diving reports including
Coral Bay, Rottnest Island, Dunsborough and Darwin

"Jason" <jason.news.nospam@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
newsan.2004.06.24.18.42.56.704382@ntlworld.com.. .
> On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 16:37:39 +0000, Lee Bell wrote:
>
>
> > A card issued by a US company, through a Cuba facility, with a fee paid
> > back to the US company, would almost certainly get the attention of the
> > U.S. government. I'd have to check the sanction in some detail to tell
> > what the rules are for a PADI affiliate that is a separate company,
> > chartered in a different country, but I suspect that it would depend on
> > whether the affiliate was simply related by the PADI name versus a
> > subsidiary of the US company.
>
> According to PADI, "No business may be solicited within Cuba", US run
> gulags excepted. I suspect that European instructors are working in Cuba
> and then getting people to post their PIC when they get home. As they're
> independant instructors, PADI are probably none the wiser.

You could be right. Personally, I wish the US sanctions would go away.
We've never significantly changed any political system by embargo. Just the
opposite, we've changed many systems by showing them the advantages of the
capitalist system.

Lee

> A card issued by a US company, through a Cuba facility, with a fee paid
back
> to the US company, would almost certainly get the attention of the U.S.
> government. I'd have to check the sanction in some detail to tell what
the
> rules are for a PADI affiliate that is a separate company, chartered in a
> different country, but I suspect that it would depend on whether the
> affiliate was simply related by the PADI name versus a subsidiary of the
US
> company.

Been a few years since Ive been to cuba so things may have changed.

IIRC the hotels have "padi" schools which are run by different companies in
various countries depending on the hotel (i.e all Riu Hotels use
Scubacaribe, all Iberostar use Dressel Divers etc). As far as I remember if
you completed a PADI course whilst in cuba, you would receive your PADI card
showing Mexico (i.e the dive shop pushed all paperwork through their mexican
dive school to get round the US problem)

IIRC coca cola was also avaliable in cuba - but is all sourced through
mexico.

On Fri, 25 Jun 2004 02:02:30 +0000, Lee Bell wrote:

> You could be right. Personally, I wish the US sanctions would go away.
> We've never significantly changed any political system by embargo. Just the
> opposite, we've changed many systems by showing them the advantages of the
> capitalist system.

Well it's certainly not working, is it? The only people suffering are
normal Cubans who have already got more than enough to put up with.

Jason

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