Dan Bracuk (and anyone else that has dived Cuba)

Dan,

IIRC, you've been diving in Cuba. Please remind me of where you dove, where
you stayed, what you thought, etc.

Thanks in advance.

"Dan Bracuk" <NOTbracuk@pathcom.com> wrote in message
news:4cl3e3da1fpqhpoal2b5tn0ajbttim4h2t@4ax.com...
> "chilly" <slarson@shaw.canada> pounded away at his keyboard resulting
> in:
>
> :Dan,
> :
> :IIRC, you've been diving in Cuba. Please remind me of where you dove,
where
> :you stayed, what you thought, etc.
> :
> :Thanks in advance.
> :
>
> Trip report for the 2nd one is here
> http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/Trips/IsleOfYouth.htm
>
> The first one was to here:
> http://www.1click2cuba.com/STODECUBA...persierra.html
>
> It's a better snorkel destination than diving destination. In fact,
> it is the second best place for snorkelling I have seen. The best is
> in Kona.
>
> It was a nice resort. The food was kind of basic, but good. I was
> there over 10 years ago, so things may have changed in the meantime.

No doubt there's been some small changes in 10 years. I've never had good
food in Cuba, so that was a surprise. I don't mind snorkelling but I'm
planning a dive holiday, so I guess I'll keep looking. Thanks so much for
pointing the way.

chilly wrote

> I've never had good food in Cuba, so that was a surprise. I don't mind
> snorkelling but I'm planning a dive holiday, so I guess I'll
> keep looking. Thanks so much for pointing the way.

That surprises me. The Cuban food in Miami is very good. It's significantly
different thanks to very different use of seasonings, but quite good,
especially pork and chicken, both of which I love. Perhaps it's a matter of
different tastes. When people come to S. Florida and try Cuban food for the
first time, I try to tell them not to select food based on their American,
or Canadian, experience. I try to get them to select foods that they don't
have strong expectations for. Those that follow my advice, usually enjoy the
food. Those that don't, usually don't like it as much. It does not taste
like what most North Americans expect.

On the other hand, it might be the effects of years of high poverty levels.
Good food and good income often go together.

Lee

"Dan Bracuk" <NOTbracuk@pathcom.com> wrote in message
news:b5c5e3hkf4juojoldfr09nk9o7lt434qt1@4ax.com...
> "Lee Bell" <pleebell@bellsouth.net> pounded away at his keyboard
> resulting in:
>
> :That surprises me. The Cuban food in Miami is very good. It's
significantly
> :different thanks to very different use of seasonings, but quite good,
> :especially pork and chicken, both of which I love.
>
> I found the food in Cuba to be good, just not really really good. It
> was very basic, and they did not seem to use any seasonings.

I did have one meal one day when we were in Havana that was pretty good, now
that I remember it. But as for the other places we ate . . .nah . .just not
that good. We found ourselves eating dinner, more often than not, at the
one chinese restaurant. It wasn't fantastic, but made a pretty decent hot
and sour soup. I sure never expected that I'd be eating Chinese food in
Cuba.

I didn't notice the use of a lot of spices either . .other than at the one
restaurant and we were at that because it was part of a tour.

[omnium]

Originally Posted by chilly

where you dove, where
you stayed, what you thought, etc.

This discussion has moved on to talk about food in Cuba. I'm vegetarian, and IMO, it wasn't as bad as I'd been led to believe! However, from what I could tell, apart from in the amazing "La Guarida" in Havanna, there are no herbs or spices in Cuba!!

Anyway, I was diving in Maria La Gorda. And stayed at Hotel Villa Maria La Gorda. I booked it through cubaism .com - Cuba Flights, Hotels, Travel to Cuba, Cuban Products. before leaving the UK.

I'd say the diving there was nice - better than Grenada, better than northen Egypt around Sharm, but not as good Marsa Alam (Dolphin House, Shagra, Nakari, etc.).

The water was warm at the end of August (29C on my Suunto computer), so no wetsuit required, but some people may want a 3mm shortie.

The food at the hotel was fine; their pizzas were really nice!

But it wasn't ALL good. I brought my own equipment and I'm glad I did! There is NO WAY I'd dive with their kit!! I could list a whole raft of problems with their kit, but it boils down to the fact that it's never serviced. Ever.

The O rings are all shot, their regs free flow, their BCD auto inflate, or don't inflate at all... it all happens here...

They seem to have one very long reef that they've segmented into about 30 or so named dive sites. Most sites start with a shallow reef top, down to a tunnel, through the tunnel and out onto an amazing 1500m wall (or so they say).

They have all the usual Caribbean fish. They have turtles, though I didn't see one in my 11 dives there. I missed 2 that were around on dives that I went on, so there definitely exist! I didn't see any scorpionfish of any kind.

Mostly, I saw barracuda, crabs, lobsters, shrimps, an octopus on a night dive, moray eels, and generic reef fish.

The dive briefings were comprehensive in Spanish and sometimes in Italian, but generally quite terse in English. They never counted the number of divers in or out of the water, so it was a bit chaotic. Buddies were occasionally assigned when at 12m and about to swim off. I generally assigned my own before hand

Getting to Maria La Gorda was an adventure in itself. The "official" was to do it is a Viazul bus from Havanna to Vinales, stay overnight, get the morning bus to Maria. We went to Pinar Del Rio on the advice of Lonely Planet and after 4 hours, managed to convince a taxi to take us to Maria. Bad idea! All the taxis reside in Vinales!! So we had to pay a taxi to come from Vinales to Pinar then onto Maria La Gorda! That cost us $65 (convertible pesos/C.U.C.)

The transfer back to Havanna was a breeze! If there are 3 or more people, the hotel will lay on a nice air-con'd minibus for $40 per person; it will drop you at your hotel/casa door! Very nice! I guess they'd pick you up from Havana if you begged them over the phone (they speak good English at reception).

The dive masters were a mixed bag. Oswald, Carlos and Marteen were very very friendly. The others weren't so much so. The guy working the desk at the office spoke excellent English, but he was a complete idiot.

I have a very long story about him lying to me about there being no night diving on my first night - when I'd already paid for it. Then, as the boat pulled out for a night dive with 3 cute girls on board, I noticed and asked what was going on. He said "Where were you, we were waiting for you". Grrrrrrr!

Please feel free to ask any more questions! I have loads to report but don't want to bore everyone!!