Scuba diving in Cuba
The colourful and vibrant island of Cuba is as exciting underwater as it is on dry land. With most sites just a short boat trip from the coast, you’ll find excellent scuba diving sites across the whole archipelago, each with a fascinating variety of marine life.
Water temperatures average around 24°C year round, and with hardly any coral destruction or pollution, the warm, transparent sea offers visibility of 30 to 40 metres. From canyons and walls to caves and wrecks there are a multitude of dive sites across the 5646 kilometres of coast – here are a few to whet your appetite.
Jardines de la Reina
Named by Christopher Columbus in honour of the Queen of Spain, the Jardines de la Reina is a diver’s paradise with a reputation as being one of the best dive spots in the world.
Located 80 kilometres off the south of Cuba, the 250-kilometre long mangrove and coral island system is part of the third longest barrier reef in the world and home to an abundance of treasure.
As a protected marine park, no more than 300 lucky divers are allowed to visit this incredible underwater spectacle each year and the lack of human interference is apparent in the diversity of marine life to be discovered.
Across the 50 dive sites in the area, you’ll find brightly coloured walls covered in sponges and coral, schooling barracudas, solitary jewfish, bull rays and old Spanish wrecks from the 17th century. Sharks are also an everyday experience including reef, whale, hammerhead, black tips and bull sharks.
Varadero
Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo
