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Your Guide to Scuba Diving in Cuba
Diving in the Jardines de la Reina - ‘Garden of Eden’
- Page contents:
- Dive sites
- Your options
- Diving season
- Where is it?
- Reef summary
- Useful references
...Highlights: whale sharks, shark action, manta rays, turtles, schooling fish & big pelagics...
...Diving environment: healthy reefs, beginner and advanced divers, non diving activities, off the beaten track...
Christopher Columbus named the diving hotspot Jardines de la Reina (Gardens of the Queen) to honor his Spanish Queen Isabella of Castile. Such was the beauty that lay beneath the ocean’s surface, it deserved a royal title! Jardines de la Reina has long been a well kept ‘secret’ within the scuba diving community but more people are now making plans to enjoy a Cuba liveaboard diving tour.
Its previous anonymity has been assisted by the Cuban government’s policy to protect this incredible marine sanctuary. Here commercial fishing and industries are prohibited, permanent residences are non-existent and tourism is strictly controlled. This policy was initiated in the 1990’s by Fidel Castro, the ex-Cuban president, who himself was a scuba diver. Now the Jardines de la Reina National Park, covering an area of 385 miles² (2,170 km²), is one of the largest marine reserves in the Caribbean.
The Cuban Archipelago "Queen's Gardens" is located in the Gulf of Ana Maria and is approximately 93 miles (150 km) long. The area includes innumerable islands, keys, islets, and banks. Muddy areas, beaches, mangroves, sea grass beds and reefs all provide a home to abundant populations of seabirds, reptiles such as caimans, and a rich marine biodiversity and biomass.
Sharks, sharks and sharks - up to 6 different species can be seen on a single dive! Common species include Caribbean reef, silky, and nurse sharks, lemon, blacktip, great hammerhead, bull and, from July through November, whale sharks can also be seen. Sharks, together with snappers, tiger and goliath groupers of up to 400 lbs (180 kg), are the main attractions on most dives; just like every species at Jardines de la Reina, they too are abundant.
You will dive vertical walls covered in corals. The reefs of Cuba are in superb condition are bedecked in an array of sponges of bright hues of the rainbow, violet sea fans, boulder star corals (Montastraea aannularis), various varieties of gorgonians and fragile laminar corals (Agaricia sp.), and are home to one of the largest and most diverse fish populations in the Caribbean.
Dive Site Descriptions
Black Coral I and II
These are the shark dives at the Gardens of the Queen and there are often lots and lots of them present. Silky sharks and Caribbean reef sharks, which are the most numerous, are not generally aggressive unless they feel threatened. Since they experience no threats from man, they seem to view a diver as a bubble-blowing curiosity. That said, it is best to keep your hands close to your bodies so they are not mistaken as small fish.
The top of the reef is at 80 ft (25m), sloping down to 100 ft (30m) where it reaches a sandy bottom. Sandy channels run across the reef perpendicular to the coast until they reach the drop-off: this site has a resident population of more than 30 battle-scarred Caribbean reef sharks (Carcharinus perezi)! After an adrenalin-filled 10 minutes of observing these apex predators, your divemaster will steer the group over sandy channels to the coral reef. The sharks have been known to curiously follow scuba divers for the duration of the immersion, even circling the dive tender.
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Nassau and Goliath groupers are not uncommon on this dive. Considered to be endangered due to over-fishing in other parts of the Caribbean, in Cuba divers can see quite large individuals, at about 185 lbs (85 kg). These giants are solitary fish and have been known to fiercely protect their territory against other fish. One can also expect to see tawny nurse sharks, stingrays (Dasyatis americana), parrotfish and schools of jacks at Black Coral I and II.
Farallón
Considered to be one of the best dives in Cuba's Jardines de la Reina, Farallón can be likened to a giant coral mountain, and translates into English as ‘The Cliff'. This dive is 50 ft (15m) at the top of the ‘mountain’ and the sandy bottom is reached at 100 ft (30m). This site is a magnet for pelagics, large schools of grunts, jacks and silver tarpons. Turtles, rays, silky sharks and Caribbean reef sharks add to the lineup of sights to see.
This spectacular site can be dived many times as it is essentially divided into 4 parts by a series of tunnels. The tunnels are about 100 ft (30m) long, 10 ft (3m) wide and 33 ft (10m) deep. The opening at the top of the tunnels allows sunlight to highlight the beauty and to create a show of shadows and shapes. Species of note at El Farallón include black grouper, creole wrasse and cero Scomberomorus regalis (aka kingfish or painted mackerel).
Pipín
This is where the big boys come out to play in the Queens Gardens. Schools of jacks and even bigger schools of tarpons, numbering 10-50, cut jagged lines in the ocean. A lone, patrolling hammerhead may make a cursory inspection of the dive party before disappearing back into the blue. Groups of silky sharks (up to 12) arrive to view the scuba divers on their safety stop. One does wonder just who is being observed, the ocean inhabitants or the strange, bubble blowing ‘aliens’ of Cuba...
The start of the dive is at the mooring boy at about 50 ft (15m). The reef truly comes alive when you reach the drop-off at 80 ft (25m). Huge schools of grunts patrol the area, turtles swim sedately along, and eagle rays ‘fly’ along the walls. Other fish to look out for include black grouper, gray angelfish and Nassau grouper. Sharp eyes can also pick out the long, thin legs of a yellowline arrow crab.
Vicente
This is the Jardines de la Reina's drop off site characterized by its large vertical wall. Spectacular coral gardens welcome divers at 65 ft (20m) and vibrant coral interspersed with massive black coral colonies and all their inhabitants can be observed until a depth of 130 ft (40m).
The wall bottoms out at around 150 ft (45m) and features bushy black coral, branching tube sponge and stove-pipe sponges. You may pass the gaping jaws of a green moray or see nudibranchs, banded butterflyfish and queen angelfish near the wall. The variety and sheer number of little reef fish will keep you focused on the wall, however do not forget to cast an eye out to the blue, for the mallet-shaped head of a lone hammerhead shark weaving its way past. There may also be wahoo, yellow jacks, horse-eye jacks and even silky sharks cruising by, some of the common reef predators of Cuba.
El Galeon
This is 2 dive sites for the price of 1: an old galleon and a nearby fishing boat. The former has been around long enough to have been well and truly colonized by the sea. You can explore the large hard brain coral heads, around which scuttle innumerable lobster and crabs.
Look in the small coral gardens for queen angelfish (Holacanthus ciliaris), stoplight parrotfish (Spartisoma viride) including juveniles, and yellowhead wrasse (Halichoeres garnoti). Benthic life includes grooved brain coral, smooth flower coral, stinker sponges and social feather dusters. This is a particularly good night dive, with crustaceans galore as well as nocturnal fish lurking in quiet spots, and a variety of invertebrates and other creatures to be seen on the sandy floor at about 55 ft (17m).
Anclitas
This shallow site, reaching a depth of only 55 ft (17m) is characterized by canyons and tunnels bedecked with by sponges and corals, including smooth flower coral, sea rods and, poking from the corals are many and christmas tree worms. Hawksbill sea turtles are often spotted here, along with barracuda, stingrays, tarpons, Caribbean spiny lobster, tiger grouper, soapfish, hogfish, and saucereye porgy. Those divers with a keen eye can look out for smaller wonders in little crevices and holes. There you will find redband parrotfish, drums, fairy basslets and yellowline arrow crabs.
There may also be quite a few lionfish around, an introduced species that causes havoc to the balance of the ecosystem along much of the east coast of the Americas, as well as at Jardines de la Reina in Cuba. Efforts have been made to encourage local shark populations to develop a taste for them and thus control their potentially booming populations.
Cabeza de la Cubera
Meaning 'Snapper’s head', this site features, surprise surprise, many varieties of snapper, as well as grouper. Indeed it is said that the biggest goliath grouper ever recorded was seen on this reef. Don’t be alarmed if these gentle giants follow you very closely, due to fish feeding practices of the Cuban liveaboards. Caribbean reef sharks are a common sight here as are tarpon, black grouper, green moray eels and roughtail stingrays. The wall here begins are around 23ft (7m) depth and drops to a sandy bottom of about 60 ft (18m).
How to Dive Cuba
Cuba liveaboardsCuba’s remote Jardines de la Reina is a liveaboard-only diving destination. Visitor permits are strictly limited to 3,000 divers per year. You can view the Avalon fleet of liveaboards in our Cuba liveaboard section.
Your Cuba scuba diving vacation will start in Havana on Friday night (please book your own accommodation). Saturday is a very early start, a representative from the boat operator will collect you in the morning (Parque Central Hotel) for your complimentary 5-6 hour bus transfer to Jucaro Port. Here you will take an approximately 3 hour boat ride out to the Queens Gardens National Park.
Diving in the gardens involves 3-4 dives on offer per day. Fast motorized tenders transport divers the short distance from the anchored liveaboards to a variety of sites.
The Diving Season
Jardines de la Reina is a year round diving destination. Current is minimal, visibility expansive, water temperatures are comfortable and marine life abundant. Liveaboard dive boats depart every week, for 52 weeks of the year. Cuba’s tropical climate varies slightly during the year. The drier season is from December through mid April where the average sea temperature is 73 to 77°F (23-25°C), it can get cooler at night. The height of summer is August where temperatures increase to about 83°F (28°C).
Hurricane season is from June through November. These months have higher rainfall due to tropical storm activity. According to the NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Association), Cuba experiences the lowest frequency of hurricanes and tropical storms compared to other parts of the Caribbean. Whale sharks pass through the Queens Gardens from July through November.
The Time and Date website
has more information on the climate and forecast in nearby Camaguey.
Where is Cuba and How Do I Get There?
Review our maps below, showing the location of this Caribbean island. Here, you will find information on how to get to Cuba.
Reef Summary
Depth: 16 - >130 ft (5 - >40m)
Visibility: 50 - 130 ft (15 - 40m)
Currents: Gentle to moderate
Surface conditions: Often calm, dive sites are not far from the liveaboards that are anchored close to lagoons
Water temperature: 73 - 84°F (23-29°C)
Experience level: Beginner - advanced
Number of dive sites: <30
Distance: ~125 miles (200 km) southwest of Havana (6 hours road transfer, plus 3 hours boat transfer)
Recommended length of stay: 7 days
Useful References
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