Neutral Buoyancy - Chapter 4: Scuba in Cuba!

December 2010: Playa Coral Reef, Cuba

Scuba in Cuba was a mixed bag. Our Cuba holiday (Dec 2010) did not have diving in the itinerary. Sudha and I laboured for months in getting the itinerary just right with the right mix of things for everyone to do. (Okay - more Sudha than I and it did feel like months). This was a family holiday to an exotic destination and we were going with our good friends - Dhileep, Subha & Viggy.

The plan was to soak up the culture and sights of Havana (la Habana), before we spent a few days in the hills of Vinales and finally settled in at the beach resort of Varadero for much needed R&R and enjoy the sun and sand, before returning back to the harsh London winter (and harsh it was that year, with the snow causing havoc and cancellations of several flights).

So when we arrived at our resort at Varadero (strongly recommend the Iberostar - really great place), it was a pleasant surprise to see a sign for Barracuda Dive center running organised dives from the hotel. So I immediately busied myself, in talking Sudha into letting Arjun and I dive and also managed to talk Dhileep and Viggy into joining us. Wow! what a wonderful surprise - being able to add a  day of diving to what was already shaping to be a great holiday. The dive master told us that we will be taking a coach ride to the south coast of Cuba and going out into the Caribbean sea, as the seas of the North Coast (Gulf of Mexico) was quite choppy and they expected poor conditions. I was secretly jumping for joy - diving in the Caribbean sea!

The next day, however, when we started off - we were told that the weather on the North Coast had cleared up and the predictions were for clear and calm waters later in the day and therefore that is where we were headed. Still - diving in the gulf of Mexico - cant be that bad!

However, that was just this sign of things to come. We went out for our first dive walking through the rocky beach, (in which quite a few of us suffered cuts and bruises) in separate groups based on our level of experience. The water was extremely choppy and the beach was filled with sharp stones (did I say that already?), making the entry in very difficult, especially with the BCD, tank and the weight belts, whilst holding our fins in our hands. It was a relief, when we put on our fins and started swimming out - or so I thought!

I clearly hadn't counted on the waves being so strong and incessant. The group did not make much progress swimming on the surface, so the dive master asked us to descend, as there was a chance that the effect of the waves would be weaker below. However, we had hardly gone out much and therefore were at a depth of 3-4m - which meant that the effect of the waves was still quite strong and we ended up having to hold on to rocks and corals on the bed as we crawled forward (whch resulted in further cuts and bruises on our hands). We ended up letting ourselves be swept by the receding water, thereby going further out to sea and holding on to rocks and corals, each time the tide came in - thereby ensuring that we were not swept back towards shore by the waves. It was interesting to observe fish behaviour under these circumstances - they managed to stay pretty much at the same spot, but would turn to face away from the direction that the water was coming from - almost seconds before I could feel the push and pull of the water. So I started making my moves based on what the fish were doing, before I felt the water - worked well for some time.

What made the conditions worse, was that we crawled our way into a trench (not too deep) to achieve some depth (still no deeper than 8-10 m) and in this trench the effect of the waves was amplified, knocking  a few of us on the rocky walls. At times, the wave was so strong that the corals that we held on to, snapped off - resulting in being dragged, tossed and desperately clawing at the walls to get a grip. In all this hulabaloo, the group found themselves widely dispersed and as a result, the dive master ended up asking couple of experienced divers (which included me???) to hold on on to other 4 divers, whilst he went and collected the others and rejoined the group.

By the time the group was back together, some of the divers were so exhausted and hurt that they just wanted to go back and therefore that is what we did. The whole ordeal lasted for about 35-40 minutes and I was glad when it was over - but we still had the walk along the rocky beach to deal with.

All in all - not a very enjoyable dive - but very educational. I was also deeply disappointed for Dhileep and Viggy, for whom this could not have been a very pleasant first dive experience (although they were in a different group) compared to the tranquil conditions that I had my first dives in. Arjun seemed quite unfazed by the whole experience.

Despite my misgivings, we went out for a second dive - but that was again just more of the same.

I am so looking forward to diving in some calm waters now...