PM FAO CUK Divers or people who may fancy it.

[Pogle]

Oh this has made me all excited!
We're off to Cuba on holiday soon.

[pjclarke]

+1 Jealous.

Was diagnosed with asthma few years ago, but as I am symptom-free nearly all the time other than for about 2 weeks following anything viral, and as I run 5K most days, I just lie on the self-certification medical form. Must have logged 100+ dives as an 'asthmatic' since then, without a hitch. I guess I'm probably invalidating the insurance, but then if I need that I'll probably be dead ....

[SimonMac]

Asthmatics with nerves of steel and James Bond qualities of a zen-like state of mind in any panic-laden situation.

Other than that the safest place for them is in A hyperbaric chamber on the surface, minus the 20 - 40 metres of water between them and life.

I have only been in a chamber once, and that was with the guy who broke my nose underwater after he freaked out and I went over to give him my spare regulator after he knocked his own out. He was more scared of me than of the deco sickness

[shaunbhoy]

Is there any real difference?

Well I wouldn't want to find myself at 20 fathoms with only the top one......but I take your point!

[SimonMac]

Is there any real difference?

[cojak]

Asthmatics with nerves of steel and James Bond qualities of a zen-like state of mind in any panic-laden situation.

Other than that the safest place for them is in A hyperbaric chamber on the surface, minus the 20 - 40 metres of water between them and life.

Mind you, I do have a friend who is a very experienced diver and an asthmatic but the asthma came after the diving.

[cojak]

The insurance companies don't like asthmatics diving but I have read that some of the gas mixes used can be quite good for sufferers esp some of the stuff used at deeper levels. I haven't dived much (only house courses at Sandals and the like ) but I do remember reading this somewhere.

Asthmatics with nerves of steel and James Bond qualities of a zen-like state of mind in any panic-laden situation.

Other than that the safest place for them is in A hyperbaric chamber on the surface, minus the 20 - 40 metres of water between them and life.

[tractor]

...

It's stories like this that make me gutted the mrs is asthmatic...

The insurance companies don't like asthmatics diving but I have read that some of the gas mixes used can be quite good for sufferers esp some of the stuff used at deeper levels. I haven't dived much (only house courses at Sandals and the like ) but I do remember reading this somewhere.

[EternalOptimist]

cracking adventure grommit.

this is what its all about. Reading this makes me want to go off and do something

[cojak]

I'll read the post in more detail later and let you know Pondy.

[Moscow Mule]

It's stories like this that make me gutted the mrs is asthmatic...

[SimonMac]

Sounds amazing, alas I can't remember the last time I managed to get any diving in since I've had the kids, pangs of jealous are hitting me!

[mudskipper]

Sounds amazing.

Have only dived once - the Great Barrier Reef, and I loved it. But it was very touristy - they even had signs under water telling you what stuff was, and the fish were tame because they were used to being fed. It would be great to do more, but unfortunately I get horrendously seasick, which rather spoils the fun.

[Pondlife]

Just over a week ago I found myself at 4am in the lobby of the Parque Central Hotel in Havana waiting for a coach. The coach was to take me 500km across Cuba to the port of Jucaro where I was to get on a boat to travel 80 odd kilometres to the Jardines De La Reigna archipelago. Jardines is a series of mangrove covered islands covering some 100km and the diving is what I can only describe as spectacular.

Our home for the next seven days was the Tortuga diving & fishing platform, an old boat converted into a floating hotel moored amongst the mangroves midway along the islands. It consists of 10 double bunked rooms all with ensuite.

The other guests were made up of 6 guys there for fly fishing (tarpon, bonefish and permits), two freelance photojournalists/divers from the States who had blagged their way into the country on a religious mission visa and who were writing an article for x-ray, a US diving magazine. The other 6 including myself and Mrs P were there to get wet and enjoy the scenery. Because of the heavy control over diving the eight of us plus our guides were the only people underwater for 50+kms.

Whilst it is possible to snorkel around parts of the mangroves or from the beach of the many small islands it's not advisable off the back of Tortuga regardless of how inviting it looks. Franko is a 4m long Saltwater croc who can be found perched on the mooring lines of an evening in the hope of getting some chicken thrown his way.

The diving is all done from skiffs which took us out at about 8am for two dives, then back for lunch before heading out for a final dive of the day. The diving itself isn't too challenging in terms of strong current but with the 3 dives maxing out at 30m, then 24m, then 20m respectively and typically 45-50mins in length, we often found ourselves in single digits away from Non-deco limits. The reason for travelling to Tortuga is for the Sharks. The dive org boast that if you're not satisfied with the number of sharks seen, you get a full refund - I won't be asking for one. The area is simply teeming with Carribean reef & Silky sharks. There is also the odd reclusive and camera shy Hammerhead.

The divepackage is for 15 dives over 5-6 days on a full board basis which includes a glass or two of wine with dinner and a daily bottle of Santiago de Cuba rum for the group. The food is fantastic and as you'd expect has fresh fish and lobster at its core. If you need more booze then they sell the white havana club for about 5 EUR a bottle or the 7 year dark stuff for 10 EUR.

After spending the whole day traveling we elected to start diving the following morning and so spent the afternoon snorkeling off one of the nearby beaches and in an area of mangroves which our guide insisted there were 'no crocodilo'. The water is clear and there are plenty of smaller fish, lobster and lionfish visible from the surface.

The first dive of the trip was the customary check dive for weight and buoyancy but since we were there on the back of 4 days diving in Varadero we were already pretty comfortable with our weighting.

The second dive was for Silky sharks. As the diving skiffs are small you either roll in backwards or dump your BCD & tank in the water and pop over the side and put it on there. As soon as you look down you see them. First just one or two, then it's up to half a dozen. They seem largely indifferent to our presence and pretty soon you feel a bit more relaxed with their company. They are there throughout the dive and in particularly large numbers surrounding the boat, drawn to the metal box of fish the guide had hung off the back. It's a strange sensation as you hang there 5m deep watching them circling round the small metal ladder you need to climb up to get out. There's a quirky feature with Silkies in that if you grab their tail and twist slightly they go completely limp. The skin is totaly smooth in one direction but like fine sandpaper if you rub the other way.

The third dive of the day was with the larger Carribean Reef sharks and the Goliath Groupers that are found in the area. The Groupers are considerably more aggressive than the sharks as demonstrated by the gouges and scars on our dive guides' hand.

In addition to the sharks there were regular siteings of Morays, Turtles, Stingrays and Eagle-rays, plus the now increasingly abundant Lionfish. The water is a comfortable 27-28 degrees and so I was quite happy in a 3mm shorty (YMMV).

On return to the floating platform you are greeted with a hot face towel, a mojito and by the time you've go your suit off, a slice of fresh baked pizza.

You spend the time between the first two dives of the day on a small beach where you drink coffee and chuck bits of papaya or pineapple to the Iguanas and Hutias that live there. The other activity is taking the small boat out along the mangroves in the hope of feeding some chicken to the smaller crocs that Franko still allows in his territory. Not happy with the quality of pics we took from the boat, myself and one of the other divers donned our masks and snorkels in the hope of getting a better pic from inside the water.

Having seen similar footage and pics on youtube I knew that this was a possibility, although I was unsure whether I'd actually do it myself. The crocs are a little under 2m in length and are used to people being in the water with them. They look a whole lot bigger close up and whereas my partner in stupidity had a full wetsuit, gloves and 8 inches of ikelite camera housing as some token protection, I was abundantly aware of the similarity between my uncovered pasty white arms and the raw chicken they were so fond of. Our guides advice to make sure we stay directly in front of them as they attack to the side was of small comfort when I realised that trying to manouver backwards whilst snorkeling was not a simple task. I'm not sure how long they will allow this to continue as then crocs are getting bigger and I guess that as soon as one tourist loses a hand the company that operates the diving will get all sorts of grief off the government.


If you enjoy diving you really should try to go there as soon as possible. They are trying to get a 'reasearch station' status with the US government so that yanks can visit without breaking any US laws. Once this happens it'll either expand and be ruined or they'll up the price pushing it out of reach of many.

I'm posting this severly jet lagged but happy and I'll add some pics tomorrow most likely.