Avalon Dive Center, Jardines de la Reina

Ich habe Familie in Kuba und tauche seit Jahren dort, meistens in Havanna und Umgebung auf der Nordseite der Insel aber auch schon einige Male in der Schweinebucht.
Diese Jahr habe ich zum ersten Mal an einer organisierten Tauchreise teilgenommen und zwar nach Jardines de la Reina. Die Reise wurde von extratour Tauch- und Kulturreisen GmbH aus Göttingen angeboten. Ich war sehr skeptisch, erstens, weil die Reise sehr teuer war (für meine Verhältnisse) und zweitens, weil ich weiss was in Kuba alles bei der Organisation von Dingen schiefgehen kann. Zum ersten Punkt: Die Reise war teuer, aber ...

Stayed one week in March on the Hulcon to dive the Jardines de la Reina.
It is my fourth journey on a dive boat. The Hulcon is not desinged for dive
safaries and therefore very unconfortable. No space to dry things, no fresh
water pot for cameras or computer, no charging area, even not enough seats
in the living area for all divers. The cabins very small and the toilets were not
working well and smelly.
The dive sites are the best in Cuba with a lot of sharks. Sometimes up to 15.
Also many other fishes in large numbers. Underwater I would give 4 stars but
the boat ...

With no vacation plans for this year I was happy to find a new destination in www.undercurrent.org on Cuba, Avalon and the Jardine de la Reina. I checked with some travel agent who only could offer me the Tortuga or la Reina there, I booked the latter. To make the most of the 14 days in Cuba I chose 2 spots to get a good overall picture of the diving there. On arrival in Havana it took 40 minutes for my suitcase to drop onto the carrousel. Immigration and customs l had heard were similar to US entry one hell of a long procedure. Lucky for me with 3 incoming international flights at the same time ...