• Two for the Price of One
    Join us for 3rd Thurs With CHUM on June 18st at the usual time of 7:30 pm CT at Jake's Sports Bar or Zoom. We will be joined by Jenny Stock from NOAA's Greater Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries! More details at this link.
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    Join us for 2nd Sunday with CHUM on June 14th at 10:00am CT on Bowling Beach at Blue Lagoon! More details at this link.
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CUBA

LegoBloxs

LegoBloxs

Tiger Shark
DAM CHUMmer
First Name
Simon
As the name implies, Cuba is on my radar as destination for early 2016. I'd like to get there before it gets too commercial and Starbucks moves in.
You here all these stories of how Cozumel was 20 years ago, I want a slice of that.
Have any of my fellow CHUMmers out there been to Cuba in the past diving. I hear the south side is a better location for diving but there is still plenty to discover.
Any advice greatly appreciated. Cheers:chug
 
LegoBloxs

LegoBloxs

Tiger Shark
DAM CHUMmer
First Name
Simon
Postcard from jail

Per post in the Spree thread, if your a US Citizen or Perm. Resident then Uncle Sam says you still can't go to Cuba to play - Darn.
 
McLOT

McLOT

Administrator
Staff member
First Name
Scott
I went to Cuba in 2001 for 10 days but was not diving. I had started diving before then but this was a vacation trip from UK via Texas and was more focused on sunshine, Cervezas and Mojitos.

It was the same idea and I wanted to see Cuba before Castro (#1) died and the country changed forever.

I had heard that the diving is good and there are several chambers available if necessary.
What we encountered in Havana and the west end of the island was really limited/restricted resources such as expensive fuel and broken water pipes, overloaded public buses and all sorts of problems for the locals. However, it was gearing-up for tourists (non-US) with plenty of Europeans and a rising number of restaurants, hotels and bars particularly in Havana, Old Havana and the surrounds. This runs out quickly in the countryside and once there I realized that it would be more difficult to travel to the poorer east end of the island.
I'm sure it was quite possible then but we settled into partying rather than roughing it across country. I'm sure it is a lot easier now. :piratewithhat2:

I had considered getting a tourist flight (an old bi-plane) to one of the islands on the south side which may be an old pirate haunt. After deciding against it, the news a few days later described one of these planes breaking up and falling out of the sky likely due to poor maintenance and lack of legitimate spares. Good (or lucky) call. :eek:

It was difficult to arrange the travel to Cuba and it cannot be done online since most travel sites take you on to US servers and this is blocked. We booked it all using a UK travel agent and flew via Jamaica since there are no direct flights via US. It is possible to ask that Cuba does not stamp your passport. Now that I have US residency, I would be careful to check the laws that apply and adhere to the relevant restrictions and clauses. :piratewithhat:

cheers,
McLot
 
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