Today I went on a day trip to María la Gorda. My diving school in Germany had recommended this place as one of the top diving spots in Cuba. Originally, I intended to stay there for a couple of nights, but since the hotel prices have just switched to high season and the travel agency said it would be possible to go there, do two dives, and return all in one day, that's what I did.
There weren't many people going from Viñales to María la Gorda, so the travel agency provided a taxi instead of a bus. Sitting in the front seat gave me a prime spot to observe the state of Cuban roads.
On the way there, I initially thought that the roads were quite bad: uneven, no markings, some potholes. But then the roads kept getting worse. Towards the end, the road consisted to nearly 100% of potholes, some 20 or 30 cm deep, and the driver kept trying to slalom his way around.
The sun was already setting when we started our three-hour drive back. The darkness revealed another dimension of driving in Cuba. The roads are used not only by cars and trucks, but are shared with lots and lots of unlit traffic: pedestrians, bicycles, horse carts, and the occasional car or motorcycle without taillights. This didn't pose a problem when there was no oncoming traffic. But the slightly blinding headlights of oncoming vehicles blocked all unlit objects from view. This resulted in the driver hitting the brakes every time another vehicle approached, and accelerating again once it had passed. Luckily, there wasn't that much (lit) traffic - I'd guess one car per kilometer, maybe slightly more.
The dive center at María la Gorda was the most expensive and least well-maintained one I'd seen so far. They charged extra for equipment rental - which none of the other centers had - and the equipment was rather old and really worn down. During the first dive, I noticed that the valve connecting the air tank to the buoyancy control jacket was releasing a small but constant stream of bubbles - and not only mine, but those of most other divers, too. This, combined with the fact that there were about 20 divers in the water (which I'm not used to at all), really got me distracted, and I wasn't able to appreciate the dive as much as usual.
The second dive, however, fully made up for this. There were only about 8 people diving - apparently because the afternoon dives are supposed to be shallow water dives, which the more advanced divers seem to scorn. The divers were split into two groups, and somehow my group ended up consisting only of me, another girl, and the guide. It wasn't a shallow water dive, either: the guide led us through a small tunnel at a depth of about 18 to 20m to a coral wall that descended vertically as far as I could see - magnificent! After a while we ascended about 8 meters through a chimney-like coral structure, and that's when the shallow water part began. In my opinion, this was extremely beautiful as well. We saw two large crustaceans of some kind, lots of elegant jellyfish, a swarm of blue fish who seemed to be grinning, and lots of other fish and coral. Beauty and tranquillity - that's why I love diving!
There weren't many people going from Viñales to María la Gorda, so the travel agency provided a taxi instead of a bus. Sitting in the front seat gave me a prime spot to observe the state of Cuban roads.
On the way there, I initially thought that the roads were quite bad: uneven, no markings, some potholes. But then the roads kept getting worse. Towards the end, the road consisted to nearly 100% of potholes, some 20 or 30 cm deep, and the driver kept trying to slalom his way around.
The sun was already setting when we started our three-hour drive back. The darkness revealed another dimension of driving in Cuba. The roads are used not only by cars and trucks, but are shared with lots and lots of unlit traffic: pedestrians, bicycles, horse carts, and the occasional car or motorcycle without taillights. This didn't pose a problem when there was no oncoming traffic. But the slightly blinding headlights of oncoming vehicles blocked all unlit objects from view. This resulted in the driver hitting the brakes every time another vehicle approached, and accelerating again once it had passed. Luckily, there wasn't that much (lit) traffic - I'd guess one car per kilometer, maybe slightly more.
The dive center at María la Gorda was the most expensive and least well-maintained one I'd seen so far. They charged extra for equipment rental - which none of the other centers had - and the equipment was rather old and really worn down. During the first dive, I noticed that the valve connecting the air tank to the buoyancy control jacket was releasing a small but constant stream of bubbles - and not only mine, but those of most other divers, too. This, combined with the fact that there were about 20 divers in the water (which I'm not used to at all), really got me distracted, and I wasn't able to appreciate the dive as much as usual.
The second dive, however, fully made up for this. There were only about 8 people diving - apparently because the afternoon dives are supposed to be shallow water dives, which the more advanced divers seem to scorn. The divers were split into two groups, and somehow my group ended up consisting only of me, another girl, and the guide. It wasn't a shallow water dive, either: the guide led us through a small tunnel at a depth of about 18 to 20m to a coral wall that descended vertically as far as I could see - magnificent! After a while we ascended about 8 meters through a chimney-like coral structure, and that's when the shallow water part began. In my opinion, this was extremely beautiful as well. We saw two large crustaceans of some kind, lots of elegant jellyfish, a swarm of blue fish who seemed to be grinning, and lots of other fish and coral. Beauty and tranquillity - that's why I love diving!
