Schedule for Scuba Diving for Eight Days in Cuba

On May 7, 2020
By Kimberly

If you’ve wondered what the itinerary for a Scuba Diving trip to Cuba would include, here’s a sample schedule. Our trip this year is postponed, however, last year’s dive trip to Cuba was an incredible experience of a lifetime. We can’t wait to go back and see all our new lifelong friends.

Into each 18-hour day, we packed at least five miles of walking, 1,000 photos, at least three glorious meals, a brilliant sunrise, a colorful sunset, and best of all; such positive interactions with Cubans everywhere we went. Oh – yeah – and some of the best scuba diving on Earth. Pristine water, fully-developed reefs, tons of tropical fish. This is a quick day-by-day guide.

Day 1. Havana

• Personalized pick-up at the airport
• Accommodation in Havana.
• Free night in Havana, activities of your choice

Day 2. Havana

• Breakfast included
• 8:00 am. Pick up at your place of lodging with personalized transportation, double immersion in the Playa Salado or Boca de Caldera. 30 minutes from Havana, reef with well-preserved corals and abundant juvenile fish. 17 meters maximum. Approximate duration: 5 hours.

• In the afternoon, Havana City Tour. A tour of around an hour of duration in a classic car for the most relevant places in Havana and then up to maximum three hours having traveled on foot enjoying the most interesting streets and squares of Old Havana (Habana Vieja). These journeys become accompanied by a bilingual guide specialized in the history and culture of the city.

• Free evening and night in Havana, activities of your choice.

Day 3. Havana-Bay of Pigs.
Ciénaga de Zapata National Park

• Breakfast included
• Transfer early in the morning to the Bay of Pigs.
• Accommodation in Playa Larga

• Departure to dive sites: Two dives with personalized service. A diving instructor and guide will be throughout the tour only depending on you.
• Return to the lodging
• Dinner included.
• Free night, activities of your choice in the area.

Day 4. Bay of Pigs

• Breakfast included
• Departure to dive sites: Two dives with personalized service. A diving instructor and guide will be throughout the tour only depending on you.
• Return to the lodging
• Dinner included.
• Free night, activities of your choice in the area.

Day 5. Bay of Pigs – Trinidad

• Breakfast included
• Transfer to Trinidad, visit the beautiful city of Cienfuegos on the road.

• Visit the Zip Line near Cienfuegos
• Lodging in Trinidad
• Free night, activities to their election.

Day 6. Trinidad

• Breakfast included
• Visit to the “Valle de los Ingenios” and other attractiveness of Trinidad.
• Return to your lodging.
• Free night, activities of your choices

Day 7. Trinidad – Havana

• Breakfast included
• Transfer to Havana. Visit the Villa of Guajimico on the road. Double Immersions from boat
• Accommodation in Havana
• Free night in Havana, activities of your choices

Day 8. Havana

• Breakfast included
• Activities of your choice depending of your flight
• Transfer to the airport at ____________

The Trip Includes:

– Transfer Airport-city and City-airport
– 7 days of lodging in houses managed by private individuals or casa particular (the service is of good quality)

– 8 dive dives per person, at interesting dive sites.
– 7 breakfasts per person, of good quality and with abundant tropical fruits. – 2 dinners per person, with abundant typical Cuban food, may include your choice of seafood.
– Car with professional driver for all the scheduled activities. Fuel costs are included. (Schedule excesses for exits to discos in the dawn or other activities that are come out of the normal schedule will have extra overcharge).
– Possibility of doing extra dives in all destinations if desired
– Free time and possibilities to travel and know the main attractions of each area to visit, according to your preferences.

The Trip Does Not Include:

– Payments for tickets to museums, natural parks or any other place that you wish to visit optionally and that is not mentioned in the itinerary and that requires an entrance payment.
– Drinks at meals.
– Services not specified.

Estimated Costs

Two People	$2,425 total	$1,212,50 each
Four People	$4,240 total	$1,060.00 each
Eight People	$6,960 total	$870.00 each

These prices are a year old. Just for estimation purposes.

Not diving – looks like it could be about $200 less for non-divers.

Extra divings: 30 additional CUC – Guajimico suggested.
Night divings: 10 additional CUC over the cost of a normal diving.
Extra nights in Havana: 35 additional CUC.
Xander at cubadivingnow.com is our contact. Mention us for great service!

Flight Suggestions

Miami flights:
American Airlines $202 round trip on their website at 1 hr, 15 min.
Kayak – $231 on American Airline or $237 on Delta at 1hr, 15 min
Google Flights – $324 on American 1 stop in Miami at 5 hr 25 min
Google Flights – $364 on American 1 stop in Miami at 4 hr 10 min
“Results are for users who can legally travel to Cuba.”

Jacksonville flights:
Jet Blue $382 with layover in Ft. Lauderdale, 6.5 hours total.

Orlando flights:
Kayak – $226 on Copa Airlines 1 stop at 11 hrs through Panama – the country

Kayak – $324 on Jet Blue nonstop at 1 hr, 24 min – $259 checked on December 23 – http://matrix.itasoftware.com/
Google Flights – $309 on Jet Blue at 1 hr 24 min – https://www.jetblue.com/flights/cuba/ for exact rules/regs

Five bags, no more than 99 pounds each. Pay $50 at gate day of for the tourist visa, and the health insurance is included in ticket price

Be there three hours in advance, each direction or until we hear on that end their recommended time. Not two hours – customs takes much longer for Cuba flights, and gates close completely an hour in advance.

At the moment, we are unable to travel to Cuba from the US due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.

JetBlue Cuba Insurance

When purchasing your JetBlue ticket to Cuba, Cuban health insurance provided by ESICUBA and to Cuba, Cuban health insurance provided by ESICUBA and administered by Asistur is automatically included in the cost of your fare (a $25 surcharge). Terms and conditions of the health insurance can be accessed from the ESICUBA website

General licenses: OFAC has authorized people to travel to Cuba under one of twelve “general license” categories. Individuals who meet the requirements of one of the twelve general license categories do not need to apply to OFAC.

Liveaboard Schedule Option

For anyone wanting total immersion in the underwater world including the possibility of see up to six species of sharks; AllStar Liveaboards operates the Avalon II in the Gardens of the Queen. Up to four daily dives are possible from the 125-foot vessel. You might even get to snorkle with crocodiles!

Here’s a sample itinerary:

Saturday:
Early Morning – Depart Havana for Port Jucaro, a 6-7-hour trip
Mid-to-late afternoon – Arrive at the dock, board, check in, enjoy dinner, meet the crew, unpack, orientation and safety briefing, prep dive equipment, sustainability workshop program
Evening – Travel to the marine park, a 4-hour trip

Sunday to Friday:
6:30 am – Breakfast – made-to-order
7:30 am – Depart for first dive following dive briefing
9:00 am – Return to boat for snack
10:00 am – Depart for second dive, following dive briefing
12:00 pm – Return to boat for lunch
1:30 pm – Depart for third dive following dive briefing
3:00 pm – Return to boat for afternoon snack
4:00 pm – Depart for fourth dive following dive briefing or if a night dive is scheduled, take a shore excursion
6:00 pm – Return to boat to relax or enjoy Happy Hour
8:00 pm – Dinner, plan for next day’s activities, review video footage and photos, sustainability workshop program

*4 dives per day including 2 night dives during the trip; additional night dives possible on request by chatting with your dive guide. Friday dives are limited to 2 to allow 24-hours prior to flying.

Friday:
4:00 pm – Return to Port Jucaro
Overnight on All Star Avalon II

Saturday:
9:00 am – Disembark and U.S. citizens depart or Havana, a 6-7-hour trip

What to Read Next

Reef Safe Mask Defog and Sunscreen

All products that touch your body work their way into our rivers, stream, lakes and oceans. Many vacation destinations like the Florida Keys will not allow toxic sunscreens. Use the only one tested and proven reef safe; Stream2Sea, use my code “DeepWH” for 10% off on SPF 20 or 30 mineral, regular or tinted sunscreen, mask defog, shampoo, conditioner, rash guards and more reef-safe supplies. They have added hand sanitizer (no discount – it’s paying the bills) to their line! Order fast!

You Are the Help Until Help Arrives

We suggest you enroll in a Crisis Medicine Tactical Casualty Care Course, and with code “DeepWH” you save 20% on the TC2 course, which I highly recommend. You need more than basic First Aid when you are far from help, as you are when traveling, on a dive boat, or even when you are working in your yard with a chainsaw. A human can bleed out within four minutes; faster than rescue can reach you. Learn how to use a tourniquet. Get training. Someone’s life might depend on it.

Purchase tourniquets from reputable companies, like North American Rescue. There, you can see the Bleeding Control Kit I carry. Use code “MAY25” for 20% off all community preparedness products through midnight on 5/31/20. This is a huge savings; take advantage!

MyMedic also features Individual Bleeding Control Kits at this link. You should bring one everywhere! We do… It’s better to be prepared than to be unprepared. You can spot our kits sometimes in our videos – either on a vehicle headrest, or lying close by. My code DeepWH15 gives you 15% off!

Yes, We Do Buy Travel Insurance

Up until last year, we had never purchased travel insurance. For a week-long dive cruise, we realized there we had a flight, a cruise, four different dive operators, expensive dive gear luggage, and personal luggage including cameras. We also had a family member who was not doing well. The need to have that bit of flexibility in case of the worst taught us so much.

First of all, we were far more relaxed knowing that if we had to cancel it all; everything was covered. Second, we were astounded at how reasonable travel insurance actually is. Click Travelex here or above for a free quote.

Airbnb

Ok, so, here are two Airbnb discount codes. Try either one! The offerings from Airbnb change every couple months, so use whichever gives you the best deal. You can only use a code one time, so compare, choose whichever gives you the best deal since they change periodically, and make it count!

As of today, this one, Airbnb says, “Kimberly gave you up to $55 off your first trip.” Friends who sign up for Airbnb with my link will get $40 off their home booking. And they get $15 to use toward an experience worth $50 or more.

Also today, this one, Airbnb says, “Deep gave you up to $415 off your first adventure. I’m ready to book from this one right now! I’m thinking it’s a computer glitch – so jump on it fast!