I wanted to share my first experience of diving on a sunken ship, the experience was so amazing that it deserves it's own post.
The wreck in question whose name I do not even know lays on Her side sloping downwards from bow to stern. Her bow is in about 80 feet of water and Her stern at 130 feet.  These depths are on the limits of most divers certification and certainly 130 feet is considered on the limit of sport diving period.

I was fully aware that this wreck dive would push me to exceed my level of training and even the level of experience I had.  The dive would not have been thinkable for me without the intense confidence I had in our Cuban instructor Julian.

The wreck is very well prepared as a dive site, the holds have all been cut open for ease of access and to allow penetration of the deeper parts of the ship.  The bridge and wheelhouse are permanently closed, and with good reason even on a ship of this size (She is over 150 feet long) the bridge is a tight and dangerous fit for a diver.

The catamaran we used to arrive over the wreck is the type of party boat you see everywhere in vacation paradise, twin hull with a covered deck and a cargo net stretched between the front of the hulls, lots of cold drinks and music.

Most of the people on board were on a day trip to Santiago with a snorkel stop close to the wreck.   The dive group was small which seemed best to penetrate a wreck.

I will never forget my first sight of Her we emptied our BC's and dropped down to 80 feet as we swam forward her bow materialised out of the dark blue and my breath caught in my throat, the scene was so reminiscent of the opening scene of Titanic that I mentally screamed "I am the King of the World" well not really but it makes for a great anecdote.

We swam forward towards the huge bulk of this ship so incongruous laying on the bottom and in many ways very sad.  We entered the wreck through one of the upper forward holds and swam through 3 or 4 separate holds all of them cut open with lots of places to see out.

After only a few minutes inside and a couple of turns we exited the wreck near the stern we were now in 130 feet of water with a bottom time in single digits, the feeling of being at such a depth relying solely on my training and the safety margins of your equipment is an experience few will ever have but I can say it is intensely satisfying and intensely addictive.

After a short stop to view the propeller we had to ascend our too short visit to the depths was over. As we rose I looked down between my legs watching Her vanish into the deep blue. I wanted that moment when She would disappear from view locked in my mind.

And it is.

Scuba Diving in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba

Recently I became a PADI certified SCUBA diver.  I immediately fell in love with this fantastic sport and wanted to be able to share the experience with like minded divers.

  We started offering group dive excursions at Havana Discovery Tours http://www.havanadiscoverytours.com/

and have had the great pleasure of taking our first 2 groups to Santiago de Cuba.   Our excursions were booked into a great gem of a resort called the Gran Caribe Club Bucanero, about 30 minutes from the Santiago Airport.

This resort was chosen for a lot of reasons proximity to Santiago for day trips a smaller resort with great customer service a highly recommended dive staff and most important fantastic diving.

All of our criteria were met and even exceeded by this resort and its staff.

 Most of our group dove everyday we did shore dives and boat dives and even 2 night dives, but for me the most exciting were the wreck dives.  Just a short boat ride east of the Hotel are 4 wrecks that were sunk by the Cuban Government to attract marine Life and divers to the area.

The dive was taken on a catamaran which was arranged primarily for snorkeling in the area but we used it as a great dive platform.

The excursion included a trip to Santiago on the catamaran lunch in a restaurant on Santiago bay and a short visit to the City itself.  The group boasted several excellent photographers who photos are posted on our dive group facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Havana-Discovery-ToursDive-Tours/278679772155978#!/pages/Havana-Discovery-ToursDive-Tours/278679772155978?sk=wall

Our experience as a group was fantastic and all agreed on the desire to come back and dive this location again. The fantastic dive instructors Julian and Manuel were perfectly suited to our group, all of whom had different levels of experience.

We were all pleasantly surprised at the level of care given to us and our equipment all of it taken care of at the end of each days diving.

The area abounds with sealife and was a constant fascinating view of Caribbean fish and crustacean.  We were fortunate to see fantastic Moray Eel and even Octopus in the waters close to the resort beach.

There are even 2 small caves that can be visited 1 that also has an above water entrance and is the Home of a large number of bats.

We were fortunate to take 2 separate groups to the same resort in just 3 weeks and will be offering the same excursion in the New Year.   Without a doubt we all highly recommend the resort its staff and the diving in and around Santiago de Cuba.