Diving Part 1- The North Shore

April 23-24, 2017

I'll preface these next couple posts by saying that our knockoff GoPro worked very well, but some exposure setting was off and all the photos ended up washed out and badly exposed. They still give you the gist of what's going on, but I know they're not marvels of photographic genius.

Diving Day 1- Playa Coral
On our first day of diving we woke up in Matanzas, had breakfast, and then packed our bags to get ready for our guide to pick us up. When the car horn honked, we were met on the street by Danilo our guide, Leo our driver, and his seafoam and white '53 Plymouth which was as much a part of the group as the people.

Our drive down the beachfront was rather picturesque with palm trees and classic cars against the blue sky.

I got creative with the camera.

It was maybe 40 minutes in the car to reach Boca de Camarioca, a small fishing town we had a room booked in for the two nights we were diving on the north side. We got dropped at our room, a lovely little suite with its own kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and sitting room with a table and sofa. We had an hour or so to relax before they returned to take us to the dive site.

Shoutout to the guy photobombing in the background

It was a shore dive that had blobs of coral in a plain of sand. Each coral rock had different fish, corals, and fronds to see, and it was easy to hop from one to another since they were 10-20 feet apart. We had two dives there with a nice shady surface interval in between. There were a couple buildings, souvenir shops, and a bar set up with the dive and snorkel place, so we had some pineapple juice too.

Back in Boca we had a quick shower off, then Danilo showed us around town. He is originally from there, so we got to explore where the locals go.

We wound up at a little ocean overlook drinking local beers with him. We enjoyed the breeze, watched the waves and some kite surfers, talked about living in Cuba and cultural differences with the states, why he started diving, all kinds of things. It was great fun to have a good talk and learn about him and about Cuba, while sharing things about the US too.

Before we walked back to the hotel for dinner he showed us the little hidden beach that was at the end of the block, so we got some sand between our toes for the day.

Our dinner was wonderful and made by our hosts at the hotel. We had breaded shrimp, salad, yucca, plantain chips, and a big plate of rice and beans. Plus ice cream for dessert. All in the comfort of our own little sitting room. We went to bed happy.

Diving Day 2- Puerto Escondido
Our second day we loaded into a beat-up pickup and headed west to the dive site for the day. We drove back through Matanzas and a little farther, and then went down a bumpy little road to an abandoned shore. Danilo told us that locals like to go camping there for the weekend.

It was nicer weather in Matanzas this time

We pulled up to a little cove with stairs going down to it.  Parked on the grass above we got set up for the dive.

Danilo found a full wetsuit for me to wear after the first day (I get cold so easily) and I ran down to float in the water while I put it on. It was maybe a size too small so it was a little bit of a struggle each time I took it on or off, but I was warmer.

It was easier to swim under the surf and the raft of seaweed in the cove rather than go through it, so we set out under 3 feet of water.

Puffer fish buddy!

My favorite part of the day was the swim-through near the end of the dive, which was filled with silvery hatchet-shaped fish.

Here's the youtube link, since it was too big to upload within the blog.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_qWFHWFFR8

We had a nice warm surface interval before the second dive.

After our second dive we packed the truck and drove back to Boca. We showered off, and then went to sit on the beach again and watch the sunset.

There was a kite surfer going back and forth by the shore we had fun watching.

Danilo met up with us for a short while on the beach, and we asked him for a restaurant recommendation for our last night. Somewhere good the locals go to eat. He told us Norbert's, on the other side of the bridge.

It was a beautiful walk over.

And when we arrived at the restaurant, we discovered that Danilo had failed to mention that along with good food it had a fantastic view.

We happily watched the last of the sunset from our second floor table.

Of course our last night wouldn't be complete without a piña colada and a mojito.

Our seafood was delicious, the drinks were good, the view was amazing and the waiter was cute. It was a great farewell to Boca de Camarioca. The next morning we set out for the southern side of the island to dive in the Bay of Pigs.