Cuba, Cayo Coco

by Trevor Thorpe

I've been to Cuba twice before: to Guardalavaca on the mainland as a non-diver and Cayo Largo a small island just offshore on the Carribean side. This time I thought I’d try Cayo Coco on the Atlantic side. Cayo Coco is joined to the mainland by a 17 kilometre causeway which also links the other Cayos, Guillermo, Romano etc. I booked my holiday through Eclipse Holiday, the direct sell arm of First Choice, and stayed at the Tryp Cayo Coco, an all-inclusive hotel, for two weeks which cost me £1100 which included my single supplement.

After my journey down to Gatwick from Nottingham, which takes 4-5 hours I checked my suitcase and dive equipment in which left me to walk through passport control etc. with my hand luggage. After I had cleared all the checks I went round the duty free shops and then settled down for my flight call. After this came I then proceeded to the appropriate gate and after showing my boarding pass I then had another wait before finally boarding the plane for the 9hr. flight to Ciego de Avila airport in Cuba.

They have now opened an airport in Cayo Coco facilitating better transfer times to the Cayos and are trying to open Cayo Romano for tourists. After landing and reclaiming my baggage we then went through immigration before being shown which bus to board for our journey to our hotel which took about 1hr. 30mins. It was while on the bus that we got all the literature about the tours and the welcome meeting the following morning. After arriving at the hotel and checking in we were then shown to our rooms, which were excellent. The next morning I attended the welcome meeting and asked about the scuba-diving.

There was no dive shop on site but every day BLUE DIVING which are based at the MELIA CAYO COCO a hotel about 10 minutes drive away would pick any divers up in their jeep and drive them there. To get to the dive shop you have to walk through reception, down the side of their swimming pool and then down a pathway. The equipment for rent is very limited, which is why I was really glad that I took my own, BCD, regs, fins and mask. I didn’t use a wetsuit as the water was very warm. The diving on the Atlantic side is more interesting, although there is slightly less to see and the fish are less colourful than the Carribean side. You also have to wade to the boat but the crews are very helpful. I decided to buy a 10 dive package but only used 9 of them because I wanted to get a sun tan.

The dives I did were; Alexandria, a 45ft dive lasting 49 mins., Penon 4, a 35ft. dive lasting 48mins., Penon 1, a 80ft. dive lasting 55mins., La Academia, a 38ft. dive lasting 57mins., Linda a 100ft. dive lasting 38mins, Katac, a 40ft. dive lasting 60mins., and my 99th and last dive this holiday Penon 1, this time to 75ft. lasting 48mins. I usually buddied up with Mark Haydon also from Nottingham and spent most evenings drinking with him and his wife Danielle. It was during one of these nighttime sessions that they mentioned that they had been to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico several times and had enjoyed it immensely and also how good the diving was there. This was a good recommendation, so when I got home that was where I looked at for my next holiday.

There were also several trips elsewhere for non-divers, but the two I chose were to Cienfuegos to swim with the semi wild dolphins in a lagoon and to Santa Clara to visit Che Guevara’s museum/mausoleum which was really interesting.

It rained most days while I was there mostly about 9pm. which made the tiled floors extremely slippy and the restaurant roof leaked which is why I cannot recommend this hotel. Also the main bar,which is also the main access point to the restaurant is built around and over a lagoon which often smells vile.

Contact; trevram@hotmail.com

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