What to Pack for Cuba
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Jardines De La Reina: A Local’s Guide to Cuba’s Most Impressive Dive Site [in 2024]
One of the most impressive, if little-explored, places to visit in Cuba has no permanent residents but is teeming with life. Jardines de la Reina, known as the Gardens of the Queen, is an immense archipelago and protected marine reserve that sits just off the Cuban mainland and is among one of the Caribbeans’s greatest natural treasures.
Looking to explore the richness of one of the most untouched and undisturbed waters of the Caribbean, the likes of which you won’t find anywhere else? Our local guide to visiting Jardines de la Reina will help you explore like a pro, including how to visit and where to stay… and why Fidel Castro’s former favorite dive sites are even better than they were decades ago.
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Jardines de la Reina Diving
There’s plenty to love about diving in Jardines de la Reina, one of the most pristine dive destinations in the Caribbean. However, the area is perhaps best known for its unrivaled opportunities to spot and even interact with marine life.
Famously, Jardines de la Reina is known as one of the best places on the planet for swimming with sharks, many of which grow to impressive sizes in these protected waters. Live aboard dive participants also rave about opportunities for swimming with American crocodiles!
These are some of the species divers are most likely to encounter in Jardines de la Reina:
- Caribbean Reef Sharks
- Silky Sharks
- Great Hammerhead Sharks
- Nurse Sharks
- Atlantic Tarpon
- Giant Grouper (Jewfish)
- Moray Eels
- Numerous species of sea turtles and tortoises
While Jardines de la Reina is perhaps most famous for the animal encounters while diving, it has a number of incredible dive sites known for their corals, sponges, and candy-colored underwater landscapes that will make even the most well-traveled diver swoon. These are just a few of the most well-known spots for diving in the national park.
Dive Sites in Jardines de la Reina
Black Corals
Pipín
Dramatic underwater formations along the coral reef at Pipín are home to sea turtles, rays, and schools of brilliantly-colored fish, including jacks and tarpons. Silky sharks and the occasional hammerhead shark can be spotted here.
Farallón
A massive coral “mountain” makes Farallón one of the best dive sites in Jardines de la Reina. The “mountain” hides numerous channels and caverns that divers can explore. Reef sharks can often be spotted here as well.
Vicente
Black corals and numerous species of sharks are all to be expected when diving at Vicente, where a dramatic drop-off creates an incredible wall-diving experience.