Dive Review of avalon in
Cuba/Garden of the Queen

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avalon: "Avalon: more bang for the buck", Jun, 2018, by DAVID C SCOTT, FL, US ( Sr. Reviewer 7 reports with 9 Helpful votes). Report 10469 has 1 Helpful vote.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The Avalon II compares reasonably well to the newer Aggressor II; main difference is a cabin up layout as opposed to the cabin down in the Aggressor. The food is comparable which is to say excellent. Aggressor supplies more frills: uniformed crew, hot towels after dives and beds turned down at night, that stuff is nice but cost about a grand more. Both boats can benefit from the addition of satellite weather services to their navigation displays. Apparently satellite phones are a no no in Cuba and it appears that both boats have only VHF. I'm told that if an emergency were to develop the Military would have a rapid response,maybe so but I'd feel more comfortable with a sat. phone or at least a marine HF radio. This June trip had much better sea conditions but somewhat less visibility than the October 2017 trip. Both operations offer 4 dives per day with two to three night dives. The diving remains the best in the Caribbean or I guess I should say the best we have seen to date in 35 years of diving. My only complaint is I wish the sharks could unlearn their acquired trait of associating divers with a free snack. The sharks have been chummed up for years- maybe even decades. While this does make for a world class shark dive, the behavior is completely unnatural. In fact at the "la cana" dive site, there are more sharks and more big sharks than one encounters at Palau's blue corner during a heavy current. Way more. I suppose the same unnatural behavior can be said for crocodile population at the gardens of the queen. Tossing out chicken parts and calling out the crocks for the snorkelers photo enjoyment, well seems kinda silly to me. The cultural experience is limited to the afternoon of the day of departure. Santa Clara seemed a bit more interesting than Camaguey. Both are old colonial towns. The roads are better from Santa Clara to Jucharo than Camaguey to Jucharo. Of the two airports I would opt for Santa Clara. We will be going back, probably on the Avalon II, if all things stay the same, Avalon is a better bang for the buck. About $3.5K plus air + visa costs. About a grand less than Aggressor II. Don't forget the 10% tip. That is basically how the crew is compensated.
Websites	avalon
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	most of the Caribbean, a good portion of the central and western pacific
Closest Airport	Santa Clara	Getting There	AA Mia-Snu $300 + 5hrs by bus to hailing port of Jucharo
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, choppy, no currents
Water Temp	86-88°F / 30-31°C	Wetsuit Thickness	0
Water Visibility	70-120 Ft/ 21-37 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	reasonable request to dive as a group
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of avalon in Cuba/Garden of the Queen

avalon: "Avalon: more bang for the buck", Jun, 2018,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of avalon in
Cuba/Garden of the Queen