Diving in Maria La Gorda

The sea bottom in Maria la Gorda has the most clear and colorful contrasts for the practice of sub aquatic photography since the transparency of the water allows a visibility of 30 m long up to 30m of depth; the medium water temperature varies between 24°C in December and February to 30°C in August.

The morphology of the sea bottom in Maria La Gorda is an enchanting picture with long extensions of white sand with funny patches and round reef formations.

In some dive sites, the impressive walls of the platform have the mystery of millenary wrecks, ancient canyons, anchors, and sunken treasures, all this catches the attention of adventurous treasure hunters and scientists specialized in sub aquatic archeology.

The main exponents of the fauna in this area are the typical inhabitants of the Caribbean Sea such as barracuda, groupers, lobsters, eels, angel fish, crabs, etc. We suggest to you El Cabezon de Ludo, El Salon de Maria, El Almirante y Yemaya, and the second diving of the day Acuario, El Ancla de Francois and El Jardin de la Gorgonia.

Detailed information about diving in maria la gorda can be found on the Villa Maria La Gorda website.

María la Gorda International Scuba-Diving Centre

The María la Gorda "Mary the Fat" International Scuba-Diving Centre are located in the Guanacahabibes peninsula in the Pinar del Rio province , in western Cuba, at 4 1/2 hours drive from Havana heading southwest past banana, sugar cane and tobacco plantations.

This small friendly center is situated on a sweeping, palm-fringed beach and is host to some of Cuba's finest dive sites.

The International Diving Center "María la Gorda", ideal place for both, beginners and experienced divers.

The sea bottom in this area has the most clear and colorful contrasts for the practice of sub aquatic photography.

The marine platform is very thin and ends very close from the coast with depths between 200m and 1000m.

The dive Center is efficiently run and the dive guides give excellent briefings and try very hard for you to get the most out of your diving.

The Diving Shop counts with highly qualified dive instructors, and beginners can be certified with SSI and CMAS.

Non divers can snorkel, fish or take boat rides, apart from enjoying of the unrivalled nature on the tropical forest surrounding the resort and taking the sun at the beach.

Detailed information about diving in maria la gorda can be found on the Villa Maria La Gorda website.

Maria La Gorda Diving Sites, Places, Locations

Maria La Gorda has 50 sites of high level diving, some are still not named, all of them are less than 1 hour cruise, some at even 5 minutes away.

"Salón de María"

This site is cavern in the reef formed by a hole in the rock, characterized by its sponges and coral formations. It is located 10 min away by boat from the resort. You may enter it by any of three entrances and be amazed by its bright purple, pink, blue and green decoration.

The cave is home to large number of tropical fish as well as coral and sponges. Outside of the cavern the reef itself is interspersed with sandy patches and there was a lot of dead coral around, damaged by Hurricane Ivan.

"El Almirante"

At 90 feet you reach a wall covered with huge sponges and sea fans. Visibility at this site is usually excellent and tarpon, angelfish, grunts and groupers are popular in this area. At 100 feet you will find blooms of black coral. This wall has a beautiful bright blue backdrop and whale sharks can be frequently seen in the area.

"Yemayá"

The dive starts on a near vertical wall and finishes on the shallow reef that tops the wall at about 12 metres. Within the wall there are deep gouges that make good tunnels for divers to explore.

All sorts of obscure sponges line the tunnels and the wall including elephant's ear, barrel and many other encrusting or bulbous forms.

The coral growth is equally diverse with beautiful sea fans, staghorn, black, whip and elkhorn varieties on display, more pelagics on the wall where there were tuna and a shoal of about fifty jacks.

There are many less well-known sponges, such as elephant’s ear and barrel sponge. There is also an abundance of spectacular corals including sea fans, staghorn, black, whip and elkhorn.

The fish life is abundant and varied including shoals of tuna and jacks, as wells as barracuda, tarpon, crabs and lobsters. This is a wonderful site to explore, and to observe and interact with an array of marine species in their natural habitat.

This site is suitable for advanced divers only, as there can be strong currents in the area, and the maximum dive depths exceed 30m. Visibility is good, and is usually in excess of 30m, making it a fantastic site for sub-marine photography.

Detailed information about diving in maria la gorda can be found on the Villa Maria La Gorda website.