Dive Review of Tortuga in
Cuba/Garden of the Queen

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Tortuga: "Exciting, adrenaline-filled diving with crocodiles and sharks.", Mar, 2020, by Geoff Fallon, OH, USA ( Sr. Reviewer 7 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 11562.
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
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	It is both exhilarating and frightening to come within 12 inches of an eight-foot crocodile’s mouth, but the result is some amazing photographs. From the floating, but completely stationary, liveaboard Tortuga, it’s a 15-minute speed boat ride to the mangroves where the crocs hang out. The crew places a raw chicken on the end of a makeshift fishing rod and bounces the chicken up and down to get the croc to open its mouth. The diver/photographers approach warily on snorkel and snap away. One diver in my group was lightly bitten (through his wetsuit) in the thigh such that the teeth marks could be seen in black & blue, but there was no injury. Differently exhilarating and definitely high energy was diving with silky sharks. Here the speedboat crew throws handfuls of sardines into the water—while the divers are in the water—and the silkies swarm to snag the fish. Silkies are not huge by shark standards and the ones we encountered were typically 4 – 6 ft long and slender but can grow to 8 feet. The photos of several sharks swarming a diver are both unique and exciting for both the photographer and the diver. Besides the croc and silky adrenaline diving, there was a baited dive with Caribbean reef sharks where the photographers took positions on the reef and snapped photos as the sharks swan to and from the bait box. The reef diving was wonderful since the reefs are in spectacularly good shape as the Garden of the Queens is uninhabited and by no means over-dived. The food was not gourmet but was fully acceptable; there was plenty of hot water; and each cabin had an ensuite bathroom. The deck for boarding the speedboats for diving is steel and often gets quite slippery. By all means schedule at least one full day to see the sights in Havana with a guide because it is a different and unique city.
Websites	Tortuga
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Throughout Caribbean, Hawaii, Australia, Indonesia & Philippines
Closest Airport	Havana	Getting There	Direct flight from Atlanta but 6 hour bus ride to board a boat for an 8 hour over night trip to Tortuga
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	75-78°F / 24-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	No real restrictions except diving with crocs limited to 2 divers at a time for 10 minutes
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	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		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	No camera room or camera table but there were two sets of bunk beds in the cabin for only 2 divers so we each had a bunk for setting up camera gear.

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Dive Review of Tortuga in Cuba/Garden of the Queen

Tortuga: "Exciting, adrenaline-filled diving with crocodiles and sharks.", Mar, 2020,

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 Tortuga in
Cuba/Garden of the Queen