For
sure the Queen’s Gardens (Los Jardines de la Reina)
are one of the best places in the world for diving and for
unforgettable dives with the sharks!!!
A
chain of 250 virgin coral island, unsettled without any
hotel-building and without any street or village. Situated
60 miles offshore, stretching for over 75 miles, and at
times some 20 miles wide, the area was recently declared
the largest Marine Park of the entire Caribbean area. Access
is very restricted, and commercial fishing has been banned
from all but the outermost extremes of the Park. Jucaro
is the boarding point, a small village with old fashion
houses and 2.000 inhabitants
Aside from stunning variety of marine life, the above surface
flora and fauna is fascinating. Bird varieties commonly
seen includes ospreys, pelicans, frigate birds, spoonbills,
and many different sorts of heron and egret – to name
a few. The only mammal is the “Jutia” while
reptiles are represented by a large population of iguanas.
The flora is mainly palm trees, differing forms of Caribbean
pine trees, sea grapes and the ever present mangroves.
However,
like so much of the Caribbean, the real beauty is below
the surface. Besides the extensive flats there is a chain
of coral reefs very close to the southern shore of the Archipelago,
where undisturbed and undamaged coral abounds.
Diving
60
miles south of the mainland of Cuba and 80 miles north of
Cayman Brac is a 75 mile long mangrove and coral island
system forming what some people say is the third longest
barrier reef in the world. It’s a 2.400 square miles
Marine Park. There is NO COMMERCIAL FISHING in the Park
and the number of inhabitants is ZERO.
Imagine a Marine WILDERNESS with walls covered with brightly
hued sponges and corals plunging well below the limits of
safe diving to shallow reefs filled with both schooling
and solitary fish and wrecks (even some Old Spanish galleons
from 17th century.)
The mangroves provide an incredible nursery for the smaller
fish which in turn provide the reef with huge schools of
baitfish. This has provided a home to a prolific number
of LARGE fish (we think more than anywhere else in the Caribbean)
. Shark rodeos and hand feeding 200-400 LB Jewfish are an
everyday experience. Sharks are one of the main attractions
and are every-where .
You
can easily dive weekly with 5 different species of Carcarinus:
Silky, Caribbean Reef, Lemon, Black Tip, Nurse, and you
ha chances to dive also with Whale Sharks and Hammerhead
Sharks. The Diving Center is the only operation allowed
by law in this entire area, and hosts no more than 300 divers
a year. Certainly, it is one of the last virgin reefs known
to man. 80 dive sites are currently available, scattered
over the entire perimeter of Los Jardines de la reina. Dive
sites are well protected from the winds and sea currents.
The dive centre is well equipped with new compressors, tanks
and weights, and two big dive boats.
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