Pioneering Jagua Bank hunting in Cuba....
I’ve been doing for the last fifteen years several spearfishing trips to Cuba and every time I had to face there with three cuban basic says about the everyday life :
« It’s difficult, it’s impossible… it’s forbidden! »
Spearfishing gear is not avaible on the forbidden island and many items get prohibited at the custom such as GPS, walkie talkie, Wifi device…
In order to expand my outreach, I rented a 33 feet catamaran and so I could do boating in the Archipelago de los Canarreos. I am aware of different diving spots there and planned to pionner Jagua Bank.
This amazing underwater reef comes up in the middle of the sea from about 3000 meter depth to about 15 meter under the surface. I was told that the week before my stay two proficient cuban spearos got definitively lost in the open sea
, at the time there were hunting. The fishing boat captain lost sight of the divers in the swell.
Regulated by the tide, currents there are strong to 4 knots and the swell could make the back to the boat unsafe for the diver…
Winter hunting in the cuban waters means focusing on snappers and hogfish in particular. Lucky in getting two days of becalmed sea in one week I could dive in the shallow wrecks and take several good size fish.
Sharks have been using year long pattroling around the wrecks and made the things sometimes complicated at the time you’r playing the fish. Cooking the captures aboard at night was a great reward for the cuban crew… sot hey could taste some fish they never find on cuban markets.
Pura vida!