María la Gorda: A Paradise for Divers

Entrance to María La Gorda Villa, Pinar del Río

Bridge at María La Gorda Villa, Pinar del Río

Beach at María La Gorda Villa, Pinar del Río

The largest Antillean Island, favored in its tourist aspirations by a privileged geographic location, takes advantage of its natural attractions to provide a one-of-a-kind offer to the thousands of vacationers who visit Cuba every year.

Cuba's leisure industry offers a perfect formula that combines beach and sun with culture, history, nature and nautical activities, including diving, whose popularity is increasing every day.

The Island's conditions for diving include 70,000 square kilometers of insular shelf, and 5,000 kilometers of coastline on both the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

Nearly 6,500 varieties of fish, crustaceans, sponges and mollusks, as well as 850 kilometers of coral reefs, turn the Caribbean Island into one of the best-preserved underwater ecosystems in the region.

Add to this several hundred of sunken ships from Spanish-colonial times, as a result of Cuba's role in the fleets that sailed out from the Caribbean to the Old Continent.

Three dozen specialized diving centers operate in Cuban territory, where vacationers can take initiation courses and dive in coral reefs and caverns. The centers comply with the international parameters demanded by that nautical activity.

Outside view of María La Gorda Villa, Pinar del Río

Boat at María La Gorda Villa, Pinar del Río

Lobby at María La Gorda Villa, Pinar del Río

One of those facilities, located in the Guanacahabibes Biosphere Reserve, in eastern Cuba, is María la Gorda (Mary the Fat), where divers can enjoy crystal-clear and warm waters in 39 diving spots.

Visitors can admire the largest black coral reserve in the waters surrounding Cuba.

Many experts consider that the most special characteristic of María la Gorda is the fact that divers can see black corals at a depth of 14 meters, as well as marine species such as barracudas and red snappers.

Experts consider that the seabed at María la Gorda is among the top ten places in Latin America, due to its abundant marine life and extraordinarily beautiful corals.

The name of the region comes from a legend, according to which, a Venezuelan aboriginal woman was abducted by pirates and abandoned in eastern Cuba, in an eight-km-long beach with crystal-clear waters.

The woman, whose name was María, settled in the area and opened an inn, where she offered food and pleasure to the filibusters who arrived in the region. It seems that these elements and her physical characteristics were taken into consideration to give a name to this territory.

Vacationers can enjoy the facilities provided by the center's 55 cabins, which are equipped with all amenities demanded by modern tourism, so that they can enjoy their leisure time before diving again into the warm water surrounding the Caribbean Island.

Diving zone: María La Gorda

In a remote place in Cuba’s westernmost tip, in Pinar del Río province, you can find one of the most beautiful natural zones in the Cuban archipelago. This region has been declared Reserve of the Biosphere because of the flora and fauna that it treasures and for its seascapes and landscapes. Within the limits of the Reserve, known as the Guanahacabibes Peninsula, we can find a wide strip of white sand surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, with rich and extensive coastal forest areas forming a beautiful beach, María La Gorda, named after old pirate stories, where the diving center of the same name is located. The María La Gorda diving zone, in the Ensenada de Corrientes, is one of the most protected areas in Cuba, with an amazing coral reef, located at a very short distance from the coast. At a depth of five meters (16 feet), you can see big and isolated patches of corals with an abundant sessile fauna, especially gorgonians and sea fans, more than 20 species of corals and many small- and medium-sized fish. Lobsters, morays and crabs are often seen in holes in the seabed. At a depth of 10 meters (33 feet), these patches get thicker and taller; thus forming a chain of tall coral hillocks cut by channels and passages, with walls falling sharply and deeply. This wall shows attractive structures such as holes, tunnels and vertical caves, where you can see beautiful colonies of black coral, big tubular branch or cup-shape sponges and two-meter-high (6.5 feet) gorgonians. Among the fish swimming along the wall, you can find barracudas, jacks, dog snappers, snappers and schoolmasters. You can also see eagle rays and stingrays. Sometimes, and if you are lucky, some mantas and whale shark can be observed. This diving center has 50 sites of high-level diving, some of which have no name yet. All of them are less than one hour from shore, some are even five minutes away. Generally, they are very similar. Most of them are suitable for wall diving, but each one has its particular charm. We suggest El Cabezo de Ludo, El Salón de María, El Almirante and Yemayá, and for the second diving of the day, Acuario, El Ancla de Francois and El Jardín de la Gorgonia. Since the diving sites are very near, you can do the first dive in the morning, at about 09:00, get back to the Villa, and then do the second dive in the afternoon, at about 15:00. As a protection measure, the diving center makes sure that divers do not go deeper than 30 meters (98 feet) and not more than 40 minutes. María La Gorda is 304 km. (190 miles) from Havana, and can only be reached by road.

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