1. MYAvalon Fleet II,home for Queens and Kings in the Cuban coral gardens.
By Andres Jimenez
First full moon of May, I was traveling to “The Gardens of the Queen” to work as a dive guide,
that would be my first time aboard MY Avalon Fleet II, majestic new boat Avalon started to
operate in this untouched marine sanctuary.
My first trip aboard this luxurious member of the Avalon fleet started when we leaved Jucaro
Harbor, our destination was Anclitas key, 52 miles offshore, (beautiful beach where the boat
anchors during the first night before going to the heart of “Jardines de la Reina”). Everything
seemed to be perfect,every single detail: the mix of scents inside the cabins and corridor, the
sheets and pillows, beds, showers and toilets, the comfort of the areas outside, the great dining
room, the furnishing, wide bar upstairs, spacious corridor leading to the cabins with mirrors
alternating between each cabin door, amazingly beautiful design of the walls and stylish
paintings with marine life themes, comfortable couches, Jacuzzi, grill. I just couldn’t imagine
being in a place like this with such a décor and luxury five minutes away from the most pristine
untouched underwater scenarios in the wilderness of the Jardines de La Reina. The rugs so soft
that walking inside the boat is delightful, rooms with independent temperature control, plus an
excellent crew and 5 star service,this accommodation moving south from the southern coast of
Cuba at 12 knots was like a dream, meeting places that are so away from the world we know,
just by driving trough the road to Júcaro Harbor you realize that very few visitors come to this
area. It was a unique journey.
The Avalon Fleet II was for me a boat of dreams,I didn’t have the opportunity to see it when it
started operating, but months before I had the chance of participating in the construction
projects as also many of my fellow workers helping with ideas to improve comfort for divers,
from hangers for diving suits to the table to work with cameras and electric outlets availability,
then we felt part of this project from the very beginning and it was materialized now.
This boat was a turning point in everything I experienced since I started working in this
wonderful place. Always had the idea about the Jardines as a destination that is such a great and
unforgettable experience that no matter what kind of accommodations you have there, you
would feel like you have to return because you visited the best diving destination of the
Caribbean, actually was like the statement:“no matter what in the future our accommodations
will be like, the place makes it all, beats everything else. Well now we had both: being in the
pristine waters of “Gardens of the Queen” while staying in such a luxurious diving boat. In
terms of making a perfect week for the visitors I felt we had all the power, there’s no diving trip
comparable with the one we were about to start.
We arrived at Caballones channel (between “Cayo Anclitas” and “Mangle Alto”) with the
sunset, then I felt the noise of the anchor chains stretching under the bow while we were
drinking excellent mojitos made by Yordanka, and looking at the red sun getting lower in the
horizon, next morning we would go to “Boca de Piedra”,one of the best diving areas in the
world.
The dinner that night was the first touch of the crew to make us fall in love with them, the mix
of aromatic herbs, salads and meat, fresh lobster grilled and dressed with a butter and garlic
sauce,fish fillets covered with tomato and onion sauce,chicken made with white wine and tasty
mangos, the desert Cuban caramelflan. The mix of smells could beat any of the best restaurants
in old Havana.
Next day (Sunday) after breakfast we started organizing the diving gear in the fast boat; it was
brand new, equipped with two 150HP Yamaha engines, very comfortable with staircases on
both sides and padded seats. In a blink of an eye we were at the diving spot named “Anclitas”
2. the first entrance to the water is always memorable, as it was our check-in dive we used this
place which is a coral garden full of gorgonians and sponges, densely populated with
schoolmasters and grunts covering the edge of the wall, maximum depth is 45 feet, easy dive to
start the week and prepare the group for the shark party about to come.
The boat had moved east and was waiting for us at “Boca de Piedra”,it is a gap between the
rocky keys connecting Ana Maria Gulf with Open Ocean,after a nice trip high speed around
mangroves we arrived and the crew was waiting with warm perfumed towels and a table full of
fruit, sweets,hot tea, milk and coffee,as it is a custom after every dive. We talked about the
check in dive and reviewed some details people with less experience had to improve and I kept
talking about the geography of the Jardines, and the different ecosystems we would see and the
general diving plan and types of dives we would do, but I was not aware of the event I was
about to witness.
As I said at the beginning, that week was the first full moon of May, and this one of the times
mutton snappers gather together for spawning near the drop off and they migrate to spawning
areas forming huge groups. I have been writing about Jardines for a while, sharing my
experiences and the events that occur, I love to describe friends or people who read our blogs
the unique things I see,every time I wonder what else will I see in Jardines de la Reina after
eleven years working there, and every time I discover new events or behaviors, or something
that I have not seen before.
We started diving four minutes away from the boat in a place called “Cabezo de La Cubera”,the
plan was to go across the reef wall without coming back to the boat but going all the way to the
next buoy in a place called “Five seas”. Cabezo de la Cubera is a beautiful coral formation 48
feet deep in a very white sandy area,the visibility was 50 meters or more, the shapes of corals
and sponges were shining in a bright deep blue background it was amazingly beautiful.
Visibility was like the air, then suddenly we had 20 Caribbean reef sharks surrounding us,
together with a huge school of dog snapper and dark chubs, also black durgons flaying
everywhere like butterflies. Boca de Piedra was displaying a show of beauty and color. We
arrived at a place I call “tarpon stadium”, it seems a valley near the wall surrounded by coral
mountains, with an entrance and exit, inside is like a theater and there is a resident school of
tarpon, then it happened, suddenly I see hundreds of heads of mutton snapper coming straight
to us down from the upper side of the wall, and then in a second we were surrounded by
hundreds of mutton snapper, cubera snapper and tarpons all crossing each other’s ways like in a
huge confusion. There was not space in the reef for such an amount of fish, we couldn’t see
each other, I can’t describe this properly, it was like all the fish of 10 miles gathered together in
the tarpon area.The tarpon school was erratic and confused, they couldn’t keep a pattern as they
use to, all were spread in the cloud of snapper, then the sharks entered in the party, we were just
lying knees in the sand paralyzed, I could barely see the other divers for a few seconds in the
moments the cloud of fish opened narrow gaps allowing me to see between them. I was proud
of being here, and proud of the Gardens of the Queen I love, where else in the Caribbean the
fish populations are like this? Complete, untouched, never seen human beings, this commercial
species like mutton snapper its populations have been depleted everywhere,also Cuberas, here
they were dancing between us in impressing amounts of adult individuals, this is a treasure we
have to fight for, this is a treasure for future generations, places like this must be kept untouched
as they are so fragile and scarce nowadays. We came out of the water with no words, all we said
was wow!
Avalon II was waiting for us with a wonderful lunch, some of the crew working in the machines
area closed the door of the engines when we were approaching, their task was setting up the area
for the Nitrox mixer about to start service in the boat, before lunch, we used the “Slide” again
and again, this is one of the great attractions of the boat, we had lots of fun, the slide is at the
side of the ship and goes from the upper floor to the water,it really makes you laugh and takes
3. away any stress. In front of us a beautiful beach full of iguanas, Jutias and birds, meters away
from the boat it was Nino I and Nino II two crocodiles that work with us posing for
photographers.
In the afternoon again 3 minutes away,we were diving with 25 reef sharks and a two hundred
pound Goliath Grouper in “The octopus cave” a place that seems to be result from us traveling
in a time machine to the past, to the reef that had never been touched not even with the presence
of divers. There MY Avalon II we could see all the time from the diving boat, waiting for us
after the dive: Jacuzzi, Slide, Mojitos, beautiful sunset in our return to make us feelKings and
Queens of these Gardens of coral that remain pristine and virgin.
