Isla de la Joventud El Colony, The Colony Hotel, January, 1994. "A well-run operation with excellent diving, good prices, and an interesting mix of people. The best-developed dive operation in Cuba. . . . Isla de la Joventud (Island of Youth; or Isle of Pines on many US maps) is off the south coast of Cuba in the Caribbean. It has one relatively large diving operation at the Colony. . . . There are two boat dives daily, and optional ($30) night dives (our one night dive was good -­ lots of stuff). The daily dive routine involves an hour boat ride to a large platform attached to a beautiful beach. The 50 or so buoyed dive sites are near this platform. There is a 2.5 hour's interval between the dives, spent having lunch and lounging on the platform, snorkeling, or on the beach. . . . Diving is excellent. Reefs are in good shape. Lots of inter-esting walls and tunnels, and pretty good fish life and coral variety. I never saw so many cleaning stations. . . . We didn't see any pelagics, and a modest number of big fish, lots of big tarpon. Did have several new additions to my fish-list. . . . Overall, diving is comparable to other places I've been: Cozumel, Roatan, Belize. While the operation is professional, and the staff and equipment are good, emphasis on safety is up to you. I saw one group dive to 200', and we were led through a fantastic tunnel to exit on the wall at 140', with a huge black coral at the mouth of the tunnel. But you have control over how deep you go, the guides are good about that (we knew about the 140' in the briefing and could have passed on the tunnel). There is no shore diving. . . . The all-inclusive resort is nice but modest. Beer, liquor cheap. Food plentiful, varied, but plain. Coffee is world class. Good mix of Europeans, Canadians, Latin Americans and some gringos. The Cubans were all great. We went through a contact in Cancun, Arturo Carranza, and spent five days diving and two days visiting Havana. I negotiated a package price for our group and it was cheap for what we got. Could do it for a little more than a trip to CocoView, considering air to Cancun will be cheaper than to Roatan. Presently U.S. policy (Trading with the Enemy Act) is aimed at crippling the Cuban economy and punishing the people of Cuba. It's vicious and any-one who visits Cuba will likely agree it's time to change it. Presently travel must be through Canada or Mexico or elsewhere." K.P., Detroit, MI

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