Bay of Pigs · Cuba · Artificial reef
El Jaruco
Purpose-sunk 1994 wreck at about 30 m
Area photo: Tisquesusa · CC BY 4.0
El Jaruco is a ship purposely sunk in 1994 off the Playa Girón and Playa Larga coast, and it is the deep wreck dive of the Bay of Pigs. Its resident nurse sharks and the reef fish moving through the coral make it a popular dive site.
Also known as Jaruca, El Juraco, Jaruco.
Where it is and how deep
No published position for this site — the map shows Bay of Pigs and its other sites; operators know the mooring.
The dive
The wreck lies at about 30 m (98 ft), which makes it a deep dive. Nurse sharks hang out on the sea floor around it, and reef fish meander through the coral.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Prime | Prime |
Season follows Bay of Pigs: Nov–Apr is Cuba's dry season and the settled half of the year; May–Oct is the rainy season and sits inside the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs June to November.
Sources
- Buceando en la Bahía de Cochinos — SSI MyDiveGuide
- Top 17 Best Dive Sites in Cuba — DiveIn
- Diving in Playa Girón & Playa Larga — PADI Travel
- Mapped: 3 Best Places to Dive in Cuba — Seacrush
More dive sites in Bay of Pigs
Wall
Walk-in reef and wall on the Zapata coast
Similar dives elsewhere
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Cars, trucks and a barge stacked down a slope into deep water
Six wrecks gathered in one sheltered bay
A 7 m shore dive that photographers run day and night