Vicente is the classic drop-off dive in Jardines de la Reina: coral gardens at 20 m running out to a lip, then a vertical wall that bottoms out at around 45 m. Black coral colonies, branching tube sponges and stove-pipe sponges plate the face, while wahoo, jacks and silky sharks cruise the open water off it.
Also known as Vicente's Wall.
Where it is and how deep
No published position for this site — the map shows Jardines de la Reina and its other sites; operators know the mooring.
The dive
The dive begins on the shallow ground at about 20 m, where coral gardens run out to the edge of the drop-off with massive black coral colonies set among the hard coral. Take a minute here to settle buoyancy before the bottom disappears, because from the lip the wall falls away vertically and the reference you had underneath you is gone.
Follow the face along with the wall on one shoulder. It bottoms out at around 45 m, below a normal recreational profile, so set your depth and let the structure do the work: bushy black coral, branching tube sponges and stove-pipe sponges cover the vertical rock, and a green moray will sometimes be sitting back in a crack with its jaws working.
Watch the blue as well as the wall. Wahoo, yellow jacks and horse-eye jacks cruise the drop-off, silky sharks come in for a look, and a lone hammerhead occasionally weaves past. On the way back up, the shallow coral is where the small things are, with nudibranchs on the sponges and banded butterflyfish and queen angelfish working the heads, and the 20 m shelf gives an easy platform to finish on.
Marine life and season
- Hammerheads
- Trevally & jacks
- Nudibranchs
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Off-season | Off-season | Good | Prime |
Season follows Jardines de la Reina: Best conditions run November–May; summer stays diveable but hot, and September–October carries the peak hurricane risk.
Know before you go
- The wall runs to around 45 m with no seabed inside the recreational range; agree a depth limit before you drop in and watch your gauge along the face.
Photos from Vicente
q.phia · CC BY 2.0
Questions divers ask
How deep is the wall at Vicente?+
Coral gardens sit at about 20 m along the top of the drop-off and the wall bottoms out at around 45 m, which is past recreational limits, so divers work the upper part of the face.
Sources
- Cuba Diving, Jardines de la Reina Dive Sites — Dive The World
Photo credits
- A silky shark cruising in open blue water off Vicente wall by q.phia, CC BY 2.0, via Openverse
- Silky shark silhouetted against the surface at Vicente by q.phia, CC BY 2.0, via Openverse
In The Logbook
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More dive sites in Jardines de la Reina
The reserve's signature reef shark dive, at 25 to 30 m
Seamount
A seamount topping out at 6 m with current-fed pelagics
Pinnacle
Four sunlit tunnels bored through a coral mountain
Reef
Tarpon and jack schools over a drop-off at 25 m
Similar dives elsewhere
Black coral on a face that drops from 20 m to a first landing at 49 m
A chimney-like vertical cave dropping into a crevice out over the wall
The park's main drop-off, 10 m down to 45 m
Three crevices and a lone coral head shaped like a claw