Cuba - Why not diving with crocodiles?

A long time I was wondering if it there will ever be the possibility to dive with a wild saltwater crocodile in open water, no cage, but in a relatively safe environment with clear water and good visibility. Finally, in Cuba I found this opportunity.

November 21 -  How is it to dive with a crocodile. Let's find out...

I went two times for diving with the crocodiles in Cuba. This was during a week of diving on a liveaboard trip on the Tortuga in the Jardines de la Reina. The first time it was between the two morning dives and the second time I went the next day, to have different visibility and no other divers around.

The post about the whole week of diving in Cuba is located here:
Diving in Cuba on the liveaboard "Tortuga"

The post about visiting Cuba mainland is here:
Traveling in Cuba is travel back in time


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So today was the day we were brought to the mangroves, where the crocodile can be found. It was between the first and second dive.

The light was good and the water clear, however, when a few people jump into the shallow water the visibility soon got very poor, due to the sand that stirred up from the ground. One crocodile was about 50 meters away and it soon came closer and closer.

I noticed how the human instinct kicked in, which said in my brain “what are you doing.. this is a wild crocodile..and crocodiles are dangerous.. get out!”. But soon I also realized that this crocodile is somehow used to visitors and so far no one ever got harmed, at least this is what the operator said :). The see a wild saltwater crocodile from under the surface, eye to eye, in clear water, this is an amazing experience.

We stayed in the spot for about one hour before we packed our things and headed towards the second dive spot. Although even it was spectacular, I knew that I need a second time with the crocodile. Asked the divemaster to go there again tomorrow or in two days and they agreed.

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November 22 - Why it was awesome to visit the crocodile the next day again.. alone

I asked the operator to bring me out again there another day, but that time only me and not the whole group, so that the visibility will be better and no disturbing divers in the background. For some small extra cash, of course, it was possible – even though I had to skip one dive.

When the others went for the afternoon dive, I departed with the boat driver towards the mangroves with the crocodile again. It's about a 20 minutes motorboat ride from the Tortuga.

The weather was rainy all day, but thankfully in the afternoon, it opened up a little so that the water can calm down and the visibility will be not that worse.

Arriving in the mangroves it was totally silent. No noise, no sound, no birds, nothing.. complete silence. There was no wind, the surface of the water was so calm it looked like it was made of plastic. And to my surprise the visibility was very fine, which was also important or else it would be difficult to spot where the crocodile is sneaking around in the high seagrass under the surface.

The boat driver told me that there are three crocodiles living in this area and I should watch, not to just focus always on one. 

That he said he will also check and look out from standing above the boat was a bit relieving, so that I didn't have to do this from underwater all on my own :D

To lure the crocodile closer, the boat driver threw a chicken on a cord into the water and made some noise. Not many minutes later the croc was visible 30 meters from my location and coming out from the bushes, slowly swimming towards my direction. Now it was exciting and I was ready with the camera :)

That was the moment when the crocodile got the first chicken. The weather became darker and more not much longer and the sun behind the clouds will slowly go down. So there was not much more time anymore to get the crocodile back on track. Thankfully there was another piece of chicken on the boat for a second attempt. After it got the first chicken, the croc went back into the bushes and it took about 15 minutes until the crocodile appeared again.