Diving, homestay and cigar questions

Hi guys I'm planning a quick 2 week trip to Cuba with a friend in May and I've got some questions...can anybody recommend a good place to do a ship wreck dive?? I've only got about 10 dives in my open water log book so nothing too challenging for that level. I'd also love to do a homestay with a Cuban family, anybody have any experience with this? Can you visit cigar plantations and factories somewhere? Are the cigars illegal to bring back into Canada and or Australia??

Thanks guys. Any help is appreciated :-)

Cuba Questions For July 2013

1. I have a Royal Bank Virtual Visa debit card. Will it work in Cuba ?
2. Rental car - mid size - four weeks. Approximate cost including insurance ?
3. Brands of cars available ?
4. Cost of gasoline / diesel ?
5. Is one car rental firm better than the others ?
6. Does a rental car at a Cuban Motel need a paid car watcher at night ?
Thanks for your help.

Casas Particulares in Granma province

Hello Folks,

I few of my friends and I are planning to go climb Mt Turquino, finishing the hike on the south coast. From there we'd work our way west around the Granma peninsula, toward either Bayamo or Manzanillo, but It'd be nice to stop and spend the night somewhere. I've looked up places like Pilon, Niquero, Marea del Portillo; but all they have is beach resorts. Worse yet, you can't even book online. So I was wondering if anybody of you know of a small coastal town with guest houses, or casas particulares you could recommend.

Thank you much,

Rick

Telecom/Internet options while traveling in Cuba

One of the best overviews Ive seen, from resident writer WowCuba:

http://networkedblogs.com/KLOxV

Staying in Touch in Cuba

Posted on April 29, 2013by WoWCuba

While communication in Cuba is admittedly sometimes a challenge, it’s not impossible these days to stay connected with friends, family and even your business while traveling in Cuba. Growing up in PEI, our family home had a party line and if you were so inclined, you could listen in on all your neighbors’ conversations – rural life can be boring if you’re not keeping abreast of the gossip. So moving to Cuba wasn’t necessarily such a big step backwards in terms of technology for me. In our first year of operations in an ecological property located somewhat off the beaten path in Santiago de Cuba, my brothers had to get out the shovels and dig a very deep hole so that they could install a radio phone (with the phon... more »

Money for Americans in Cuba

May I know what other Americans are doing for money in Cuba now that Caribbean Transfers is on the rocks? Are we back to stinking travelers checks..........that is so 1980's.

Directory Wanted Cuba : B & Bs

Directory / Booking Agent for Holguin , Granma and Santiago de Cuba : B & Bs.

Havana's Capitolio building, what next?

To clarify this threads relevance to this forum - Havana's Capitolio (or Capital building) is one of Cuba's most famous buildings and a major tourist attraction, information regarding this attraction may therefore be of interest to many visitors to Havana.

As a Cuban historian I have been following developments on the restoration of the Capitolio with a keen interest...

For some time now the Capitolio has been undergoing restoration work (see http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=91896)

and it has just been announced today that Cuba's parliament will return to the building, the first Cuban parliament to do so since the 1950s, this is symbolically important news to anyone with an interest in Cuban history.. (see http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/cuban-official-says-parliament-to-return-to-historic-capitol-building-after-5-decades/2013/04/26/7c76be06-ae92-11e2-b240-... more »