Cuba - Lonely Planet [187]
As a secondary option you have the Acua Diving Center (Map; 66-80-63; Av Kawama btwn Calles 2 & 3; 8am-5pm) in western Varadero near the Hotel Kawama. It charges much the same prices as Barracuda, but doesn’t have quite the facilities, or volume. When a north wind is blowing and diving isn’t possible in the Atlantic, you can be transferred to the Caribbean coast in a minibus (90-minute drive); this costs a total of CUC$55/75 for one/two dives.
Aquaworld Diving Center (Map; 66-75-50; Autopista Sur Km 12) at the Marlin Marina Chapelín also organizes snorkeling and diving trips.
Marina Gaviota (Map; 66-77-55; Autopista Sur y Final), at the eastern end of Autopista Sur, also offers scuba diving at similar prices and has snorkeling excursions.
DEEP-SEA FISHING
Varadero has three marinas, all of which offer a variety of nautical activities and facilities. Situated close to the Delfinario and the entrance to Hotel Riu Turquesa is the Marlin Marina Chapelín (Map; 66-75-50) where five hours of deep-sea fishing costs CUC$290 for four people (price includes hotel transfers, open bar and licenses; non-fishing companions pay CUC$30). Marina Gaviota (Map; 66-77-55), at the eastern end of Autopista Sur, and Marlin Marina Dársena (Map; 66-80-62), just west of Varadero, have similar packages. You can book the latter through the Acua Diving Center (Map; 66-80-64; Av Kawama btwn Calles 2 & 3).
SKYDIVING
For those with a head for heights, Varadero’s greatest thrill has to be skydiving with the Centro Internacional de Paracaidismo (Map; 66-72-56, 66-72-60; skygators@cubairsports.itgo.com), based at the old airport just west of Varadero. The terminal is 1km up a dirt road, opposite Marina Acua. Skydivers take off in an Antonov AN-2 biplane of WWII design (don’t worry, it’s a replica) and jump from 3000m using a two-harness parachute with an instructor strapped in tandem on your back. After 35 seconds of free fall the parachute opens and you float tranquilly for 10 minutes down onto Varadero’s white sandy beach. The center also offers less spectacular (but equally thrilling) ultralight flights at various points on the beach. Prices for skydiving are CUC$150 per person with an extra CUC$45 for photos and CUC$50 for video. Ultralight flights start at CUC$30 and go up to CUC$300 depending on the length of time. If you are already a qualified skydiver, solo jumps are also available on production of the relevant certification.
A day’s notice is usually required for skydiving and jumps are (obviously) weather dependent. Since opening in 1993 the center has reported no fatalities.
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XANADU
A rare jewel in a bland architectural desert, the striking Mansión Xanadu is an opulent Spanish colonial-style villa glimmering like a polished pantheon amongst Varadero’s sprawling amalgam of big-box hotels.
Commissioned in 1930 by US chemical entrepreneur Irenée Dupont, Xanadu was the first large-scale building to go up on the wilder eastern end of the now crowded Hicacos Peninsula. Arriving in search of paradise, Dupont found it rather serendipitously on an expansive 180-acre tract of land on the San Bernadino crags just meters from Varadero beach, a plot he bought for a giveaway 90,000 pesos in 1927.
Sparing no expense, Dupont proceeded to build a private Caribbean getaway, a luxury abode that was decked out with millions of dollars’ worth of Cuban marble, precious wood, antique furnishings and the largest organ in Latin America. A golf course – initially a nine-hole – was added in 1933, and by the 1950s Dupont’s Kublai Khan–inspired domain had morphed into a 540-acre estate.
A regular winter visitor for nearly 30 years,