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Isla Cubagua. 

Cubagua

Location:  

28 miles southeast of Porlamar Margarita.
Cubagua was the site of the earliest European settlement in South America in 1493, the Pearl fishing city of Nueva Cadiz. The town was eventually wiped out by a tidal wave and abandoned in 1541. Today the arid island is home to only a few itinerant fishing camps. Charagato Bay, on the north side of the island, is a very cool place to dive—figuratively and literally.

Thanks to the influence of a nearby ocean trench, the water of the bay stays in the upper 60s to low 70s year-round and it is still possible to find oysters here. Ruins from the past can be found on the eastern side.

Cubagua onboard the sailboat Audrey.

PRICE: US $200, - p / person

(minimum 2 adults, maximum 6 adults, children up to 12 years 50%) it includes transfer Hotel-dock-hotel, or Airport-dock-airport in Margarita.

Diving is optional. Add $25 per person per immersion.

2 days and 1 night: $ 200 per person.
 

Diving:

Some interesting wrecks are marked by the tip of a ferryboat protruding from the water. The ferry went down in the 1970s under suspicious circumstances and came to rest on a sand slope, her stern under 45 feet of water. A salvage mission went awry and the tug that tried to raise her also went down, coming to rest just a few feet to the starboard side in the cold, greenish water. What really makes the dive interesting though is the diversity and abundance of fish. Massive schools of grunts, grouper and even trumpetfish become mere background for exotic species including the red banner benny, the Vieja (a seabass species found only in South America) and lesser electric rays hiding in the sand.

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