I bet the title of this blog post got your attention. On November 23rd, 2016 I had the pleasure(?) of heading to Santiago De Cuba for a week of scuba diving. Many people say that Santiago De Cuba has the best diving Cuba has to offer. I couldn’t wait to check it out for myself.
I started the trip off with low expectations, as there was very little that I could find on the diving in Cuba. The review of the resort was mixed and there wasn’t a whole lot of information out there to pull from. Am I ever glad that I went into the trip with low expectations! Day one was a total nightmare! Still recovering from an extremely uncomfortable sore throat I headed to the airport and dropped the car off at the Park’N’Fly parking lot. I usually go this route with no hassles but go figure; this time around I was stuck waiting in the freezing cold for over 30 minutes as it was a busy time/day for people heading to other destinations. Still half asleep, I boarded the bus and because my day couldn’t get any more annoying, I ended up missing my stop because the bus driver didn’t call out my airline. Fortunately she drove back around, as I was the last passenger on the bus and kindly dropped me off at the correct spot.
I headed to the elite plus check-in for Sunwing (you have to spoil yourself sometimes)… Check-in went smooth despite having a carry-on that was 20-25lbs overweight. I headed to security, only to get pulled aside and swabbed. I’ve yet to go through and airport without getting some security procedure pulled on me. I headed through security only to end up getting swabbed for a SECOND time after reaching the end of the security check. The small annoyances were building up but I knew now I could relax and enter vacation mode… Or so I thought.
As the plane boards, I’m watching the time since we were already 20 minutes past our scheduled departure time. I wasn’t too bothered at this point as I knew I’d get there soon enough. The captain announces over the PA that we will be delayed by an additional 30 minutes due to some issues with loading. The whole plane filled with frustration. Shit happens, so I buried my head in my book and kept myself amused. Time ticked away, next thing you know, the Captain is back on the PA announcing that we will be delayed by an additional 40 minutes as the ground crew now has to unload all the luggage due to weighting issues and re-load the plane removing some large items that were scheduled for transport (bikes/cargo packages). At this point the whole plane was ready to call it quits and go home. I tried to keep patient and keep focused on the goal… VACATION!
Finally, the plane took off. I kicked back, enjoyed my glass of champagne excited for my arrival in Santiago De Cuba. It can only get better from here right? Wrong. Just so happens that I got seated next to a guy who would have you believe he was a coke addict by the amount he was fidgeting. I swear he must have taken out his bag from under his seat over 100 times. Trying not to rip his head off, I switched over to some Joe Rogan podcasts, closed my eyes and listened to the fascinating Wim Hof.
Finally the plane touched the ground and we headed through security. Thankfully I upgraded to elite plus and had priority baggage so my bag was waiting for me once passing through security. I patiently waited for the rest of the group to collect the luggage and amused myself by watching the drug-sniffing puppy. He was such a fun dog to watch in action. The wait started to turn into a long wait and I had a funny feeling something was up. As I was talking with the group a security officer walks over to me and asks for my passport. I kindly show him my passport to which he says, “We need you to come with us, we have a few questions and need to search your bags.” Are you F***ing kidding me, like I said, every airport something like this happens. I hold back my words, crack a smile and follow the officer off to the side. After explaining to him that no, I do not have drugs in my bag, he makes me lay my bags down on the ground while the dog does his job. The dog by the way had no interest in my bag and had been around my area a few times and gave my bag no attention at all. After answering question after question he finally got the point that I don’t have drugs on me and sends me on my way. While all this was happening, turns out over 40-50 people’s luggage was still stuck in Toronto from the baggage mix up. Looks like they will have to ship it all to the resort.
An hour bus ride through very poor areas, the mountainside, and eventually darkness, we finally arrive at the resort Brisas Seirra Mar. I immediately head to my room, tossed my bags down and headed to the restaurant for food and a beer. I had heard mixed reviews from people about food in Cuba but I had no complaints, probably from the lack of food. I called it an early night and looked forward to a refreshing new start.
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Justin Steele
The Green Ranger