Exotic Sky Adventures - Cuba mini Boogie, Varadero (Cuba)

This Skydiving Center began to work on November 1993 as Cuba was selected to host the VII World Cup of Parachuting Champions, in which participated parachutists from different countries such as Chile, Peru, United States, France, Germany, Russia, Australia, Brazil, Slovenia, and the Cuban Team.

On January 1994 the Center set into the tourism market of Varadero the Tandem Jump. On this very same year the V Latin-American Championship took place in our drop zone, parachutists from the whole Latinamerica took part on this event. The Cuban National Team won the first place on the Accuracy Landing contest. On 1994 our Skydiving Center keeps on growing its market with the Tandem jumps and solo jumps for foreigner and national skydivers.

On 1995 the VIII World Cup Of Parachuting Champions is organized with the participation of the best classical parachutist from Europe and America. At the end of this competition a Boogie is held for first time in Cuba, in cooperation with Exotic Sky Adventures Co. run by Alexis Perry. A lot of fun jumps were made from 4000 meters on MI-17 choppers. Skydivers from Europe, Canada, and Latinamerica jumped together in our beautiful landscape. On 1996 another Boogie was organized but with more participants this time, 163 skydivers from all over the world came to jump our fleet of MI-17. We jumped in Cayo Largo del Sur from twelve Antonov-2s flying in formation, taking 144 skydivers in order to jump over the intense blue of its waters. More than 3600 jumps were made which meant a big success for our Skydiving Center and also for the Exotic Sky Adventures Co.

A group of Canadian and Belgium skydivers decided to organize together with us some jumps from the legend aircraft Antonov-2 and future projects are settled for 1998. On October 1998 was organized a Miniboogie with a good foreigner participation.

During 1998 the tandem jumps grew significantly and we got 1003 tandem passengers.

The Center has high-qualified instructors for this activity. All of them with a lot of experience on this extreme sport, and they have been members of the National Team.

The October Boogie held from October 18th until November 1st in Varadero, Cuba. This Boogie was meant as an advance try-out for the yearly February Boogie of Exotic Sky Adventures and was therefore kept small.

The MI-17 helicopter proved itself as a great jumpship. It climbed in 11 minutes to altitude. The exits were just great. Pulling of a linked 12-way was no problem. The MI-17 can carry up to 28 skydivers to 13000ft. Two helicopters where available and they were in good condition. We jumped at the Local Varadero airfield where the Cuban skydiving club runs a tandem operation. There normal aircraft is a Antonov 2. The DZ has a nice layout with a sheltered packing area, a small manifest building, 2 buildings with showers and toilets and a larger office building with a small restaurant, video room and sleeping rooms. The landing area was safe and enough room for outlandings was available. The jumping operation was nice and relaxed. People could easily make 5 jumps a day. Although the group was small, some really nice skydives were made. A four level 3D. 16-way jump combining RW and Chute Assis was a highlight of the Boogie. Every day finished with a jump on the beach at the hotel.

Varadero is an area which for years has been known for its truly beautiful beaches. Years ago the famous and rich Dupont family had their own bungalow at the beach. Varadero also has a international airport which is located 15 km east of the town. The water is crystal clear and the people are friendly and open.

The participants spent the evenings with dancing on the local salsa rhythms offered by the night life of Varadero. Some took a day off to go sailing and scuba diving at other islands.