UGA Press: Deep Cuba • Belleville


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Deep Cuba
The Inside Story of an American Oceanographic Expedition
Bill Belleville

An intriguing expedition to one of our last great secret places—Cuba

Geography, politics, and other factors have allowed Cuba to preserve the region's most pristine coast and offshore marine environment. Deep Cuba recounts Bill Belleville's month-long journey around the island in the company of American and Cuban marine biologists and a Discovery Channel film crew. It was the first, and so far only, United States submersible research expedition in Cuban waters. From coral reefs to mangrove swamps to a submerged volcanic mountain, the voyagers encountered sublimely wild places unseen before by anyone from the United States-or even by many Cubans.

Deep Cuba is an engaging mix of nature and travel writing, along with scientific reportage that is keenly attuned to current crises in research funding. Revealed here is a magnificent marine world with crucial ecological links to the Caribbean Basin and the southeastern United States.

Bill Belleville, an award-winning environmental journalist and filmmaker, is also a veteran diver. His first book was River of Lakes: A Journey on Florida's St. Johns River (Georgia); his articles have appeared in such publications as Sierra Magazine, Oxford American, Islands, and Salon. Belleville lives in Sanford, Florida.

April 2004

ISBN 0820326208 paper • $19.95

296 pp. • 6 x 9 in. • 1 map

"Engaging . . . Environmental journalist and diver Belleville works hard to achieve a documentary-maker's dream: exciting a broad public empathy for a place and its creatures."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Rank[s] with the best travel writing. . . . Deep Cuba will appeal to a wide range of readers: armchair travelers, recreational divers, naturalists and anyone curious about Castro and the Caribbean's largest island."
—Tom Lassiter, Orlando Sentinel

"[A] fascinating and easily absorbed account . . . Belleville is an articulate and skilled advocate and we should all pay attention to what he has seen."
—Rosalind Brackenbury, Solares Hill

"[A] riveting account of a six-week expedition aboard the Harbor Branch vessel, Seward Johnson."
—John Parkyn, Vero Beach Journal

"A fascinating dive into two worlds: the undersea kaleidoscope where mysterious creatures make their home, and the politics and culture of a scientific expedition. Bill Belleville is an astute observer and a great companion. If you can't personally explore the waters of Cuba or meet Fidel, you should sail along with the crew of the R/V Seward Johnson."-Jan DeBlieu, winner of the Burroughs Medal for Nature Writing and author of Hatteras Journal and Wind

"Deep Cuba provides a side of Cuba that's missing from most of the contemporary books and articles on the island."-Tom Palmer, The Ledger

"Deep Cuba makes an eloquent argument for deep sea diving, scientific inquiry, and ending the embargo. I learned something new on every page."-Tom Miller, author of Trading with the Enemy: A Yankee Travels through Castro's Cuba

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