CUBA (Part 1). The Beaches. 65 993 Km — Thirty Someting Gap Year

When we planned to catch up with Family in Cuba, we hadn't really looked at the typical weather patterns for that time of year (oops) which was generally set for hot, humid, rain, and the occasional hurricane. Claire and I met Matt, Elin, and the kids in Habana and after a few days there we realised we needed to break up this heat with some beach time. So between cities we hit the beaches. First stop: Playa Girón.

This tiny beach side town is nestled at the entrance to the Bay of Pigs on the southern side of Cuba. It's main claim to fame comes as it was the location of a massive military defeat of the CIA sponsored attack on the country. We were told that it was a one horse town but we counted at least 2.

The main town is now set back off the beach by about 500m but consists essentially of 2 streets, 1 cross-section, and what is actually a pretty good museum complete with old planes, tanks, and images from the previously mentioned battle. Interestingly we found a series of abandoned small houses right on the beach that stretched for about 700m. We later found out that it was a previous state run hotel that wasn't able to keep up repairs and eventually was abandoned about 10-12yrs earlier.

Abandoned cinema from the previous resort

The heat we found in Habana continued here but thankfully the beach wasn't far. A beautiful stretch of clear blue water, whitish sand, and a shallow reef with plenty of fish life. The water temp was a balmy 30-degrees.

No matter the water temp, the kids and adults alike loved getting in a cooling down from. Without some of the heavy tourism of northern beaches, there were at times we almost had the beach to ourselves. Also, without the heavily combed beaches of the north, we could find some awesome shells all over the beach.

And shells weren't the only thing we found at the beach. The kids managed to find tiny frogs about 1.5cm long, a tractor whose owner liked to come for an afternoon swim, and some very cool old American cars that would roll right up on the sand.

The best thing about this spot was that we had never really planned to go there. We were actually thinking of heading to Cienfuegos, another hours or so down the road but thought the beach here would be good. We got really lucky with accommodation and found a Casa Particular that could accommodate all 6 of us and from our veranda we could just sit and watch the world go buy. Which was perfect for watching for the old cars, horse and carts, and all other forms of different transport.

We had the majority of our meals in the Casa itself. Again we hadn't planned it that way but the food they did was so good that we struggled to think about going anywhere else. We also found that accompanying wild life was great entertainment.

After 2 very quick days here we planned to move on. We didn't know what we'd find next and it was with a bit of sadness that we said goodbye to the great staff at Hostel Luis, the puppy, and the beach, as we got into a 1950's car (all of us and our luggage) and went an hour down the road to Cienfuegos.

Cienfuegos really falls into the cities category that will come in the next post but 18km down the road was another stretch of white sand beach and cristal blue water. An easy ride in another car from the 1950's we arrived at a near deserted beach. We were told the southern beaches are normally much quieter but given the time of year it meant that very few tourists went there. We really couldn't work out why.

Matt, Elin, and the kids were due to fly out from Vardadero. Admittedly this was one place Claire and I wanted to avoid as we had heard it was all just big, all inclusive resorts, that particularly in the past had not been so good to local Cubans. As it turns out Vardadero is a 20km stretch of beach on the north side of island and though there are the bid resorts, there is also a town with a lot of Casa Partciulars, local food, and bit more of a Cuban feel. So in keeping with our beach run, we headed from Cienfuegos to Vardadero to finish of a few days of sun and blue water before the family left.

Days were pretty predictable here. The beach was generally calm and great for swimming. We would get up and have breakfast, go to the beach for a couple of hours, get ready for lunch and then head out for an hour or so into the hot middle day sun, only to return for some chill out time until mid afternoon when we'd return to the beach for just long enough before getting ready for dinner. It was a really tough few days but it was actually a perfect way to catch up with family and play with the kids for a while.

And all in all we were very luck with our weather. Despite the forcast of rain every afternoon, we barely saw any at all. Almost no storns.....

.....though thankfully the worst we received was a very short lived storm and we remained safe from the vicious hurricane that did so much damage in Haiti. After less than 30min, our storm passed and out came the sun again.

The beaches of Cuba are definitely amazing and I can see why loads of tourists flock to them annually. For me however, the real beauty of Cuba comes from the cities, which I will write more in the next post.

65 993 Km (35440Km Flights, 9126Km Sailing, 20220Km Bus, 250km Hiking, 36Km Horse riding, 150Km Train, 12Km Bike)