Geography

Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean and lies just to the South of Florida. It is huge with 3,700 km of coastline and hundreds of islands ranging from Isla de la Juventud and Key Largo off the south coast to the many islands of the Archipielago Jardin del Rey off the North.

 

It is very flat in the North and West but has large mountains in the South-east.

 

Cayo Coco is an island off the North Coast , part of the Jardin del Rey , connected to the mainland by a 27 km causeway which was built in 18 months. Cayo Guillermo is a small island to the North-West of Cayo Coco.

 

Cayo Coco is 32km wide from East to West and the hotels are on the North coast. This means that you are actually swimming in the Atlantic Ocean/ Straits of Florida– not the Caribbean. Never mind– the folks back home will never know!

 

In 2003 the new airport opened on Cayo Coco itself so the transfer is now much less than the 90 minutes that it used to take from Ciego de Avila.

The causeway has been controversial in that it has cut off the tidal flow in the salt water marshes to the South of Cayo Coco. 30,000 pairs of Flamingos seem to be moving further and further away in search of a better quality of life. We were told that plans are in hand to build gaps through the road, but I would expect that the Government perhaps has higher priorities at present!

 

Only tourists and essential hotel employees are allowed on the two islands overnight. All the hotel staff are bussed onto and off the islands each day. For some this is a 2 hour trip twice a day and this why there is a check point at the start of the causeway.

2004

Holiday

Update