SallyShortyPnts wrote:
cerveloguy wrote:
SallyShortyPnts wrote:
If the prices to that particular island stay ridiculously low, I would like to return. Having seen Havana (56 miles of it on a bike) where would you recommend I go next? Since the island is the size of Pennsylvania, I would especially appreciate a little direction to a good beach. My driver took me to Santa Maria Del Mar. While it was only about a 1/2 hour East of Havana (no beach there, only rocky shore), the swimming there was no-joke hard with the pounding surf and undertow. I wasn't swimming to Miami in that water on that day!
What did I miss; where should I go?
Glad you had a wonderful time and now I have one ally on LR who can back me up on Cuba. As you know, we went to Cuba the first time 20 yrs ago and have watched it change over the years. Even though we've gone there often, we've tended to confine ourselves to sometimes more remote areas that have good scuba diving. This has always been a conflict for us since we've also always wanted to do an extended bicycle tour around the island. Unfortunately its difficult to carry both a bicycle and all your scuba gear. Once I retire then I'll spend a good part of my winter in Cuba and intend to do a long bicycle tour around the island.
For beaches it really depends what you want. Most of the island is a beach, but the Varadero strip has is one of the best beaches in the Caribbean, is 21 kms long, but is all resorts and doesn't give the true Cuba experience. Guardalavaca is another cool beach area and not as over heated/built up as Varadero. My favorite would the Playa Ancon beach near the historic city of Trinidad on the south shore. We also like the diving in that part of the island.
Now that you've seen Havana two other must see cities would be Cienfeugos and Trinidad, which aren't that far away from each other. Trinidad is a world heritage site founded in 1514. If you like history then its a must see as the old part of the city really gives you a feel of colonial new world Spain. Plus in the evening there are all kinds of cafes, restaurants, night spots. Cienfeugos is also a UNESCO site as is cool because it is unique in Cuba as the only city in Cuba built by the French and was even held by the British for a short period. The architecture is quite different from Trinidad and makes an interesting comparison.
Hope you go again soon.
This is exactly the information I was looking for. My little sister (who accompanied me as "official crew") has a 70+ year old, horse back riding friend who chickened out at the last minute on this trip. I will keep running into that fire if it means helping someone else as long as I am able ;-)
Anyway, now that she sees that we "survived", she would like to go with her original intention of SCUBA diving. The beach my driver took me to was very rough swimming and I had my goggles. I was tossed around enough and I'm sure that no aquatic life would be able to thrive there either. The good news was that in February, I was perfectly comfortable swimming without a wetsuit, which is a HUGE bonus!
Thanks again for your help in this thread and the pm's you wrote preceding my journey!
From what you're describing I can recommend a couple of resorts very close to Trinidad on the Playa Ancon beach where the diving is excellent and the dive shop is on the resort. Great beach plus the amazing historic Spanish colonial city of Trinidad only fifteen minutes away by cab. Let me know if that fits your description.
[/img] on the grounds of Hotel Nacional (race headquarters) 
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