We should have been sharing stories of amazing diving in
Maria Gorda on the west coast which we had booked between Barry and Moira and
the kids arriving but on returning from the hotel Amanda had a severe bout of
food poisoning so we could not go away which was very disappointing, so we had
3 days of cleaning, tidying and recovering.
We hired a car to pick up Dan and Abbie from the airport,
not very exciting point to share but just a word of warning, the police are
often on the look out for an unexpecting tourist, we took a wrong turn at the
airport, it was very badly signposted and the police obviously waited at this
spot as they knew. They pulled us and
babbled in Spanish, we knew that we had done something wrong, they indicated
that it was a 60 CUC fine and it was very serious, you felt like they were
going to cart you off to jail! But then suddenly if we paid the 30CUC on the
spot they would let us go¸ we had little choice, when you know 30 CUC is a lot
more than they get paid for 1 months wages you know it has been their lucky
night, as probably every night is as they lie in wait at that junction! But at least Dan and Abbie did not need to
deal with getting a taxi or sitting on a bus for hours after the long journey.
The next few days we spent pottering around Varadero and Santa Marta, visiting the
beach and doing our weekly shopping at the market which is always an
interesting experience especially with our limited Spanish.
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| Hussle and bussle buying your onions |
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| Beans and rice |
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| Pineapples one of the best buys - would cost less that 10 pence |
We even hired scooters for a couple of days, one
day we headed west from Varadero to Playa Coral where there is some great
snorkelling. At some point it looks like
there could have been a restraint and bar on the beach front but that has been derelict
for some time but enterprising Cubans sit on the beach offering sunbeds,
snorkelling gear or cold beers, it is a little annoying at first but actually
they are very nice and up for a bit of bartering and seems not to bother you
once they have made you aware of everything on offer. The snorkelling is wonderful, there is easy
access to the beach and you can see plenty of fish without even going outside
the reef but if you head out just past the reef there are lots of tangs, parrot
fish, sergent majors, wrasse, all sorts of reef fish that are just as
interested to see you. Dan got to try
out his new dive camera and took some great photos.
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| So many blue tangs |
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| Lots of wrasse |
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| It is Mark all the way down there! |
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| Dan looking a little pale in the water |
It was nice to have the scooter to buzz around Varadero so
Abbie and Dan could see a bit more of the Peninsula, with it over 10 miles long
you could easily just see a small area.
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| Dan on scooter with Varadero egg taxi in background |
We had a fun night, off to a good start with Pina Coladas.
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| Mmmm Pina Colada |
Then food at Casa Miel where the food is cheap and
reasonably OK, never had carrot or cabbage on a vegetarian pizza before but it
was surprisingly good and for 2.70CUC for huge pizza you can’t complain. More
rum cocktails at the bar which was good because it was not too long before the
very jolly Cuban singer decided Abbie was going to join him on stage.
Dan and Abbie also sampled a Cuban cigar to ensure for an
authentic evening.
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| Dan enjoying Cuban cigar |
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| Abbie enjoying Cuban Cigar |
We wanted Dan and Abbie to see a bit more of Cuba so we
headed off to Bahia Cochinos, this meant we had to drive for hours through
rural Cuba which is great for seeing the horses and carts, bikes everywhere and
how people live outside of the tourist area.
We were staying the night at the hotel in the Bay, this is
the only hotel and had arrange this directly with the Customer Relations
manager we had met when we had popped into the hotel a few weeks earlier, he
was exceptionally helpful as were all the staff at the hotel. BUT the hotel was a bit grotty, the rooms
felt dirty, the bed covers were awful, I shower with my flip flops on and we
were joined by a cockcrouch plus the food was pretty basic BUT it was cheap
66 CUC all inclusive 2 people for the night.
What was fantastic was the diving which we booked through
the hotel, the equipment was all ok, the instructors were very good, it was
very cheap at 25CUC a dive and the dive site was beautiful. We dived on a wreck and a coral wall drop off
of 300m. There were lots of fish but
what was particularly memorable was the giant moray eel which they fed, the
huge lobsters which were hiding in the rocks, amazing coral, the hundreds of
tiny fish on the wreck and the 3 of us being able to share this.
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| Mark |
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| Moray Eel |
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| Amanda and Mark |
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| Dan |
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| Mark |
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| Parrot fish |
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| Wreck and lots of tiny fish |
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| Lobster |
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| Cool coral |
The best bit of the trip for Abbie, along with the all the
all inclusive cocktails was the tiny kittens which were living in the hotel.
Our final day with the kids was spent in Havana before dropping them at the
airport. We did all the normal sight
seeing around the old town, drank more rum this included freshly pressed sugar
cane with rum which almost woke Abbie and Dan up, we admired the lovely cars,
we visited the capitol building and Gran Teatro and even had time for a drive
along the Malecon where the water was breaking over the sea wall and there were
a newly wed couple admiring the views.
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| Sugar cane and rum - the press is behind Mark's head! |
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| Mark and Dan |
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| A variety of vehicles racing off the lights in Havana |
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| Another cool car |
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| Enjoying the sunset on their special day |
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| Sunset over the Malecon with waves washing onto the road |
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