After the stopover in Morón we finally headed to the offshore island of Cayo Coco in northern Cuba. The approach runs along a roughly 20-kilometre causeway that was built 30 to 40 years ago at Fidel Castro’s request for tourism. Unfortunately there were no bridges for water exchange at the time, and that has badly damaged the underwater world.
Beautiful beaches with a downside
The beaches were beautiful all the same. However, many tourists from the hotels next door and the seaweed after the last storm had made them pretty dirty. After a few hours we drove on towards Caibarién north of Morón, to relax on Playa Las Brujas for the next few days. Cayo Coco belongs to the Jardines del Rey island chain, covers around 370 square kilometres and is named after the white ibis, which locals call “coco”. The causeway to the mainland opened on 26 July 1988 and the first hotel followed in 1993; Hemingway had already set scenes of “The Old Man and the Sea” here.
Some 20 kilometres of causeway to Cayo Coco, nothing but sea on either side.Aquí hay que echar piedras, says the sign on the causeway, a white classic car beside it.Palms and dense scrub under clouds on Cayo Coco.The Coco Loco bar with its palm roof and blue loungers in the sand.Seaweed after the last storm – a man rakes the beach clean.Palms on the dunes and a sandy path through the scrub.Dunes and palms under a cloudy sky.Pale sand and green palms on a dune of Cayo Coco.A single palm at the edge of the beach.A big camera, a windswept palm and a turquoise sea.Beach and palm grove on Cayo Coco, twice over.Turquoise sea off Cayo Coco, a distant island on the horizon – the beaches were lovely all the same.A red Plymouth taxi, a Che Guevara sign on the back.A round tail light with a chrome ring on the red classic car.An aeroplane hood ornament and a winged V.Belvedere in chrome on the side trim.A tall tail fin with an upright tail light.Speed limits of 20 and 40 with warning signs right by the sea.A rusty sign full of gaps – Bienv… can still be read.White beard, red cap, Bucanero shirt – an encounter by the roadside.At the wheel of a two-tone classic car, seen through the side window.A crumbling hall, on one pillar: Compruebe su pesaje.Mural de incendio and an arrow to the Salida de evacuación.A small barred window in the cracked blue wall.¡Viva la Revolución! in black, yellow and blue.Rusty tanks and two tall metal towers on an abandoned site.A long row of palms along the wide green pasture.A green river between trees and houses.An orange tractor under the rusty corrugated roof.A small hut in the pasture and an avenue of tall palms.An empty canopy and a small building with a Distribuidora sign.A weathered Gothic façade with a pointed arch and cross.Fishing boats and a long wooden jetty on a grey sea.A red classic car in front of the wooden fence, the boats behind.The turquoise entrance of the Hotel Playa Vitoria.A pool table beneath Sala de juego, the doors Ellas and Ellos beside it.Dancing, peeling off a blue wall – the opening hours below barely legible.A flat pasture with cattle, a windmill on the horizon.A rusty tank and an open, crumbling hall.A large tree and grazing cattle in the meadow.Tall palms in front of a wooded hill, dry grass in front.A rider in a hat and cattle on the green pasture.A tall palm against the clouds, a dark palm grove below.Country road towards Caibarién, a classic car ahead.A horse-drawn cart on the road and evening sun behind palms.Broken clouds above a silhouette of palms.The sun sets over the water, palms standing in silhouette on the shore.
