Cuban Beaches: A Magic of Foam and Colour on this Cuba Holidays.
Cuban beaches are really beautiful. Each and every one of them has a mystery of its own and a heaven of dreams. Cuba is blessed with perfect lucidity of it's over 200 beaches, in which world-class Varadero, the Eastern Havana Beaches or the unexplored keys are good cases in point. Get a load of these top ten beaches we suggest you now and then visit the ones that you prefer the most on this all inclusive holidays in Cuba. However, we are sure that you will like all of then so, you will better plan a longer time for spending your luxury holidays in Cuba. That is our advice!!! Enjoy yourself on this magic Cuba Holidays!!
Out of Cuba's 588 kilometres of beaches, 256 of its foreshores are comprised in the country's twelve major tourist circuits, all of them outfitted with great hotel and nautical facilities, plus an assortment of development plans in place for broader recreational choices. As a matter of fact; all the marine conditions in Cuba are settled to make of your Cuba Holidays the most extraordinary event you have ever lived.
Enjoy the magic of this Cuba Holidays!
Besides being the right spots for your summer holidays while basking in the sun, reading a good book under the shadow of an umbrella, or simply taking a catnap, Cuban beaches are equipped with the right infrastructure to practice a variety of water sports such as scuba diving, fishing, sailing, aqua bikes, kayaking and water skiing, with gear provided by a number of nautical centres.
Therefore, we might as well get this show on the road now. An imaginary Cuba Holidays –which we are sure that are going to be real- down that wonderful realm of magic and blue-hued waters so perfectly well preserved. We have handpicked ten of Cuba's premiere beaches just for you on this all inclusive Holidays in Cuba. Enjoy the magic of this Cuba Holidays!
1-Eastern Havana Beaches, the best choice of your package holidays in Cuba.
Some of Cuba's best-known beaches are sort of an extension of the island nation's capital. These special strips of sand and sea lying just a 20-minute drive from downtown Havana show up in order of appearance as you barrel down a picture-perfect road and leave the Bay Tunnel behind. First you drive into some of Havana's eastern suburbs in the outskirts of town like Eastern Havana, Alamar and Cojimar. Shortly after that, a sand-like silhouette meets the eye.
The beach area stretches out for at least ten miles worth of great lodging and recreational facilities, chiefly for the practice of nautical and water sports. On the Easter side of Havana City you can easily enjoy of this luxury holidays in Cuba. The beaches are well known as called Bacuranao, Tarara, Megano, Santa Maria del Mar, Boca Ciega and Guanabo. A tad further to the east down the same coastal road, you will chance upon Arroyo Bermejo.
As easy as it might be to travel to these beaches while you are staying in any of Cuba's hotels, the beach area is outfitted with adequate resorts and inns such as Tropicoco, Club Arenal and Atlantico, coupled with an array of apart-hotels and much smaller bed-and-breakfasts, all of them with excellent conditions for making you feel that your Caribbean Holidays in Cuba do not need something else.
2-Varadero: The Blue Beach that everyone prefers on its summer holidays.
In the western province of Matanzas, Varadero is by and large Cuba's best-known and most distinguished beach of all. Varadero –as many Cuba Holidays makers who visit Cuba on a regular basis put it- is a world-class beach.
The island nation's premiere sun-and-beach destination on this Caribbean Holidays is dotted with numerous hotels, and counting. It also features great conditions for the practice of a good deal of nautical and water sports.
Nicknamed The Blue Beach, Varadero is some 89 miles east of Havana and is connected to the capital by a good mesh of roads and highways. Its crystal-clear waters, its powder-thin sand and the beauty of the surrounding nature –among other attributes- make it one of the world's finest beaches and one of the best Cuban beaches where you can spend your Cuba Holidays.
There are three marinas in Varadero: Darsena Varadero (Marinas Puertosol S.A.); Chapelin (Cubanacan Nautical) and Gaviota, this one on the tip of the peninsula. Varadero is located in a legendary piece of land known as the Hicacos Peninsula whose northernmost tip –and Cuba's, too- is Punta de Morlas. That is why it is so commonplace to see yachts, sailboats catamarans and enthusiast scuba diving Cuba Holidays makers around. As a curiosity, the end of the Hicacos Peninsula shows off ten lesser keys. One of those keys is Monito, where flocks of seagulls nestle every year.
As far as hotels are concerned, the Meliá Varadero and Meliá Las Americas, Sol Palmeras, Iberostar Bella Costa, Barcelo Solymar, Iberostar Taino, Paradisus Varadero, the Beaches Varadero and the Sandals Royals Hicacos Resort and Spa are some of the most luxurious where your Cuba Holidays will be nicer and happier thanks to the high quality and comfort of the Cuban Hotels in Varadero. However, lodging possibilities are plentiful with top-notch cuisine and drinks.
3- Jardines del Rey (Cayo Coco, Cayo Guillermo...) Ciego de Avila.
Cayo Coco is at the head of a pack of highly coveted keys among tourists coming to this neck of the woods. Commercially speaking, the area is called Jardines Del Rey. Besides Cayo Coco, other major islets are Cayo Romano and Cayo Paredon Grande. Each of them can be your favourite destination on this Cuba Holidays.
One major attraction here is the 15,000 pairs of flamencos and other critters of the zone's typical wildlife that rove around the coral reefs, places all you can take a firsthand look at from motorboats while enjoying the best of your Caribbean Holidays in Cuba.
The 370-square-kilometer Cayo Coco is connected with the main island (the province of Ciego de Avila) by a 17-kilometer-long dirt road stretching over the sea known locally as pedraplen. The beaches feature vast extensions of blue-greenish waters and very thin sand. Waters are extremely shallow near some points off the key, a condition that allows access to family groups with kids in tow.
The place has a variety of hotels and tourist centres that make your stay on the premises a whole lot nicer. During your summer holidays, you will have plenty of chances of getting in touch with nature are really too many.
Las Coloradas Beach, with the Sol Cayo Coco Hotel jutting out, is blessed with a great environment for those with a laid-back attitude towards their Cuba Holidays, who look for the ideal getaway with no cars, no noises and no trace of the big city life.
4-Santa Lucia, one of the best beaches of Camaguey.
The northern coast of eastern Cuba has Santa Lucia Beach, a 10-mile-long strip of thin sand that stands for one of the most sought-after destinations for nautical buffs and those eager to get a good-looking suntan on their summer holidays.
One top choice for any Cuba Holidays makers there is the Cuatro Vientos Hotel, named after the airplane used by a couple of Spaniards who flew all the way from Spain to Cuba some years ago and were forced to crash land off the province of Camaguey.
This is the province of the tinajones, huge earthenware round vases widely used by residents here to collect rainfall and spruce up every nook and cranny of this eastern province. Taking one "tinajon" home will be a lovely souvenir of this luxury holidays in Santa Lucia, Camaguey.
5-Guardalavaca, Bariay, Esmeralda, Pesquero... Holguin.
The very first curiosity that meets the eye (better yet the ear) is the name of the beach. Many people call it Guardalabarca, thinking the etymology stems from some sailor who used to hide his boat there. The real name is Guardalavaca, an eastern beach of striking beauty hub bed in the province of Holguin in north-eastern Cuba.
Guardalavaca is propped up by a top-rated hotel infrastructure featuring the likes of Cubanacan Turey, Las Brasas, Gaviota Marina Del Naranjo, among other resorts, besides trading on such facilities in downtown Holguin as the Pernik Hotel. Scores of direct flights from Europe land in the city's international airport every week. Therefore, you will have no problem to get to this fantastic place and finally enjoy there your summer holidays.
For its part, Playa Blanca in Bariay is another pretty long, powder-thin sandy beach hedged with a gorgeous environment. One major historical event occurred right here on October 27, 1492. The Great Admiral from Genoa, Christopher Columbus, landed here on that date. Sited in the Bariay Peninsula, the beach is highly coveted for being such a historical and celebrated land. We are sure that when you visit this place as part of your all inclusive holidays in Cuba, you will say the same expression that Columbus said centuries ago "This is the most beautiful land that Human eyes have ever see."
Also in the eastern province of Holguin, Cuba Holidays makers find Esmeralda Beach, right in the heart of a tourist region known as Estero Ciego that features such hotels as Sol Rio Luna and Sol Rio de Mares, among others. In the meantime, Pesquero Beach witnessed the grand opening earlier this year of Cuba's largest hotel, a 944-room megabuck compound perched on the beach bearing the same name. The opportunity of staying on a truly new Cuban Hotels will be yours on this package holidays.
6-Marea Del Portillo & Farallones, Granma.
Driving westbound to the province of Granma, in the village of Pilon, Cuba Holidays makers are hailed by Marea Del Portillo and Farallones, two fledgling tourist circuits not far from the mountains. Two state-of-the-art hotels there were named after the geographical sites. Their rooms overlook the magnificent nature of the surroundings and provide spectacular views for onlookers and shutterbugs alike.
This is no doubt a great place of quasi-mystical quietness featuring roadside crags and cliffs. A development plan is currently underway to ease access of larger number of visitors that like to enjoy their Cuba Holidays on this area. For those who on their summer holidays want to stay away from the mundane noise of the big city and are bent on taking a good rest or embarking on sailing adventures of all stripes, the search is over.
7-Maria Aguilar, Ancon, Trinidad.
Maria Aguilar is a beach located in the Ancon Peninsula, in Trinidad, one of the first seven villages founded by Diego Velazquez as far back as the 16th century.
The Ancon, Costa Sur and Las Cuevas hotels are waiting just for you on this Cuba Holidays with great lodging conditions and a marina run by Puertosol S.A., a company that plans trips and tours of all kind for anyone.
One particular landmark here is the International Diving Centre, a place that Cuba Holidays makers from all around the world, seek after all year round. Students first get some pool training here and then are taken on a spectacular ride through warm waters of up to 40 percent vertical visibility, something dry-behind-the-ears scuba divers praise constantly.
8-Sirena, Cayo Largo del Sur.
A passion-packed world rises before our very eyes in Cayo Largo del Sur, an exclusive key some 177 kilometres from Havana that is becoming an increasingly coveted asset in heart of the visitors that like to spend their luxury holidays there.
Scuba Diving on its Crystal waters is more than an adventure on this Cuba Holidays. Some valuable treasures are thought to be still buried there, hidden by English pirate Henry Morgan more than 300 years ago. The legend is making the rounds and still giving a few goose bumps to those who get there. Dusty logbooks and ancient records, including some documents still kept in the Bahamas, traced over 200 shipwrecks on the premises between 1563 and 1784. For instance, a hurricane that played havoc with the area on October 3, 1780, dragged several gunship commandeered by Captain Sir Haig to run aground there.
Los Cocos Beach is another popular site were people say a canoe turned up unexpectedly some six miles off the Pirate Plaza. The rustic boat is seemingly over 500 years old and today decorates the bar lounge of that recreational centre. While sailing on this peculiar canoe you can listen to Cuban music, dance with all kind of Cuban rhythms and drink the best of the Cuban cocktails on this special Cuba Holidays.
The tourist compound counts on over 25 kilometres of thinner-than-thin sand. There are even some Eolithic formations on the beach that keep water temperatures warm despite the sweltering sun. The fact of the matter is the soil's chemical composition keeps the land cool and protects it from the sunrays. Sirena Beach is going to be the most emblematic foreshore of your all inclusive holidays in Cuba. These places invite guests to ramble down the beach for hours, discovering the surrounding silence and the marvellous vegetation.
9-Daiquiri and Baconao, Santiago de Cuba.
Daiquiri Beach counts on a motel named after the place. The site lies on the south-eastern side of the Santiago de Cuba province in eastern Cuba.
This small beach is worth taking a look at on this Christmas holidays for a number of reasons. Two of them are its nearness to Cuba's second-largest city and its linkage to the noble history of the Cuban cocktail bearing the same name (daiquiri). This drink is made up of Cuban rum, frappe ice, sugar and lemon. The story goes that sometime during the past century; a thirsty engineer was looking for a drink that could really quench the hot temps and his experimentation led to the famous drink. Other versions take it straight to a high-ranking U.S. officer who fought during the 1898 Spanish-American War. Drinking daiquiri while enjoying your all inclusive holidays on the beach of the same name will be just unforgettable for you.
10-Bibijagua Beach on the Isle of Youth stands out for its black sands.
The Isle of Youth is south of Havana. Among the different names it once had were the Treasure Island and the Isle of Parrots, the latter stemming from the countless flocks of these birds that once nestled there. This wonderful island will be one of the spot that you are going to like the most after enjoying your Cuba Holidays there.
Its top landmark is no doubt Bibijagua Beach and its black sands. That unusual colour is traced all along the sandy coast, making a unique contrast with the sea. People from everywhere under the sun come to see this oddity and take a swim in its calm, balmy waters, bask in the sun or just take a good rest. Most of the Cuba Holidays makers that visit this beach take some of its sand with them as a souvenir of their luxury holidays there.
Cuba is blessed with lots of other beaches in which tourists can revel in the privileged weather and natural conditions this lovely island nation has to offer. The aforesaid list is good enough to lay bare the diversity, history, conditions and values of Cuba's sun-and-beach destinations that are waiting for you on this Cuba Holidays. The first part of this imaginary trip is over however, we are sure that after reading this article you will be making your suitcases and taking one of the Cuban Flights to get to any of these extraordinary places.
Nevertheless, this imaginary trip has not ended yet. There are still too many other things to do on the Cuban waters that you should know in order to organize your ideas of what to do on your Cuba Holidays.
Scuba Diving in Cuban Waters on this summer holidays
Either professional divers or enthusiast Cuba Holidays makers are getting increasingly interested in the spectacular beauty and varied wildlife of Cuba's underwater havens. The large island is hemmed in by some 4,000 keys; most of them close to coralline formations that stand aloof from the hefty marine undercurrents.
Visibility here for passive, contemplative scuba diving -the only practice authorized by the environmental protection laws- is pretty good all along Cuba's insular platform of shallow waters and average temps in the neighbourhood of 24 to 28,5 degrees Celsius.
Coralline formations are admirable, especially their motley shapes of striking beauty, not to mention the eye-popping rocky formations that jut out in the vicinity. This site is home to roughly 500 marine life species, 200 types of sponge, countless molluscs, shellfish, gorgonians and seaweeds. A whole new marine world waiting for you to discover it on this Caribbean under water holidays in Cuba.
Diving enthusiasts have state-of-the-art equipment and experienced trainers at their beck and call, all of them certified by the World Confederation of Underwater Activities and other prestigious institutions from around the world. These sites are tied up to a national network of medical services and hyperbaric chambers to secure emergency attention to divers. You do not need to worry about your safety on this summer holidays, we have planned everything to make this Cuba Holidays a secure and amazing event.
Scuba diving could really turn out to be a vital need for you on this package holidays in Cuba.
In addition to this top quality Cuba Holidays, you have the chance of admiring the exceptional natural conditions of the Cuban environment with a visibility range 30 to 40 meters below sea surface and the total absence of either aggressive or man hurting marine life, not to mention one of the best preserved coral reefs under the sun. The breathtaking underwater realm is the perfect setting for your Cuba Holidays for those visitors that are adventure and fun seekers. For those keen to explore it, this world has some unimaginable surprises that liven up your spirit, your mind, your body and your summer holidays in Cuba.
A new discovery; the fear of the unknown; the exuberant marine life that lies in the sea bottom, and that sensation of freedom –coupled with increasingly higher self-confidence in both your skills and potentials- lead you to believing that you have finally found the perfect place for spending your all inclusive holidays in Cuba, giving you the possibility of meeting your inner self in this seemingly silent world. And I say seemingly because countless noises can be heard under the sea, even some of uncertain origin. During this Caribbean holiday in Cuba, you can listen to a chewing fish, to an octopus deploying its menacing tentacles, or just hear raindrops splashing on the water surface. Scuba diving could really turn out to be a vital need for you on this package holidays in Cuba.
Where to go when you like to Scuba dive in Cuba
There are more than 30 scuba diving centres scattered all across Cuba and there are all waiting for you to visit them during your Cuba Holidays, such as: Maria la Gorda Beach alone, a World Biological Reserve in the western peninsula of Guanahacabibes, has some 39 diving sites of its own. This is a private area of see-through waters and whose sea bottoms contain the island nation's largest black coral colonies, gorgonian gardens and sponges, plus a long wall pocked with numerous caves. Visitors may also find great scuba diving centres in Cayo Levisa, Havana, Cayo Largo, Bay of Pigs, Cienfuegos, Cayo Santa Maria, Trinidad and Cayo Coco.
The National Marine Park of Punta Frances, in the southern Isle of Youth, is another gem of Cuba's insular platform. There is abundant wildlife in a surface of approximately 2.3 miles, while the walls and tunnels are adventurous temptations too hard to resist for any of the Cuba Holidays makers that spend their package holidays there with the most affordable prices.
In Varadero Beach, other 32 diving sites stretch out from the Matanzas City bay area all the way to the western side of Jardines Del Rey.. Varadero's Barracuda Centre is at the top of the list and featuring an ACUC (American Canadian Underwater Certification) trainers' school, plus an international self taught network training divers in different categories. This is one of the favourite diving centres of most of the visitors that prefer to enjoy their all inclusive holidays diving in the blue beach depths.
The amount of visitor that choose Cuba for spending this kind of luxury holidays rises, grows and develops, and Cuba's linkage with that international organization makes the island nation part of the worldwide teaching system for that particular water sport. This condition makes it easier for visitors to learn all scuba diving courses now available in the A number of coralline formations, scattered all around the platform, slopes slowly to the depths. Trapped in the sea bottom are a frigate armed with cannons, a freight airplane and a gunboat, all of them intentionally sunk for the pleasure of scuba divers.
In Jardines de la Reina, to the south of the central-eastern province of Ciego de Avila, there is a magnificent coral reef inhabited by chelonians that remains one of the few meeting grounds for spawning turtles in the western Caribbean Sea. And the boldest tourists can choose one of the most thrilling underwater experiences: to swim with sharks, a harmless adventure of this luxury holidays in Cuba.
The number of Scuba Diving centres is increasing in Cuba.
Santiago de Cuba, with 73 scuba diving sites, is simply irresistible. The sea bottoms close to Cuba's most Caribbean-accented city, shelter several of Admiral Cervera's celebrated fleet, sunk in July 1898 by the powerful gunboats of the U.S. Navy during the Spanish-American War.
And we can not pass up Marea Del Portillo and its 16 sites perched on the Sierra Maestra National Park, in the province of Granma. Its heritage boasts an old 36-cannon galleon (including the cannonballs), and the Christopher Columbus vessel, all of them well preserved. The beauty and colourfulness of the coral reefs, natural walls and caves are guaranteed to pack a wallop on this summer holidays.
Scuba Diving at night adding some adventure to your all inclusive holidays in Cuba
Most of the inexperienced visitors usually think of a clear, sunny day when talking about this thrilling sport. But, what about adding more adventure to this Cuba holidays and dive into Caribbean waters in the middle of the night?
We have the criteria of those Cuba Holidays makers who have read extensively on the matter- reveal and that have practiced diving at night and they surely affirm that this is no doubt a world packed with sensations in which experience and imagination go hand in hand and there is no doubt too that your package Holidays re going to be more fantastic as soon as you experience your first night diving.
Once you do it you do not like to stop it. There are plenty of Cuba Holidays makers that together with professional divers go under the moon and the stars for all of them piercing into the secrets of the ocean at night on their Cuba Holidays is a privilege they just can not pass up. In each attempt always happens a new adventure and new feeling arise such as: anxiety, skittishness, uncertainty, and fear for the unexpected dangers lurking in the depths and curiousness about the reaction to each and every one of those perils, however, all this feeling never shadow the light of this Cuba Holidays full of adventure. Due to this fact, scuba diving requires huge physical and mental fitness, let alone a high concentration level chiefly when it comes to nightly diving.
While scuba diving at night you have to use your five senses.
There is a first suggestion that we can make to those Cuba Holidays makers that likes to scuba dive not only on a day light but also at night on their summer holidays in Cuba, that is they should first be familiar with the site they had previously combed in order to avoid unnecessary risks. In addition, the use of artificial light, regarding diving at nights, is indispensable. When you submerge with a watertight flashlight in hand, you drive all worries off your mind and focus exclusively on enjoying the most of this Cuba Holidays in this bubble world you have dived into
When you sail to a chosen spot and drop the anchor –after heeding the instructor's advice- you feel as if you were sitting on top of the world and this possibility is only given to you by this holidays in Cuba. Then, you check your gear, put on your goggles and swimwear, take a deep breath and lunge into the water with your partner in tow. Experts always recommend diving in pairs, for making your Cuba holidays even more secured and mainly when it comes to nightly diving. This particular kind of immersion requires equally special techniques and additional training. The latter takes plenty of experience and a certification in Open Water Diving or any other similar category. Your night time diving partner, therefore, serves as a protector, a companion and an underwater watchdog. Even though visibility in Caribbean waters generally rules out the need to tether diving partners to a special wire or cord, in other less clear locations both members must remain together and tied to the end of a rope.
So many new experiences are not going to pass unnoticed in front of your eyes on this Cuba Holidays.
As soon as you enter to the water on this summer holidays in Cuba, you will imagine that flying is an experience quite similar to what you are going through at that moment. You will realize that you are under the water when your body and mind start listening to the tone of your inner voices going down to a whisper. When those voices are completely gone, you begin to feast your eyes on the most breath taking show of the depths: the colourful fishes and the beauties of the scenery of the sea bottom, this is going to be the best experience of this all inclusive holidays in Cuba.
With your senses on the lookout, you start hearing the rare underwater noises of the night as you unearth a new and unique universe, a new and unique Cuba Holidays that makes you feel that life comes to you in an assortment of colours and shapes.
In broad daylight, many underwater creatures crawling around the sea bottom –like molluscs and sea worms- are usually hidden in crevices, caves, shells or under the rocks. Nightly diving gives you the chance of feeling and glimpsing at the true marine Cuba Holidays, and also give you the chance of experience that life as scores of species get on the move and come out of their concealment. How many times has a sea cancer moved unnoticed in front of your very eyes? At night, however, this critter stretches its tentacles like a star to take advantage of the undercurrent and feed on bypassing organisms that get stuck in its suckers. So many new experiences are not going to pass unnoticed in front of your eyes on this Cuba Holidays.
There is another suggestion that we want to make you on this night diving package holidays and this is that the best moment for watching shellfish is at night time as most molluscs remain out of sight in daytime. There are shrubs, planktons and other species that glow in the underwater night. They have managed to make the most of lightless ness to tip the balance of nature to their side and put on an incredible show. That is the right time for hundreds of shrimps to come out, for lobsters to stumble out of their dens and hunt from atop the rocks, for gaudy and many-shaped fish to parade. And that will be the best time of your Caribbean holidays, the time when you shed a beam of light over them and see their eyes glimmering in the dark, that image cannot be beaten even by the craftiest surreal painters.
Marling fishing in Cuba on this Christmas Holidays
As you can see, Cuban Beaches has not only its beauties and the lots of sport that you can practice in its waters like diving but also another spectacular activity that you can also do while enjoying your luxury holidays in Cuba: Marlin Fishing. There are a few good places in Cuba to go marlin fishing. Your chances, though, are much greater in the Gulf stream off the island nation's north-western coasts stretching from Bahia Honda all the way to the east side of the coastal town of Santa Cruz del Norte. This makes up a 75-mile-long corridor where marlins show up not too far from the shoreline.
All along this coastline strip, there are a few spots where fishing aficionados know and practice marlin fishing. A case in point is Cojimar, the same town Hemingway put on the map. Today, Cojimar boasts the country's largest fleet of sport fishing boats. So, if you want to joint the club of marlin fishing on this Cuba Holidays this is your best opportunity. Joint us!!
If you travel to Havana city as part of your all inclusive holidays with the aim of fishing a marlin, there will be chances galore for you to make your dream come true. No matter which side of the city your Cuba hotel is on. There is a couple of marinas –each with specialized fleets, guides, dry-behind-the-ear skippers, lodging offers and top-notch gourmet of its own, let alone several tournaments right in the nick of time before the fishing season begins.
Come to the Cuban Marinas and Joint to the Club!
One of those tourist ports in Havana is the Hemingway Marina. It used to be known as Leeward before being dubbed Marlin Village. Today, it is outfitted with four hurricane-proof canals and a grand total of 8,600 lineal meters of piers and wharves. Over a hundred docking spots equipped with drinkable water supply, power service, phone lines and security guards sprawl along the canals. Everything is settled just for improving your possibility of being a successful fisher man on this Cuba Holidays. Nonetheless, those facilities are only but a few examples of the marina's true potentials in this respect.
This marina is the proud host of Havana's International Nautical Club "Ernest Hemingway," an entity that has introduced the tag-and-release system in Cuba in marlin fishing tournaments. The association's commodore, Jose Miguel Diaz Escrich, is also the representative of the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) in Cuba. Only during this summer holidays in Cuba you will have the possibility of meeting such a famous man.
The aforesaid club –with a membership of little more than 1,000 from some 50 countries- organizes every spring the world-class Ernest Hemingway International Marlin Fishing Tournament. You do not have to wait until your next Cuba Holidays, as soon as you want you can be member of this wild world famous Club. Another competition held in this marina is the Blue Marlin Tournament, when winter is closing in, the Wahoo fishing tournament kicks off. The facility's star-studded competition comes in October –The Hispanic Tournament- while The Old Man & the Sea championship takes place every summer.
For most of the Cuba Holidays makers, fishing in Cuba is a cakewalk. If you like to arrive to your luxury holidays in Cuba sailing aboard your own vessel, you can radio in your arrival by tuning the 16-band and 72-band VHF frequencies, or using the 7462 frequency from the single side band to exclusively get in touch with the Hemingway Marina. You can get a temporary deferrable visa upon arrival. Local agency ESICUBA extends insurance policies on deluxe boats.
Hemingway crosses the Straits
Ernest Hemingway was the American writer who crossed the Florida Straits in 1932 aboard a friend's speedboat and came down to Havana for his first marlin fishing spree. This was his first of a huge numbers of long stayed Caribbean Holidays in Cuba. . A room in Ambos Mundos (Both Worlds) Hotel, just a few blocks away from the harbour, became a makeshift operation centre for the novelist and his crew.
That same year he caught almost two dozen marlins and the waters washing Cuba's north-western coastline captured his heart forever. The same will happen to you when you catch your first marlin during this package holidays in Cuba. The long-snout fish panned out to be Hemingway's obsession from the moment four years before in Dry Tortugas when he talked with Carlos Gutierrez, a Cuban-born fishing boat skipper.
The relationship of the marine undercurrent strength, the winds and an array of other weather conditions with marlins' willingness to take the bait, were documented by Hemingway in a chapter entitled "Marlin off Cuba" that he eventually included in his 1935 book American Big Game Fishing. This is a reading that we suggest you to do as soon as you begin to enjoy your marine Holidays in Cuba.
Marlins off Havana's shores
Every year, as soon as wintertime chilly winds and high tides start beating Cuba's northern shore for a few months, you might find every once in a while an angler near one of Havana's oceanfront streets wheeling off a handsome long-snout fish tied up to his rusty bike.
Marlin fishing as a sport activity is a sort of adventure many people dream of while planning their Caribbean Holidays in Cuba. Yet, only a handful of lucky guys pull it off as long as their spare time and deep pockets allow them to. It is just a short-lived spell that barely lasts the minutes or hours the fish remains in the water tethered to the fisherman by a taut line with a hook clawed inside the marlin's mouth on one end, and a rod and a reeling spool on the other.
The line's resistance is so huge that the marlin's weight can outdo it twice, fivefold or even more. Only the adequate calliper of his fishing gear and the angler's skills –combined with the boat skipper's experience and expertise- make the catch a dream come true before the line bursts in two or the enormous marlin pushes the tackles overboard. If you are an adventure lover this will be a unique activity to practice while enjoying your Christmas Holidays in Cuba. When the fishing is carried out by holding several lines in trawl, the moment of dealing with one marlin is definitely the time of truth. That emotional pinnacle sometimes happens as soon as the vessel sails off the harbour –a few lucky anglers have had that experience in Cuba- but in most cases, several hours tick by and all the action fishermen see is the long wait on deck.
How are marlins caught?
Properly speaking, sport fishing is performed on outboard-motored boats nowadays equipped with long outriggers on both sides of the yacht. Rod and spool tackles –in a fishing system called trolling- are used to catch marlins with lines whose resistance ranges from 30 to 100-plus pounds. Sometimes catches are five to ten times heavier. As a matter of fact, thanks to the improvement of the technology on this Cuba Holidays, fishing marlins on the Cuban waters is going to be nicer and easier as it used to be some time ago.
By and large, needlefish is the bait of choice in Cuba on this Cuba Holidays. The fish is cut in halves and some meat is sliced off from both sides. A chunk of it is then wrapped around the hook and the two free ends are tapered off to let the marlin flip as it pulls the troll. When a marlin bites this bait or an artificial lure resembling a gaudy squid –increasingly in use today- the line breaks free from the clip holding it tight on top of the outrigger and the spool begins to unreel in an unintelligible but unforgettable whizzing sound.
Your Cuba Holidays will give you a tip before fishing your fist marlin. The basic rule to catch a big fish is to keep the rod firmly up as far as the creature swims away from the boat and then start reeling in by turning the spool handle as the rod sways rhythmically in a pumping motion. Your muscles will surely sweat it out this time. The denouement hinges on a variety of things –even good fortune- but eventually the toilsome effort grinds to a halt when the fish is next to the edge of the boat.
Cuba Holidays makers can rent boats suitable for big-time fishing right at the Hemingway Marina and at the Tarara Marina. In both cases, the service includes crews, tackles and baits. Now that this imaginary trip is over and that you know all the activities and facilities that Cuban Beaches can provide you on this Cuba Holidays, you can start making plans and travelling to Cuba as soon as you can. Have a nice fishing trip!
