Cuba - Lonely Planet [264]
The flora consists of palm trees, pines, sea grapes and mangroves, while the fauna – aside from tree rats and iguanas – contains an interesting variety of resident birds including ospreys, pelicans, spoonbills and egrets. Below the waves the main attraction is sharks (both whale and hammerhead) and this, along with the pristine coral and unequaled clarity of the water, is what draws in divers from all over the world.
Getting to the Jardines is not easy – or cheap. The only company currently offering excursions is the Italian-run Avalon (www.avalons.net). One-week dive packages, which include equipment, six nights of accommodation, a guide, a park license, 12 dives and transfer from Embarcadero de Júcaro, cost in the vicinity of CUC$1500. Another option is to sail with the Windward Islands Cruising Company departing from Trinidad (for details, Click here).
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Sleeping & Eating
Guillermo has four hotels at present, lined up on its northern shore; there are plans for two more. As well as the Daiquirí and Cojímar (following), you’ll find the familiar luxury Sol/Meliá combo.
Villa Cojímar (Gran Caribe; 30-17-12; s/d CUC$102/
145; ) The oldest hotel on the Sabana-Camagüey archipelago opened back in 1993 and it comprises a rather low-key collection of bungalows in a quiet beachside location. The advertising blurb refers to it as a ‘Cuban-style hotel,’ but the only Cubans you’re likely to meet are the people who make your room up.
Iberostar Daiquirí (Gran Caribe; 30-16-50; s/d CUC$105/150; ) Plenty of shade, a lily pond, and a curtain of water cascading in front of the pool bar add up to make the Daiquirí the pick of the bunch in Guillermo. The 312 rooms are encased in attractive colonial-style apartment blocks and the thin slice of paradisiacal beach is straight out of the brochure. Extensive gardens are a bonus.
Ranchón Playa Pilar ( 9am-4pm) Not staying here? Worry not – Cuba’s greatest beach also has a rather decent bar and restaurant to keep you fed and watered while you indulge in a bit of R and R.
Getting There & Around
Access information is the same as for Cayo Coco (Click here). The twice-daily hop-on, hop-off bus carries people to and from Cayo Coco, stopping at all four Cayo Guillermo hotels and terminating at Playa Pilar. The cost is CUC$5 for an all-day ticket.
Cars can be hired with Cubacar (Villa Cojímar 30-17-43; Hotel Sol Cayo Guillermo 30-17-72).
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Camagüey Province
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CAMAGÜEY
FLORIDA
SIERRA DEL CHORRILLO
GUÁIMARO
MINAS
NUEVITAS
CAYO SABINAL
PLAYA SANTA LUCÍA
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Neither Occidente nor Oriente, Camagüey is Cuba’s provincial contrarian, a region that likes to go its own way in political and cultural matters – and usually does – much to the chagrin of its neighbors in Havana and Santiago.
The seeds were sown in the colonial era when Camagüey’s preference for cattle ranching over sugarcane meant a less heavy reliance on slave labor and more enthusiasm to get rid of a system that bred malevolence and misery. In answer to Céspedes’ independence cry, the Camagüeyanos produced their own swashbuckling war hero, the feisty Ignacio Agramonte, a 32-year-old lawyer who questioned his eastern cohorts at every turn and ultimately managed to get Cuba’s first (unofficial) constitution signed in the town of Guáimaro on home turf.
Today, Cuba’s largest province is a pastoral mix of grazing cattle and soot-stained sugar mills. Devoid of any mountains of note, the region is flanked by Cuba’s two largest archipelagos: the Sabana-Camagüey in the north and the isolated Jardines de la Reina in the south. Underdeveloped