Cuba

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We spent a week at the Breezes Jibacoa, Cuba with Paul and Judy this winter. This smallish resort is on the north coast between Havanna and Varadero -- you fly in and out of the Varadero Airport.

Becky Castillo, our travel agent has arranged all four Sunwing vacations. We're meeting up with my brother and his wife who live in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Becky has recommended this resort is as a good place for snorkeling -- Varadero is a sand spit suitable for sun bathing and frolicing in the surf. We are more interested in snorkeling. And the snorkeling from the beach at this resort is very good. There's a sandy beach, then some shallow coral and just past that there's a nice deep good sized tank to explore with lots of fish and coral encrusted walls to the tank. From there you could go out to deeper waters but we never ventured. Check out my picture from the bluff above -- you can see the coral and the tank.

There were days when the beach was flagged -- too windy, rough surf or wind blown Portugese Man o'War jelly fish. You don't want to get entangled with that jelly fish. It will hurt like hell and leave lasting damage. Anyways, it was good snorkeling. I'd recommend the resort for that.

The resort is well appointed, solid construction, quite comfortable and well maintained. Grounds are lush with lots of Royal Palms (that's the national tree of Cuba) and exotic plants. There are 18 buildings with 260 guest rooms. These buildings are two stories with 8 rooms below and 8 above. We pay a little extra to get a room on the ground floor on the beach. There's one large swimming pool, tennis courts, and so on. For dining there's a large buffet hall and two restaurants (where you need to make reservations).

There are several bars, of course, but we spend most of our time at the beach bar. Every day there seems to be some event at the beach -- e.g. one day they roasted a whole pig. There are big show events every night with dancers and tom foolery. We attend a couple of them.

One morning we went on a short nature hike with "Mini Mike" through the woods to the bluff overlooking the resort. From there we visited a local farm and walked back along the roadway.

For such a small resort they do put out a big effort to keep guests entertained.

Our big event was a day trip into Havana. We stopped along the way to have a drink (apparently the "best" Pina Colada) at a sea side bar. This must have been a very nice spot years ago but it's sadly in decay. In Havana we stopped to see Fidel's tank -- Viva la Revolucion! On to the Capitol building -- very impressive. The Hemingway bar -- it's just a bar. The Bacardi building -- seized by the state when industries were nationalized. We went to a bar on the top floor of a very tall hotel for the views -- there's the American Embassy (closed since the revolution). And we wandered the streets of the old city. Havana is an impressive collection of Colonial Buildings and many are in good repair. I understand there's UNESCO money here. There is a decrepit oil industry in evidence -- a oil flare within the city and polluted waters in the bay.

That evening in Havana we went to the Tropicana show. There's another similar Tropicana show closer to Varadero. The one in Havana is the "original". It's a Las Vegas styled show with lots of flash, lots of pretty girls in skimpy outfits. The venue is open air with several stages, several tiers on each stage. When you enter all the men get a cigar, the women get a carnation and couples get a can of coke and a half bottle of Havana Club -- the rum of Cuba (which used to belong to Bacardi?). It was quite the show and we got thoroughly pie-eyed in the process. But we had fun and made friends.

We enjoyed this resort and hope to return some day. It was a good time with brother Paul and his wife Judy.