I spent three weeks backpacking around Cuba a couple of years ago and some of the best spots I found were in the lonely planet's guide to Cuba, as cheesy as it sounds that book was a life saver and I highly recomend getting it before you go.
These are some of the best places I found. I don't know how rigid you schedual is but most of these aren't that close to where you are going, but getting to different places is pretty easy. They have buses that run to just about every major town and from there you can either hitch hike(which is leagal and by law Cuban Citizens have to pick up hitch hikers) or take local buses. I cought a lot of rides hitch hiking in the back of sugar cane trucks with about thirty other people, it's the cheapest and best way to see The REAL Cuba, which is fairly difficult because the Government seperates Cuba into two worlds: the tourist world, which everyone is happy and everything is great and no one dislikes Fidel. And then there is the real world which not like the other world at all but beautiful none the less.
The first place which is amazing hands down is in the bay of pigs, playa jiron i think its called. You can see the sight where the Cuban people "Defeated the Yankee Imerialist." Absoultly amazing, my friend and I rented bikes and rode a couple kilometers and found ourselves on a coral wall that dropped ten feet into the caribean and after a short swim off shore in about 10-15 meters of water there were reefs dotting the ocean floor. I had no fins so I really didn't want to go out much further than a couple of meters off shore but what I found was breath taking. The other place Is in the playa del Este which is about 15km east of havanna. This is a beach used by cubans for vacation, there aren't very many gringo tourists there so that means that there aren't people looking to scam you like there are in the bigger cities and tourist destinations. The only problem is that from what I heard this beach was wiped out by a hurrican just after I left and I have no Idea how to contact the guy who took me out to some spots so unfortunatally I don't really know if that place is still good or not.
The third place is down by Santiago de Cuba. The beach we went to some of the locals were spearfishing off of. This place too is amazing. If you're actually want to go there I can look up exactly where I went.
My suggestion is to Just go explore on your own. Just jump in and swim out, most likly you'll find something. The waters off of Cuba are some of the most beautiful in the caribean no matter where you are. I hope this is helpful and if you want specific details just let me know I'd be more than happy to help.
Bien viaje, safe travels.
nic
These are some of the best places I found. I don't know how rigid you schedual is but most of these aren't that close to where you are going, but getting to different places is pretty easy. They have buses that run to just about every major town and from there you can either hitch hike(which is leagal and by law Cuban Citizens have to pick up hitch hikers) or take local buses. I cought a lot of rides hitch hiking in the back of sugar cane trucks with about thirty other people, it's the cheapest and best way to see The REAL Cuba, which is fairly difficult because the Government seperates Cuba into two worlds: the tourist world, which everyone is happy and everything is great and no one dislikes Fidel. And then there is the real world which not like the other world at all but beautiful none the less.
The first place which is amazing hands down is in the bay of pigs, playa jiron i think its called. You can see the sight where the Cuban people "Defeated the Yankee Imerialist." Absoultly amazing, my friend and I rented bikes and rode a couple kilometers and found ourselves on a coral wall that dropped ten feet into the caribean and after a short swim off shore in about 10-15 meters of water there were reefs dotting the ocean floor. I had no fins so I really didn't want to go out much further than a couple of meters off shore but what I found was breath taking. The other place Is in the playa del Este which is about 15km east of havanna. This is a beach used by cubans for vacation, there aren't very many gringo tourists there so that means that there aren't people looking to scam you like there are in the bigger cities and tourist destinations. The only problem is that from what I heard this beach was wiped out by a hurrican just after I left and I have no Idea how to contact the guy who took me out to some spots so unfortunatally I don't really know if that place is still good or not.
The third place is down by Santiago de Cuba. The beach we went to some of the locals were spearfishing off of. This place too is amazing. If you're actually want to go there I can look up exactly where I went.
My suggestion is to Just go explore on your own. Just jump in and swim out, most likly you'll find something. The waters off of Cuba are some of the most beautiful in the caribean no matter where you are. I hope this is helpful and if you want specific details just let me know I'd be more than happy to help.
Bien viaje, safe travels.
nic
