Further on, there is a section of the coast very similar to the one we already described in Pinar del Rio, but with its own features. In each section, even when there are common physical and ecological characteristics, there are aspects that defer because of local specificities. It is good to point out that Cuba, being a small country, has an enormous variety of coastal formations. There is a total of 5,749 km of coasts. Out of them, 3,208.9 km correspond to the North coast and 2,537 km to the South coast.

Our coasts are very irregular, with many inlets and outlets. That is why their length surpasses those of larger countries. Among them, as an example, we could mention Venezuela and France. The former is nine times bigger than Cuba, with a coast length of 3,726 km, about half of the Cuban’s. While the latter, which is five times larger than Cuba, has a coastal length of 3,120 km, that is to say, even smaller than Venezuela. Insular countries like The United Kingdom of Great Britain and the North of Ireland, which length is twice than the one of Cuba, has a coastal length of only 3,050 km, a figure smaller to that one of Cuba’ s Northern coast.

varahicacos.jpgTaking the road further on from Varadero, one arrives at the tip of the Hicacos Peninsula, where there is an ecological reserve named Varahicacos, which we have mentioned before. It has suffered a reduction in its original extension, which is a pity, because it has other values.

By watching the sea towards the Northeast, you can see some keys. Between them and the coast there is an enormous extension of water. That is Cardenas Bay, one of the largest in Cuba, that occupies the whole West section of the archipelago, and which, about 50 years ago, was known in Cuban teaching books as Sabana- Camaguey, a fact that was not correct because the Spanish, the first navigators to observe it between 1513 and 1514, had already christened it as Jardines del Rey ( the King’s Gardens), in honor of Fernando VII of Castille, the husband of Isabel II of Aragon, the Spanish Catholic Monarch who made Cristopher Colombus’ trips to America possible. Nowadays both names are used: Sabana – Camaguey or Jardines del Rey .

los_ballenatos_nuevitas.jpgLet us offer you interesting general information about this area, starting by the physical-geographical aspects of the archipelago. It goes from the West of the Hicacos Peninsula up to the Practicos tip, at the entrance of the Nuevitas Bay. The whole area is made up with reefs, abundant keys and islands and the inner sea that separates them from the main island. Those keys do not form isolated groups but extend steadily for over than 400 km. You can see on maps that their extension increases eastwards.

During colonial times and before the triumph of the Revolution, they were not part of the country’s economy, they were not even explored and their fauna, flora and landscape values were not known. From the 80’s on, studies of the place were made for tourist exploitation; today it is one of the regions more related to this market.

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