Canadian World Traveller Fallr 2016 issue American World Traveler Fall 2016 issue | Page 81

81

Pristine Cayo Santa Maria
Article and photography by Johanna Read, www.TravelEater.net

fter your Sunwing Airlines flight
lands in Santa Clara, you drive north
toward Cuba’s coast. Soon you
reach the first of 46 bridges over the shallow
blue waters of the Cayos de Villa Clara section of the Jardines del Rey Archipelago. If
your ideal Cuba vacation involves empty
beaches and pristine sea life, Cayo Santa
Maria is for you.

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At each of the resort’s three beaches, the
fish were so friendly they swam up to check
out my ankles as soon I entered the water. A
school of sergeant majors followed me as I
snorkeled off Playa La Duna, the longest of
the three beaches. The visibility for snorkeling was best at the crescent beach near the
resort’s main pool. Almost completely sheltered from waves, you could see hundreds
of urchins and fishes in the turtle grass.

There are only a dozen hotels (for now) on
Cayo Santa Maria. This part of the keys is a
relatively new area of development in Cuba,
and now is the time to go before the long
sandy beaches become as packed with
hotels as Varadero.

Taking an eco-walk with Navy is an ideal
way to learn about the Cayos. On my walk,
I learned to differentiate between white and
red mangrove, I barely recognized birds that
summer in Canada due to their colour
change, I saw barracuda and hound fish a
few feet from shore, and even found an
immense intact sand dollar. On the exterior
walls of several hotel buildings, I saw the
bright blue, green and scarlet Allison’s
anole lizard, looking almost like a cartoon.

Meliá Buenavista is the mo