Cuba Snorkeling

Cuba is a hugh country (1000 km long?) so it would help if you gave a brief description of the destinations you plan on going to and disclosed how long you plan on being in Cuba - unless of course your only plans are to go someplace for snorkeling?

no fixed plans on where we go as yet. Any suggestions?

I think the closest-to-Havana good option for snorkelling would be PLAYA JIBACOA, which is about 1 hour east of Havana, just off the Via Blanca (main highway leading to Varadero). The playa (beach) is about 8 km long. At the eastern end are a couple of big resort complexes. In the middle is a Cuban campismo, and some Cuban family beach homes (none licenced to rent rooms to foreigners). At the western end is a villa (meaning, individual units) consisting of stone cottages on a bluff overlooking a lovely little cove beach which is fine for snorkelling. I think a unit at Villa Loma Jibacoa, as it is called, is around 50 CUC/night. There is a restaurant, modestly priced, but mediocre. No other place nearby to eat. However, if you have a rental car, this area is close enough to Havana that you can do it as a day trip, leaving your car parked in the villa parking lot.

The BEST snorkelling within easy driving distance of Havana is probably in the Bahia de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs), and along the coast east of the bay. This area, which is in the Zapata Swamp National Park, is easy to reach (good, well-signed highway) by following the autopista (freeway) to the turnoff to Playa Giron. Playa Giron lies on the south coast about 70 km from the autopista. The beaches in this area, both along the east side of the bay, and along the ocean west of Playa Giron, tend to be small white sand coves carved into the rock. Two of them--Caleta Buena and Punto Perdiz--are very popular with tourists. But many of them, located just a few metres from the highway and accessed by a short, sandy track, you would have all to yourself, except for the occasional fisherman. The main thing you'd need to keep in mind about these charming snorkelling spots is that there will be no facilities at any of them, so everything you need you will have to bring with you: sunblock, insect repellant, water, food, toilet paper, snorkelling equipment. You do have a choice of places to stay in the Bahia de Cochinos area. There is a villa, with air-conditioned beachside cottages, at both Playa Giron and Playa Larga, and in both communities, about 1 km from the beach, there are casas licenced to rent rooms to foreigners.

Guardalavaca near Holguin has a reef 100m off the beach - no boat required, good variety of corals, although every year
there's a little less fish life