It was time to say bye to Viñales valley, but we went to a coastal village next so we were excited. Again we took Taxi colectivo and that was one interesting ride. It was 9 of us in one car, some suitcases were on the roof, then we drive for a little bit on highway and there was a van broken so we stopped and took two more people in the car. So now it was 11 people in this tiny car, but we made it. Our driver was the worst driver ever so we were all afraid for our lives most of the time, but at least we met some cool people and we traveled together after. Our destination was Playa Larga on the Bahia de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs). Playa Larga was one of the two beaches invaded by US back in 1961, Playa Girón was the other one.

Playa Larga is a tiny relaxed village. It’s usually starting point for excursion into the National park Ciénaga de Zapata, crocodile farm or for snorkelling/diving in the area. National park is one of the best birdwatching spots in the world. You always need a guide to go to the park, they call them gia. Your casa usually organize trips for you. So you have few options, you can go and see flamencos or go and see hummingbird. Of course you see other animals too, but those are the main birds why you go to specific area. We decided to go and see hummingbirds. Our casa arranged it so car and guide were waiting for us next morning. It was a bad weather but that didn’t matter once you saw amazing birds and plants everywhere around you. We only saw few hummingbirds, but we saw quite few Tocororos (national bird of Cuba), Cuban Tody, Cuban pygmy owl and a lot of other birds.

Next day it was time for snorkelling. Again car was waiting for us in front of our casa and drove us to Cueva de los Peces. on one side you have this sinkhole called Cueva de los Peces and you can swim in it, but on the other side of the road there is snorkelling/diving beach. Beach is very rocky, there is no sandy beach around it. But it’s really good for snorkelling and diving. If you dive you also swim around shipwreck. To rent snorkelling gear is around 4-5CUC and for one dive is between 20-25CUC, if you do more dives it’s cheaper. I would say one dive at this spot is enough.

On the way back to Playa Larga we saw something amazing. Crab migration, there was hundreds of red, yellow, black colored crabs crossing the road. Unfortunately you could see a lot of them got crushed by cars and buses . It’s funny cause whenever car or bus is approaching they just stop and put their claws on to scare it, but it doesn’t work that way. They all moved from the sea to the swampy area of Ciénaga de Zapata.

Till next time!

More photos on my Facebook page here!