Camaguey

In fact, in front of Santa Lucía it is where this coralline barrier is next to the coasts of Cuba: hardly to 200 m. of the bank it is possible, already, to dive in a fascinating world, in which inhabit 50 species of corals, 200 species of sponges, around 500 species of tropical fish and, besides, there are the remains of at least 27 sunken ships.

The diving area occupies a sector of five kilometers and it is defined by the reef of Lavanderas, to the east, and Playa Bonita (west), including La Boca, a gentle semi-isolated place, bordering to the access channel to the bay of Nuevitas and very next to a picturesque town of fishermen.

The splendid black coral, The Deer Horn, and The Nosegay of Fiancées; violet sponges, oranges or yellow; shads, bass, levisas, blankets and green moraines, among several hundreds of species, populate these marine funds, where also lie the remains of the Fernando Estela galleon and the ships Mortera and New Mortera, both only built for Cuba in the British Shipyards of Liverpool among final of the XIX century and principles of the XX one.

The full enjoyment of the nautical activities in Santa Lucía even goes further on, until the enormous Key Sabinal (of 335 extension km2 and more than 30 kilometers of virgin beaches), to which can also be consented from mainland through a built railcar on the sea.
In Key Sabinal, ideal place for the Photo-Hunting, the trips, and the nautical and recreational activities, lagoons of sweet water exist where they usually concentrate different species of the fauna of the place, among those that a nurtured colony of rosy flamingos stands out. Also, during the winter, it constitutes an insurance refuge for diverse types of migratory ducks.

The ruins of the San Hilario Fortress; the singular Brava Beach; Columbus Lighthouse, built in 1894 has become an excellent observatory; indications of the presence of aboriginal establishments, and the attractive elevations of the oriental area. They constitute other of the reasons to visit this island of whose purity and virginity give faith the fact of constituting a place of it spawns natural for four species of marine turtles.

From Santa Lucía they can also visit another spot, the Ballenatos Islands, inside the bay of Nuevitas, or the Sierra de Cubitas, a solid mountainous formation of 260 km2., distant to about 30 Kms. of the provincial capital, where it have been reported more than 300 vegetable species, aboriginal pictography can be appreciated in of The Generals, The Mercedes, Indio and Pichardo caves, and exist at least three natural accidents of a lot of interest :La Sima de Rolando, El Hoyo de Bonet and the narrow pass of Los Paredones.

But the historical center of the city of Camagüey, the biggest second in the country, goes becoming with all fairness one of the visit places forced for how many choose to Santa Lucía like vacational destination.

Between both points mediate 110 Km. of highway and infinity of charms to discover. Also called the city of the Tinajones by the proliferation of these enormous recipients of cooked mud,Camagüey (named this way from 1903) has a singular urban plot formed by narrow and tortuous streets that invariably end in squares and tiny plazas, where substitutes' historical-cultural and architectural values constructions are still conserved.

The Funda del Catre Alley , called popularly this way because according to the neighbors of the place it didn't allow the traffic of two horses together; the squares of San Juan de Dios and of the Carmen; The Convent of the Ursuline Mothers; The Angel Five Corners; The Water Carrier of the Railroad; or the churches of Nuestra Señora del Carmen,Nuestra Señora de la Merced, that of Santa Ana,The Paroquial Mayor, The Parroquias of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad and of the Caridad, or the Sagrado Corazon de Jesus church, they are points of the lattice from Camaguey, urban of a lot of interest for the visitor.

As there are also other relevant locations to watch, General Ignacio Agramonte's native houses , hero of the first independent gest ; that of Nicolás Guillén, the National Poet, the one of Carlos J. Finlay the eminent scientific , and those of the poets Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda and Aurelia Castillo; as well as the Principal Theater, headquarters of the famous Camagüey Ballet, been founded in 1967, and also of the Provincial Symphonic Orchestra in 1961; or the Country Casino, the biggest built inside a Cuban city.

To visit this city represents the possibility to enjoy the San Juan of Camagüey, a popular party arisen between 1725 and 1728, and that today takes place among the days 24 and 29 of June; the tasting of typical plates of the local kitchen as the "ajiaco", the beef or the hunt; or to come closer to the chore of a young generation of talented ceramists to know, first hand, a city considered as an important cultural and scientific center of the nation and where it was born, in the XVI century, the first Cuban literary work, Espejo de Paciencia, a creation of the notary of the town council Silvestre de Balboa.

Although with an incipient tourist development, Los Jardines de la Reina, (Gardens of the Queen) in the south coast, constitute another attractiveness for the visitor interested in the diving, the fishing to the fly, the exciting experience of taking a bathroom with sharks, or to live some unforgettable days on board the floating hotel Turtle, anchored amid the conserved insular group in the Caribbean.