Cayo Hijo de los Ballenatos off Cayo Largo Cuba

Leaving Cayo Sal at dawn

We made a dawn start on Monday 4 March for the 25nm passage to Cayo Hijo de los Ballenatos, a reef just outside Cayo Largo where our cruising guide says there is excellent snorkelling.  There was absolutely no wind so we motored the whole way across glassy seas.  It was a shame that we couldn’t sail but the bonus was that we could see the seabed, 9m below the surface, clearly when we passed through the break in the reef.

Views of Cayo Largo

Tug and barges bringing in supplies to Cayo Largo

Cayo Largo, is a holiday resort island. Everything is brought in from mainland Cuba, including the Cubans who work in the resort and there is an international airport to bring in the tourists.  The coastline is lined by long white beaches, and the reefs around the main island provide great snorkelling and diving opportunities in beautiful clear water.

Cayo Hijo de los Ballenatos

The reef off Cayo Hijo de los Ballenatos where we snorkelled in the afternoon

Our snorkelling stop was somewhat interrupted by the discovery that the 2 frozen ‘joints’ of beef that Nicky had bought in Cienfuegos had now thoroughly defrosted.  Unfortunately, the ‘joints’ turned out to be large lumps of minced beef which, when defrosting had released vast quantities of bloody water. This had overflowed the container in which Nicky had put the meat and was now sloshing around in the bottom of the fridge.  Happily, the rest of the contents of the fridge were in sealed boxes and so survived unscathed but it did put something of a delay on our snorkelling as we emptied and washed out the fridge and mentally rejigged the menu plan for the next week.  But it gave me time to bake the next loaf which was a great success (if I do say so myself!).

But we managed to squeeze in 2 excellent snorkelling sessions on the reefs around Cayo Hijo de los Ballenatos either side of fridge-management and the Great BV Bake-Off.

Superbly clear water

We saw many different varieties of fish in surprisingly large schools.  Here are Sergeant majors (and some wrasse)

Right: Large schools of Bar jacks

The visibility was fabulous in incredibly clear water and the profusion of different fish, and the size of some of the schools, was staggering.

Nurse shark asleep under a rock

We were also lucky to spot some big fish too, including a nurse shark resting under a rock, spotted first by eagle-eyed Nicky.

Bottom: Bluestriped grunts

Sea fan

It was a fabulous place to snorkel and very pretty too with the areas of clear white sand between the coral heads. There was so much to look at that it was really difficult to tear ourselves away.  It was a hugely worthwhile stop.

Cayo Largo in the background

We could probably have stayed where we were for the night but we felt that we probably ought to move the mile or so into Cayo Largo and check in with the Guarda Frontera and, more importantly, we wanted to say goodbye to Cheryl and Morgan who were in the main lagoon south of the marina.  So at about 1600hrs we up anchored and headed for the channel leading to the shallow lagoon anchorage.

Cayo Hijo de los Ballenatos, Cuba