Isla de la Juventud Special Municipality

Slung below the underbelly of Havana Province in the shallow Gulfo de Batabanó is Isla de la Juventud, by far the largest of Cuba’s many offshore islands and one with an intriguing history and individuality. Scattered across the ocean to the east are 350 or so isles and cays that make up the Archipiélago de los Canarreos. Together they comprise the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud.

Isla de la Juventud (Isle of Youth, so named for the erstwhile socialist experiment of International Youth Brigades), about 100 kilometers south of the mainland, is hardly an island paradise, for which reason it receives relatively few visitors. The island is sparsely populated and there are no striking physical features and no lush tropical vegetation—the island was once smothered with native pine and became known at an early stage as the Isle of Pines. The island’s appeal lies in some of the finest diving in the Caribbean, several historical sites of importance, and untapped nature reserves. The entire southern half of Isla de la Juventud comprises brush and marsh that harbor wild boar, deer, jutías, and Crocodilus rhombifer, the endemic Cuban crocodile that is aggressive from the moment it emerges from its egg.

Most of the islands of the 160-kilometer-long Archipiélago de los Canarreos necklace are girt by beaches of purest white and haloed by barrier reefs guarding bathtub-warm waters. For now, tourism development is limited to Cayo Largo, the easternmost island and the only one accessible from the mainland.

Besides their spectacular beaches, the cays are a scuba diver’s delight. In addition to astounding coral formations, some 200 shipwrecks have been reported in the Canarreos. The Nueva España treasure fleet, for example, foundered in 1563 on the reefs between Cayo Rosarío and Cayo Largo. One of the best sites is Cabeza Sambo, 70 kilometers west of Cayo Largo. The large shallow is strewn with cannons and coral-encrusted Spanish doubloons. And over 800 species of fish gambol among the exquisite coral.

The cays shelter tens of thousands of seabirds, including crab-eating sparrow hawks; fishing orioles, cormorants, and pelicans that prey on the schools of fish; and egrets, majestic white and black herons, and other stilt-legged waders. Marine turtles are always in the water, particularly during the nesting seasons, when big males hang off the edge of the reef, waiting for the females to return from laying their eggs in coral sand above the high-water mark.

Presidio Modelo: Fidel Castro and other revolutionaries who survived the attack on the Moncada barracks were imprisoned in this prison turned museum. (read more)

Refugio Ecológico Los Indios: Swampy and scrubby wilderness area offering fabulous bird-watching. Home to the Cuban sandbill crane. (read more)

Scuba Diving off Punta Francés: Just off the coast scuba divers will find fantastic coral formations, sponges, and both Spanish galleons and Soviet military vessels to explore. (read more)

Criadero de Cocodrilos: Get up close and personal with Cuba’s endemic crocodile at this breeding farm. (read more)

Cayo Largo: Secluded from the mainland, the gorgeous beaches and turquoise waters of Cayo Largo provide the perfect spot to get that all-over tan. (read more)