All-Inclusive in the Sun

Playa Santa Lucia, Cuba

Saturday 28 January 2012

Kite surfing in the wind

Another white coral sand beach and more sunbathing, what more can I say. We got a good deal on Hotel Gran Club Santa Lucia, an all-inclusive resort on Playa Santa Lucia, north of Camagüey. The coral reef that forms a line of waves just offshore is supposed to be the second longest in the world, after Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, so how could we miss. Elsa, the owner of our Casa Particular, arranged for her favourite taxi driver, Aldo, to drive us to the resort on Wednesday and pick us up three days later.

The vast majority of the guests came on a SunWings package from Canada. The charter planes land at Camagüey airport and are transferred by bus to the resort, about 1 ½ hrs away. When we were there groups from Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg were soaking up the sun. The resort is a distance from most of the interesting colonial towns so the majority of the guests stay for just one week. There were exceptions. We met an older couple from North Bay who have been coming to the same resort for 24 years and stay for most of the winter. They were only one of several people we met who keep returning to the same resort. They all like the low key atmosphere and easy living at the resort. So far we have been content to intersperse a few days at the beach with our explorations of the Cuban towns and countryside.

The resort is not five star, but it was adequate for the price. Our room was a typical hotel style, with AC, a TV and a mini-fridge that we didn’t need. The food wasn’t gourmet but included a good choice of beef, chicken, fish and vegetables. There was no shrimp on the menu, possibly because of the problems in the Holguin resorts. We learned to line up at the sections where they cook your food to order rather than choose from the already prepared dishes.

We spent our days walking the beach, swimming in the ocean and the hotel pool. It was very windy the first two days so the kite surfers were in seventh heaven. We watched several obviously experienced surfers speed out from shore, leap and turn in the air. They were having a ball.

Unfortunately, the wind meant that our anticipated snorkel trip was cancelled. We brought our masks and snorkels with us, anticipating several trips to the reef. We will have to plan snorkel trip later in our trip. There are several other possibilities.