Máximo
Gómez airport provides the visitors with the opportunity
of appreciating the result of a quick development of
tourism in Ciego de Ávila.
Three factors have fundamentally favored this projection: the great
reservoir of subsoil water, the best-quality crude oil of the island,
and the existence of a zone known as Jardines del Rey (King Gardens),
a chain of islets of extraordinary beauty still unexploited.
Out of those islets, only two have achieved its development: Cayo
Coco and Cayo Guillermo. Third in extension in the Cuban archipelago,
Cayo Coco can be accessed by car through a "pedraplén",
a road built across the sea. The islet also has an airport for small
and medium-sized aircraft. After the arrival, the visitor will be
able
to appreciate the abundance of the white ibis (known as "coco"
bird), species from which the islet takes its name. A great colony
of pink flamingos has made Cayo Coco being identified as "flamingo
island" too.
Another face of Cayo Coco is that offered by hotels and tourist
facilities and its fine-sand beaches. Here architecture is inserted
in the natural environment characterized by virgin woods, lagoons,
and a rich fauna.
We can not leave unmentioned three main sites worth-visiting in
Cayo Coco: La Güira, which reproduces the life of
charcoal-makers of the region; Rocarena Restaurant; and La Cueva
del Jabalí.
Cayo Guillermo, with its three beaches and its dunes, and the keys
Media Luna and Los Felipes constitutes another tourist circuit where
the transparency of the waters and the conditions for snorkeling,
diving, and platform fishing are a great attraction for tourists.
Quite close to the Jardines del Rey is the town of Morón,
where portions
of the trocha, expression of Spanish military engineering, are still
preserved.
Water sport lovers can visit La Redonda, a lagoon where an international
center for trout fishing operates. La Laguna de La Leche, however,
is the scenery for traditional water carnivals and Formula T-1 speedboat
World Championships.
For hunting there are about 40 zones: Aguachales de Falla, Chicola,
Canal La Yana, and Puente Largo are some of them.
of
tourism in Ciego de Ávila.
able
to appreciate the abundance of the white ibis (known as "coco"
bird), species from which the islet takes its name. A great colony
of pink flamingos has made Cayo Coco being identified as "flamingo
island" too.
of
charcoal-makers of the region; Rocarena Restaurant; and La Cueva
del Jabalí.
portions
of the trocha, expression of Spanish military engineering, are still
preserved.
