Cayo Guillermo
| Cayo Guillermo | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Waters | Atlantic Ocean | |
| Archipelago | Jardines del Rey | |
| Geographical location | 22 ° 35 ′ 41 ″ N , 78 ° 40 ′ 0 ″ W | |
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| length | 8.5 km | |
| surface | 15 km² | |
Cayo Guillermo is an approximately 15 km² island in the Atlantic Ocean , just off the north coast of Cuba . It is one of the smallest islands of the Jardines del Rey archipelago , which is assigned to the province of Ciego de Ávila in the center of the island republic .
Like the larger neighboring island of Cayo Coco, Cayo Guillermo is developed for tourism and is connected to Cayo Coco and Cayo Paredón Grande via a road system. The connection to the Cuban mainland is via an approximately 17 km long stone dam from Cayo Coco.
The distance from Cayo Guillermo to Jardines del Rey International Airport (CCC) is approximately 40 km. A drive to Morón takes about 70 minutes, after Ciego de Ávila you have to calculate a good 2 to 2½ hours . The island and the Jardines del Rey chain of islands can be reached by sea via the Cayo Guillermo border and marina.
The tourist area on Cayo Guillermo currently comprises (as of December 2010) four hotel complexes , which are located directly next to each other to the northeast on the Atlantic seafront. In addition, the beach Playa Pilar , located in the far north of the island, is accessible, which is considered one of the most beautiful and finest sandy beaches in Cuba. Cayo Guillermo are several tiny islets in front of it: in the west the Cayos hijos Guillermo (also Cayos hijos de Felipe ), and then from west to east the islands Cayo media luna ( Ernest Hemingway calls them in his novel Islands in the Stream "Crescent Island"), Cayo Felipito , Cayo Felipe and El perro ("dog island"). A coral reef stretches between and in front of these islets. There is a connection to the island of Media luna , a good place for diving and snorkeling , from Playa Pilar ; numerous diving spots in the coral reef are also approached.
In the north of the island - facing the Atlantic side - there is a kilometer-long fine white sandy beach, which is only interrupted by a steep bay to end again as a fine white sandy beach in the west of the island. Various coral reefs are in front of the beach .
The showdown of Ernest Hemingway's novel Islands in the Stream takes place on the islets off Cayo Guillermo to the west and northwest and in the shallows in between. When the ship is heading for Cayo Guillermo beforehand, Hemingway puts the following words in his protagonist Thomas Hudson's mouth:
- “Do you see the large coral reef to starboard that is just looking out of the water? This is not for us, gentlemen. And to the west of it is Guillermo. A green island, full of promise. "
In the south of the island there is a fascinating mangrove landscape that can be explored by motorboat. Snorkeling is possible there in selected areas.
Cayo Guillermo, as well as Cayo Coco and Cayo Paredón Grande , is only accessible to tourists and employees of the individual hotels and the Cuban police . From the Cuban mainland there is a passport and residence control at the beginning of the stone dam.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ernest Hemingway: Collected Works in Ten Volumes - Vol. 5: Islands in the Stream. Roman (German by Elisabeth Plessen and Ernst Schnabel ). - Reinbek: Rowohlt Verlag, 1977. - p. 501 ff.
- ↑ ibid. Pp. 497-498.