cuba tales IV - la playa

Ahh, the beach.... Isn't that one of the first things we think of when we think of a tropical island? Sunny beaches... Waves rolling in.... Soft sand.... The smell of sun screen.... A piña colada or other tasty beverage.... The warm sun caressing your skin.... The sound of the surf as you close your eyes and soak it all in....

Yes, I want to be back there! But it was wonderful while it lasted, and I am oh so grateful that I got to go at all! The beach part of the trip was great. The sand is so soft and fine down there, and there are shells everywhere. When we went walking on the beach we found quite a few shells, even though it was later in the day and they'd already been picked over.

The marine wildlife was fascinating. Crabs, urchins, fish, minnows, and not a seagull in sight! We had to walk along the beach for a bit to find outcroppings of coral where there were pools and whatnot for crabs and urchins to live in. It's pretty neat to see them in the wild like that though! The pools were all filled with tons of these little hermit crabs. Cute little things. Then there were some bigger "regular" crabs scuttling around as well.

On one of our walks we came across a local fisherman, who was fishing off of one of these coral outcroppings, using just a fishing line and a reel of some sort - no rod, nothing fancy. We stopped to look, and he showed us the hermit crabs he had in a bucket that he was using for bait, as well as the handful of fish he had already caught. While we were still around, he caught another fish, and when we went to have a look, he handed it to me to pose with for a picture. It was a pretty cool looking fish - certainly not one you'd catch in a river or lake up here or back in BC! I felt a bit sorry for it - yes, I know it's just a fish! But the poor thing was flopping around, and then the fisherman went to pull the hook out of it and couldn't get it out! That's gotta hurt! But I still watched, of course. (Poor fishy...)

There were sea urchins all over, ranging from small to fairly large. Cool looking things, as well. I really enjoyed peering into all the little pools to see what was there. You never know what you'll discover! And it's so different from the fresh water wildlife that I'm more used to, so it makes it more exciting and interesting for me. It's one thing to see this stuff in pictures, but another to see it for yourself!

As I mentioned, we gathered quite a few shells, including some around these tide pools. The shells sat in a plastic bag for a couple of days, then I finally decided to dump them out and sort through them a bit. When I did so, a few of them crawled away! I had inadvertently picked up about 4 or 5 hermit crabs! Talk about a thrill! So what did I do? Well, I kept them moist and babyied them until it was time to leave, then I stuck them back in with the rest of the shells, put them in the middle of my suitcase so they'd be insulated as much as possible, then brought them home with me. There are now two or three living in our marine fish tank with Shiloh the damsel, Fernando the clown, Pierre the peppermint shrimp, Patrick the star, Hermie the hermit crab, and an emerald who is still nameless. As are the new hermit crabs. It is just so fun having Cuban hermit crabs living in our tank that I brought back myself.

Another part of the beach that I enjoyed was being able to go topless. I'm glad to live in a province where it is legal for women to be topless in public, but it's just too damn cold here most of the time, and pretty much no one does it, so it was great to be able to take the top off while on the beach down there. Minimizes the tan lines as well!

And let's not forget my midnight (or later) skinny dipping. I've never gone skinny dipping, and always wanted to, so I thought why not take advantage of this warm ocean and quiet beach? It was one of the most exhilerating things I did while I was down there! I went by myself - Cuba is so safe for that (locals get jail time for bothering or harming a tourist) - and it was just me and the ocean. Fantastic! The sky overhead was huge and full of stars, all I could see of the ocean was the white of the waves coming in and it was just black beyond that. It was almost a spiritual experience, just being there, playing in the waves, feeling like I was part of the night, part of the universe. I highly recommend this if you decide to go to Cuba! I went at about 2am or so and the beach was absolutely quiet and deserted. There was just one security guard for the resort, a local, but although they might try to peak, they are perfectly harmless and leave you alone. And the experience is one of a kind, unforgettable!

We also spent some time just tanning - which I'll admit got boring pretty quickly. I can only lay in one place for so long. But the sun sure felt good!