We said good bye to the lovely and generous people towns people of Marea del Portello and headed off to a tourist destination, Cayo Blanco. This is a small Cay in the Bay of Pilon that regularily plays host to visitors from the many surrounding hotels. Our guide book promised white sandy beaches and some good snorkelling. We were up for it after our city and town visits.
The humans decided they had gentle seas and good visibility to sneak into the Bahia de Pilon through the reef strewn north channel. Every shallow spot and coral head was well marked on the charts and corresponded to the humans identification as they passed them by with 8-10m of water in the channel. The big white beach on the west side of the Cay was stunning as they rounded up on the anchorage. We dropped the hook off the dock built on the north west corner built for dropping off ‘day trippers’.
The beach was lined with sun loungers and a couple of structures were visible through the trees including a thatched roofed main building. The first thing the humans did, after getting the boat settled, was abandon me for some snorkelling. They paddled their kayaks over to the fringing reef that lined the eastern waters of the cay and jumped in. They were gone for hours in the warm Cuban waters and returned excited by the health and diversity of the reef. They proclaimed it the best they had seen in a very long time.
Finally I got to go ashore and explore the Cay. I was met by two other dogs and their owners. Custodians of the Cay when not in use they were happy to have us visit, use the facilities and go exploring. No shoes required on this sandy cay with a beach that stretches the entire west coast and raps around the south point. Mangroves and shallow sea grasses dominate the rest of the shoreline. A protective reef runs well out from shore and parallels the entire the eastern shoreline and stretching quite a ways north and south of the cay itself. This is where the humans found the great snorkelling. The cay had a nice toilet block in the middle and a thatch roofed bar and restaurant area just up from the best swimming section of the beach. Of course this is only open when tourists visit. There were volley ball nets set up on the beach, hobbie cats (small sailing vessels) ready to go, pedalows and a multitude of kayaks. All waiting for the tourists to descend. The custodians told us no other visitors were expected until the weekend.
The anchorage here is only recommended as a day stop. The mainland bay just north east of the Cay offers better protection for the night. But as the weather is so settled and no sea surge is sneaking around the Cay, we were all perfectly happy staying the night off this great little find. I do like my sandy beaches! As the sun set behind the mountains that surround the bay the custodians borrowed one of the pedalows to paddle back to the mainland shores. We had the Cay to ourselves for the night.
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Photos, charts and information we added once we got internet use link below:
Review of Southern Cuba Part 1- including the pictures you missed
