Cuba Guide
Cienfuegos and Villa Clara
The northern cays
From Caibarién, the second and only other road into town besides the one from Remedios heads south, roughly parallel with the coastline, until just before a bridge over the road 4km from the town. Here there is a left turn leading down to the 24-hour checkpoint that marks the start of the causeway linking the mainland to the northern cays – one of Cuba's newest major tourist resorts, set on a network of dozens of mostly very small islets leading up to Cayo Santa María, a much larger cay almost 20km in length. Only one of these small islands, Cayo Las Brujas, is suitable for day-trippers; the others are either inaccessible or the exclusive domain of the hotel guests, though you can pay a fee (usually around $40CUC) for a one-day hotel pass which entitles you to full use of all the facilities. To pass the checkpoint you'll be asked to produce your passport and pay $2CUC per vehicle; keep the receipt as you will need to show it, and pay another $2CUC, on your return. If you haven't rented a car, taxis from Caibarién to the cays can be organized through Transgaviota who have an office in the town ( 
42/35-1353) and another in the hotel Sol Cayo Santa María. The trip costs $25CUC each way.
The drive down the 48-kilometre-long causeway to the outcrop of miniature islands is quite spectacular and half the fun of a visit. The dark, deeper waters nearer the land give way to shallow turquoise around the cays and then become almost clear as the network of cays increases in number and complexity. It's worth stopping your car along the side of the road to appreciate the phenomenon of being miles from land but surrounded by water just a few inches deep, the absolute silence broken only by the occasional vehicle on the near-empty causeway. The sea is dotted with mangrove colonies, while herons and cormorants swoop overhead and the occasional iguana basks in the sun on the hot tarmac.
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