Cayo Sabinal
A Large Undeveloped Key On Camaguey'S North Coast With Thirty Kilometres Of Empty Beach, A Working Lighthouse Of 1848 And No Facilities Of Any Kind · Nuevitas, Camaguey
Cayo Sabinal is a large key off the north coast of Camaguey with something like thirty kilometres of beach on it and effectively nothing else. Three named beaches - Los Pinos, Bonita and Brava - run along the northern shore, and on any ordinary day you will have all of them to yourself. Behind them is scrub and mangrove holding flamingos, pelicans, deer and a population of wild pigs, and at Punta Maternillos stands the Faro Colon, a lighthouse built in 1848 and still working. The key was a smugglers' and pirates' anchorage for centuries and the ruins of the Fuerte San Hilario are still on it. What there is not is any infrastructure at all: no water, no food, no fuel, no shade and no signal, which is why almost nobody comes and why those who do should prepare properly. Bring everything, confirm the causeway is passable before you drive it, and be off the key in daylight - there is nobody out there to help if a vehicle fails.
Cayo Sabinal, Nuevitas, Camaguey, Nuevitas, Camaguey, Cuba
There is no gate and no opening time. The key is reached by a CAUSEWAY FROM NUEVITAS whose condition varies, and by boat from Playa Santa Lucia. A 4x4 or an organised trip is realistic; an ordinary hire car often is not. THERE ARE NO FACILITIES OF ANY KIND on the key - no water, no food, no fuel, no shade and no phone signal. Go early and be off it before dark.