You hear ‘a week in Cuba’, or ‘a fortnight in The Bahamas’, and you think: sun, sea, sand and stuff-all else, right? It needn’t be so: Captivating Cuba, the UK’s sole specialist to the island, offers a much more cultured Caribbean escape .
Here are a few unusual ways to visit Cuba:
Salsa dancing
As the American poet, Edwin Denby, once said: “There is a bit of insanity in dancing that does everybody a great deal of good.” Certainly salsa has for Cubans. If you’re seeking some limb-led soul therapy, be taught techniques by the legend himself – Juan de Dios, and his 17-strong company of professional dancers, ‘Raices Profundas’ (‘the Profound Race’).Captivating Cuba has anexclusive Valentine’s Salsa trip (10 – 24 February 2010) with 15 hours of salsa tuition and 40 hours on the dance floor!
Horse Riding
The valley of Viñales, an official National Park, offers an unearthly yet serene setting for a ride that will remain forever etched in your mind. This is a land strewn with bizarre limestone boulders (mogotes) dating back some 160 million years, now carpeted with crops, in particular tobacco.
Fishing
If Cuba’s fishing is capable of inspiring Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea”, it’s likely to excite you, too. Some of the best deep sea fishing is appealingly close to Havana, so you can take in one of the world’s most exotic, intoxicating capital cities, and have the opportunity to reel in swordfish, tuna and barracuda in the same trip. The annual International Ernest Hemingway Needlefish Tournament, started by Hemingway himself in 1950, attracts hundreds of enthusiasts every June. Plus, fly fishing in Cuba presents a grand slam-in-a-day opportunity, with some of the best flats fishing imaginable for bonefish, tarpon and permit.
Diving
Cuba is sub-aqua seventh heaven. With water temperatures rarely below 24°C year-round, it’s a perfectly preserved paradise – home to dozens of species of fish, 50 species of coral, 200 species of sponge, and a good number of shipwrecks and caves. Despite average visibility being 30 to 40m, you may still struggle to believe your eyes.
Cigars, Coffee & Rum
Cuba produces some of the finest luxury products in the world. If you’re keen to understand their origin and creation, as opposed to simply buying them to take home, Captivating Cuba can arrange a stroll through the coffee or sugarcane plantations, lead you through the fertile tobacco fields, and even allow you to see the cigars as they’re hand rolled in the factory.
Captivating Cuba also offers Trekking, Swimming with Dolphins, Bird Watching, Golfing, Spanish-learning and Painting Holidays.
For further information contact Captivating Cuba on 08444 129917 (www.captivatingcuba.com).
Ends November 2009
Press: For press information and photography, please contact Richard Mellor or Mischa Mack at Travel PR on 020 8891 4440 or email: r.mellor@travelpr.co.uk.