Cayo Coco

In the early colonial period Cayo Coco was a hideout for buccaneers, and for centuries afterwards it was home only to a small settlement of fishermen and charcoal producers. The island takes its name from the white ibis, known locally as the coco bird. Its neighbour, Cayo Guillermo, gained fame among deep-sea fishermen in the 1960s, and both cays and their waters provided settings for Ernest Hemingway, in Islands in the Stream and The Old Man and the Sea.

Development began with the causeway. Built in 16 months from some 3 million cubic metres of stone, it runs 27 km across the Bay of Dogs and opened on 26 July 1988. It worried environmentalists by blocking the tides and changing the salinity and temperature of the bay, and gaps were later cut to restore some of the flow. The first resort opened in 1993. On neighbouring Cayo Guillermo, Cubans were for some years not allowed unless they worked at the resorts or had special permission, a rule lifted after 2000.

An earlier airport on the island was replaced in December 2002 by Jardines del Rey Airport, and direct international flights followed. On 9 September 2017 Hurricane Irma devastated the strip of hotels and the airport. The cay remains one of Cuba's main resort destinations, though the fuel shortages of 2026 have hit flights and visitor numbers across the island.

Cayo Coco has no town and no long-settled community, and it is hardly typical of Cuba. Its culture is that of the resorts — music and dance shows in the evenings, dancing lessons and water aerobics by day, and a nightclub built inside a cave. Visitors who want to see more of the country take a taxi or a tour to Morón, the nearest town, or further to the provincial capital, Ciego de Ávila.

The literary connection is the one most often mentioned. Playa Pilar on Cayo Guillermo carries the name of Hemingway's boat, and the climax of Islands in the Stream is set on that cay. For Cubans the beaches carry a different meaning: for years Cubans could not visit Cayo Guillermo unless they worked there, and since the rule was lifted, Cubans who can afford motor transport often visit Playa Pilar.

The people who make the resorts run are Cubans from the mainland. Many travel every day along the causeway from Morón and Ciego de Ávila, and tips matter to their income. Spanish is the everyday language, though most hotel staff speak some English, and many speak several languages, thanks to Cuba's free education system.

Cayo Coco has no permanent town, and no resident population is recorded for it; it is administered by the municipality of Morón on the mainland. Daily life on the island is the life of its hotels: about a dozen large international resorts with around 5,000 rooms between them, a clinic for visitors, the airport and a few roads, set among swamps and scrubland where wild cattle roam. Long-term plans for the Jardines del Rey envisage many more rooms.

The workforce lives on the mainland. Many staff commute from Morón, in buses provided for them. Importing goods from Europe is expensive, so the resorts work with what is available.

The pressures facing Cuba reach the cays too. Since the United States began blocking fuel shipments to the island in early 2026, Cuba has stopped refuelling airliners, several foreign airlines have suspended routes and visitor numbers have fallen steeply, leaving the resorts that depend on international flights quieter than before. On the mainland, the towns that supply the workers live with long power cuts, rationing and queues.

Food on Cayo Coco is resort food. Most hotels are all-inclusive, with buffets, snack bars and à la carte restaurants, and meals feature a lot of chicken, pork and fish, plenty of vegetables and some fruit. Cuban cooking is not spicy, and with resources limited and imports expensive, dishes can be plain, so some visitors bring their own seasoning.

The Cuban staples appear on most menus: rice and black beans, together as moros y cristianos or congrí, roast pork, fried plantain as crisp tostones or sweet maduros, and yuca with mojo, a garlic and citrus dressing. Ciego de Ávila province is identified with the pineapple and also grows citrus and plantains.

Rum is the drink of celebrations across Cuba, and the mojito and the daiquirí are its best-known cocktails; strong, sweet coffee in small cups punctuates the day. For everyday Cuban food at local prices, the small private restaurants of Morón are the nearest alternative to the hotels.