Our last day away! Starting off with a fairly basic breakfast in the hotel, we quickly packed and headed out for a tourist hop on/off bus as a cheap but also good and quick way of seeing the city. The bus spent most of the time around the newer parts of Havana and we managed to get a better feel for the things that had happened over the past 50 years.  Lots of pictures of falling down buildings and signs towards the revolution

We had lunch in Sloppy Joes and Li was very impressed with the tapas, plus the drinks weren’t bad at all.

We then had a quick look at the old Russian planes and tanks in the city before heading back to collect our gear from the hotel storage. Final thing to do was a can ride to the airport in one of the amazing old American cars which Li loved.

Our plane was delayed a little but overall all good for the trip back and two very happy children the next day when we got home

Woke up quite early to try a get the last chance of some snorkeling but alas it just wasn’t going to happen with the weather front coming in. Still, we managed to get a final couple of hours of soaking up the sun before finishing off the packing and starting the 2 hour transfer to Hanava, which should have been longer but the Taxi bloke really was hammering it all the way!

Arriving in Havana was a little bit of a shock. The hotel was quite nice but in general the entire place was really run down and degrading. We headed out quite quickly given the overall lack of available time and soon were getting to know our way around the old town. A quick drink in Hemingway’s favorite bar, the 6th floor overlooking the city and we were relaxed although missing out all inclusive resort! We managed to see the cathedral and a few other buildings, plus picked up some cigars which was a good plan!

Dinner was arranged for us by the hotel and as we had some time to kill we found the birthplace of the daiquiri to have a few drinks and some snacks first.

Dinner was a set meal whilst watching some traditional Cuban music from The Buena Vista Social Club, which was really interesting to watch although basically all sounded the same.  Nice evening all in though, other than the cost; still missing our resort!

The day started early with my diving the key objective, but it didn’t look promising given a big pile of rain coming down

However given almost my last chance, we took a punt and ventured down to the dive school, and, good news it was still on. Li decided to retreat to the room and watch some chick flick whilst I was out exploring

The diving wasn’t bad, lots of smaller fish and an octopus which was quite cool. The good news wad the dive site was only about 15 minutes on the boat with the four of us and we had around 50 minutes diving

In the afternoon the rain continued so it seemed cunning to wait it out in the bar. About 4pm the rain stopped so we had an hour or two chilling out by the pool, although not really in the sunshine!

We had the buffet for our last dinner as we hadn’t tried it before, and ended up with about 6 courses; felt fat!

After dinner we retreated to the jazz bar once again, drank cocktails and chatted to people. Some good singers put a show on, more Li’s thing than mine given a lot of musical type singing, but still good for the 45 minutes.

A few more drinks back at the jazz bar and gave the staff the pens and pencils we brought with us, very happy, Roberto.  Bed late but good although Li had a few too many!

Up early and a quick breakfast was had in preparation of our morning of adventure.  We were picked up by a coach and traveled the few miles to the marina. 45 minutes in a fairly big boat and we arrived at the dolphinarium which  basically a number of large concrete walls in the sea to form big enclosures

We had a little briefing, donned our life jackets (all except Li who took her own!) and jumped in with the dolphins.  A number of planned activities were played through including the dolphins pulling each of us in turn through the water, kissing each of us and generally passing between us and playing.

They then offered, for a tip, to allow you to be pushed up and balance on them which I decided to go for. Very good for photos, and, I was the best as I went last so learnt what everyone else did wrong from the instructor

The afternoon consisted of playing around in the pool, drinking and sun bathing, not so bad. I also did some shooting at a small air rifle range they have setup.

We ate in the seafood restaurant, starter of prawns, lobster soup and then lobster in a spicy sauce for main, accompanied by a decent quantity of champagne

Spent a little time in the cigar bar in the evening and ensured we had a few drinks of rum to help relax, but not much, diving in the morning I hope

Up early, despite a bad head from all the Black Russian’s last night, with the aim of snorkelling from a little Hobbie. However, this was not to be as a tropical storm is heading our direction so nothing was leaving the shore.  Given our late night and bad stomachs as well that have unhelpful appeared, we headed back to the room and grabbed some more sleep.

The topical storm appeared mid afternoon and was pretty intense, thunder just overhead, lightening and buckets of rain, plus very strong winds. The resort tried to keep things interesting with some entertainment but it basically meant sitting in the bar all afternoon, and given our stomachs weren’t great we didn’t even drink

Our evening meal was in the Caribbean restaurant again as this is certainly the best in the resort, followed by a few drinks in the jazz bar and bed at a sensible time to be fresh for the dolphins tomorrow

Woke up late and just made breakfast with 10 minutes to spare.

Another lovely day and we decided to explore the beach after breakfast. We didn’t get very far as they had a Cuban day event set up. There was fresh coconut milk, roasted spit roast pig, music and dancing.  There was a range of Cuban food and more free drinks.

We found out why it was fairly quiet around the resort. There was a lot of sun loungers on the beach. We swam in the sea and it was like having a very big warm bath

Tony swam out a bit and did a bit of snorkelling but didn’t see much other than a piece of seaweed. 

We booked a snorkelling session in tomorrow morning to go out on a catamaran. Tony discovered they do diving for free too. 

After a few hours relaxing on the beach, we retreated back to the aqua bar and got talking to some Americans. After a lot more drinks, we made it to dinner which was in a Caribbean restaurant. It was the best dinner we had so far.

We finished off the evening in the jazz bar and Tony drank a lot of Black Russian cocktails while chatting to the bar man. I think the barman added extra alcohol as he came away very merry!!

Our first full day in Cuba. Nice breakfast to start and then got our room change sorted for later in the day. We spent a little time playing with the Wi-Fi to contact the kids and parents then headed straight for the pool bar at Li’s request

Spent some time lounging around, some sun bathing then headed for am early lunch on the balcony. Beer and free champagne on the menu as well as a good selection of seafood and desserts

The afternoon was extremely hot and Li decided to get us both included in the water volleyball, which was great until I scrunched my toe on a drain in the pool and it started bleeding all over the place. Li continued and her team won

We moved rooms late in the afternoon, and so much better; loads of light and a nice view of the gardens 

More cocktails and then dinner in the TexMex which was nice food although not the same as what you’d expect normally. Amazing location, right next to the beach

Spent a little time in the jazz bar, had a big Cuban cigar and then went to bed shattered

Our first time away without children! Mum and dad are staying at ours and the kids seem to be on with it, Rebecca’s 5 and been been away with mum and dad before so is ok with it; William on the other hand is only 2 1/2 so we’re not really sure how he’ll get on. His speech has started to improve but he’s a long way from real speaking still. Anyway the good news is even with waking them both at 6am to say goodbye we managed to leave without a single tear as they both just went back to sleep.

Breakfast at Gatwick, plane left on time and overall a decent flight with a good amount of wine and the latest StarWars film.

Landed, collected luggage, converted our sterling to Cuban Convertible Pesuo and headed off in the pre booked taxi Li had arranged.

It’s a long drive, getting on for 3 hours and we finally arrive at Varadero and not long after our hotel complex. Very nice looking place with loads of interconnecting pools, bridges, restaurants and bars. Exactly what we need. What we didn’t need was a big pile of messing around trying to sort a room out that the air conditioning was working in, and although they found in the view is rubbish so we’ll try and move tomorrow again.

We managed to blag our way into the seafood restaurant for dinner without booking. Really nice food but small portions

After dinner we bit, had some cheese and a beer then went to bed, shattered