{"id":13937,"date":"2020-08-25T12:15:24","date_gmt":"2020-08-25T14:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bgspace.com\/cuba\/the-gardens-of-the-queen-in-cuba\/"},"modified":"2020-09-02T11:34:16","modified_gmt":"2020-09-02T13:34:16","slug":"the-gardens-of-the-queen-in-cuba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bgspace.com\/cuba\/the-gardens-of-the-queen-in-cuba\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"The Gardens of the Queen in Cuba"},"content":{"rendered":"

With its 2000 sq km and around 640 small islands \/or „cayos“ as we call them in Cuba\/ the Gardens of the Queen is the biggest national park in Cuba and in the Caribbean. It owes its name to Christopher Columbus, who named the park after the Queen of Spain \u2013 Isabella I.<\/p>\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n <\/a>\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n

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Don’t mistake the Gardens of the Queen with the Gardens of the King. The latter is another archipelago, formed of small Cuban islands, but towards the north coastline of the Atlantic Ocean. Some of the most popular Cuban resorts are situated in the Gardens of the King Archipelago, such as Cayo Santa Maria and Cayo Coco.<\/p>\n

They say that the Gardens of the Queen Reserve shelters the third biggest barrier reef in the world, rich in a variety coral formations, fish and turtles. Two years ago National Geographic filmed a documentary about this beautiful place.<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n

The Gardens of the Queen is a secluded paradise away from tourist crowds, a place to enjoy white fine sand and blue and green waters of an endless archipelago of small islands. Here you may witness populations of thousands of protected marine species, such as turtles, sharks, red snappers, groupers, lobsters, octopuses, tuna fish, the endemic kind Cocodrillo Cubano, the river otter \u2013 hutia, green turtles, and the Carey turtle.<\/p>\n

Other inhabitants of the archipelago waters are reef sharks, grey sharks and sometimes white sharks.<\/p>\n

The Gardens of the Queen Archipelago is situated east of Cayo Largo,<\/a> south of Cuba and it is a part of the Camaguey Province<\/a> and Ciego de Avila Province. The access to the parking space there is limited \u2013 if you own a boat or a catamaran you are allowed a 24-hour stay on the archipelago.<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_1_placeholder\n

It is said that the Gardens of the Queen were one of Fidel Castro’s favourite places for diving and that on one of the hundred islands he has his own private airport. <\/p>\n