I'm Back from Cuba, and I've got PICS to show. **Picture Intense**

[Lev F.]

I'm back from a week's vacation in Cuba. I will save the rest of the talk and present you with the pics:


One day there was storm-like weather. The next day the tide went out a fair bit, one could do quite a bit of exploring and see some corals and invertebrates on exposed rocks;

There were many brain corals;

Gorgonians,

"How-Many-Species-Of-Algae-Could-You-Identify?" Moments:

This Brain-ish coral: (Favia? Favites? I.D please?)

These stinging buggers, Fire Coral (Millepora, is it?):

I chased mantis shrimps for quite a while, this was the result;

What species could it be?

There was also an octopus, Octopus briareus, that clung to the rocks when the water was out. She was furious, clinging to her rock like it is her only possession in the world, and she was white as snow. Unfortunately, I didn't get any decent pictures, the only picture I have of her does not resemble an octopus in any manner.

[Lev F.]

Another Interesting story, I saw an osprey hanging out near a rock, picking at something. At my approach, he flew away. I found it to be a moray. The moray was still quite alive, and his injury wasn't serious, only to the tail, so I grabbed him and revived him in the surf, and let him go. He swam off under some rock (I.D please?):



There was also about 300 Queen conch present in that area. What a sight! A lot were stranded in tiny, boiling pools. I "rescued" about 150, along with some odd Bahamian Starfish (Oreaster reticulatus.) I can't find any pics at the moment, but when i do, I will upload.

Another interesting moment was when I discovered a mangrove swamp filled to the brim with Cassiopeia andromeda. I ran around observing the color variations, here are two of the nicer ones;



And for all you bird watchers, (as I am an avid one myself);

Little Blue Heron

And a Hummer which I have trouble identifying.

[HolyScoly]

what part of cuba were you in nice pics.

[HolyScoly]

that favia looking coral may be a favia lol or a montastrea maybe any other thoughts.

[Lev F.]

I stayed in Cayo Coco, But most of the pictures were taken in Cayo Guillermo, which I got to by renting a car.

[HolyScoly]

my family is all from cuba and have always wanted to visit and looking at those pics makes me wana go more ill mprobably get arrested trying to smuggle those brains in lol jk

[RoGeTa]

How did you get to Cuba? Does the US have any planes that fly directly into Cuba? Or did you have to do some Island hopping? Was it hard for you to get on the island (being from America [I assume at least lol]). And, most importantly, Did you grab a famous Cuban Cigar while you were there?

[RoGeTa]

I forgot to add that the pictures are all really great! Good job!

[HolyScoly]

u can fly to cuba from mexico thats 1 option

[Fish'InMN]

Originally posted by RoGeTa
How did you get to Cuba? Does the US have any planes that fly directly into Cuba? Or did you have to do some Island hopping? Was it hard for you to get on the island (being from America [I assume at least lol]). And, most importantly, Did you grab a famous Cuban Cigar while you were there?

Location: Ontario, Canada
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Very nice picture Lev. F, that moray must not be more than 2 feet in length? Probably the reason he was in the shallows to begin with, but thats just a guess. Anyways, thanks for sharing!

Marty

[RoGeTa]

Well that is embarrising. Good catch

[LarryW]

great pics. thanks for sharing!

[drummereef]

Wow, cool pics! Poor little moray, hope he makes it.

[DaveJ]

Originally posted by RoGeTa
I forgot to add that the pictures are all really great! Good job!

Nice shots...thanks for sharing!

You can't, at least not legally in most cases. If a US Citizen travels to cuba and its noticed, like on your passport etc... you can be in for a hefty fine and other problems. Canadians on the other hand have no such restrictions. You can go through Canada, Mexico or the Bahamas etc however.

[2fishy]

Those are amazing pictures! I would love to have the experience of taking a trip like that!

[Tang Salad]

Sweet pictures! More if you have them, please.

I've heard Americans can go to Cuba via a third country. They put a removable page in your passport, so that all traces of the trip can later be removed.

[JokerGirl]

Beautiful photos!

Even though I feel bad for the Moray... I kinda feel bad for the Osprey too! It lost its meal which definitely didn't come easy I'm sure.

[Lev F.]

I also felt quite bad for the Osprey, if I saw it I wouldn't have scared him away from his meal, but since this reef was over a hill, I had no way of knowing that the osprey was sitting at the other side.

[MTB]

Great pics. Looks like u had a good time.