Our First Trip: Cayo Largo Cuba – Crabs, Beaches, and More!

Hey all! Let’s dig deep into the memory banks and recall our very first trip.

The year 2010, the destination Cayo Largo, Cuba. Not only was this our very first trip as a couple, this was both of our first time travelling pretty much anywhere. Up until this point, the only traveling I had done was a couple of winter/March break trips to my grandparents’ condo in St. Petersburg, Florida when I was a kid. Oh, and I also spent two weeks at baseball camp in Pennsylvania when I was 11. Lidija also hadn’t traveled apart from when she moved from Bosnia to Canada when she was 7. So this was a pretty big deal for us at the time!

Being on a tight budget, the most inexpensive trips we could find were to Cuba. I initially couldn’t recall where we stayed, but digging through my old emails, I found the answer. For $712/person (Canadian), we stayed at Gran Caribe Playa Blanca (now it is Memories Cayo Largo). Lol, going through the old email threads brought back a lot of memories as well! We were so concerned about the weather; we were tracking storms and worried about a recovery day when we got back. I guess all pretty legitimate things to do for any trip.

On to the trip itself. Our plane landed on the small island well after 8pm and by the time we got on the shuttle transport to the resort it was already dark. As we were travelling some of the other guests began pointing and looking out the front of the shuttle bus…CRABS EVERYWHERE! We could see in the headlights as they scuttled across the dirt roads by the hundreds. We would soon see that this would be a fun theme to this trip as apparently we had arrived during the tail end of the crabs migration season.

One of the funniest moments of this trip was during one of the evening entertainment shows. The show was about to begin, the lights were off. The music starts and the the lights turn on…..And there, in the middle of the stage, was one lone crab!

I have to talk about the greatest part of the trip which we still come back upon to this day…THE BEACHES!! While the resort beach was decent, the real highlight was when we took day trips to Playa Paraiso and Playa Sirena. To this day still arguably the best beaches we have ever been to! As someone who had never truly travelled, they were what we had always imagined with the white sands and calm, crystal turquoise waters.

So as not to keep this post too long, here a few of the memorable highlights:

The coffee was AMAZING!

Getting the crap kicked out of me by the waves

Nightly entertainment was very colourful and lively

Releasing the baby sea turtles

Marine Iguanas

Drinking from coconuts….delicious but not what I expected at the time.

I’ll say it again….THE BEACHES!
Making new friends with a couple after a deep and profound conversation at the bar.
CRABS!

Of course no trip is without its flaws. I can confirm that the tropes of the food in Cuba not being the greatest held here. We did “splurge” one evening for the paid meal which was better than the rest but only by comparison. And Lidija’s stomach didn’t do so well when we got home. Also, the supply chain dried up a couple times as the mint for mojitos was absent for a couple days.

Considering it was our first trip anywhere and was very budget friendly, the memories we still have 14 years later tells us it was well worth it! While it no longer ranks in the tops of our excursions, it will always hold a special place to us as being the trip that started it all.

CLICK HERE to check the galleries for more picture highlights.

Until next time….