Playas
del Este is a vast littoral about 15 kilometers long, full of white sand
beaches surrounded by coconut palms. It stretches from Bacuranao Beach
–12 kilometers east of Havana– to Guanabo Beach –27
kilometers east of Havana. Between these two one can find four other beaches:
Tarará, El Mégano, Santa María del Mar and Boca Ciega.
All of them are excellent options for tourists who want to spend a day
at the beach without leaving the capital.
Opposed to other beaches in Cuba where one can only find tourists, Playas del Este is very popular among the habaneros, who can frequently enjoy these warm waters thanks to their closeness to the city.
The
next beach between Bacuranao and El Mégano is a tourist resort
called Tarará, 20 kilometers away of Havana. Its marina (Marina
Tarará) is the perfect place for those who want to go out fishing
or diving.
Tarará Beach’s diving center has several boats of medium size, quality diving equipment and a very good team of divers. Even though sea bottoms to the east of Havana are basically rocky and there are not coral reefs nor an outstanding variety of flora and fauna, diving in this area of clear and shallow waters can be a pleasant experience for people who enjoy this sport.
One of the most interesting diving sites is a sunken ship near Bacuranao
Beach, at 
around
14 meters under the surface. Another interesting spot in this area is
a small rocky edge called Itabo, at 20 meters under the surface, with
plenty of big moray eels, lobsters, barracudas, some grouper, parrot fish,
dogfish, spider crabs, sponges and fire corals.