63
km. to the west of Santiago de Cuba and 2 hours by car to Antonio Maceo
International Airport, lies Sevilla beach renowned by its brown sands
and the mountains that seem to look over it. Its vicinity to a coral reef,
that can be seen just by going 50 m. into the sea wearing a snorkel, and
Sierra Mar diving center are some of the attractions that make it such
a gorgeous, paradisiacal spot.
Being
so far west, is very near to the place where the fleet of the Spanish
Admiral Cervera foundered in 1898 after a sea battle against American
ships. Close to the shore still lie the remains of three of the ships
lost in that battle: Oquendo and Vizcaya, less than 16 feet deep, and
Colón, between 23 and 121 feet deep. Those ships have become true
gardens “blossoming” with coral, sea fans and sponges. Another
interesting site is Mandinga Reef, a submarine mountain, rising from the
abyssal plains of the sea, inhabited by fish of every size and species.