Sixty miles off the southeastern coast, Jardines del Reina (Gardens of the Queen) National Park encompasses a chain of 250 virgin coral and mangrove islands. It is Cuba’s first marine park and the largest ‘no-take’ marine reserve in the Caribbean.
Due to its intact connectivity between seagrass beds, mangroves and coral reefs, as well as the remoteness of the area and its long history of protection, Gardens of the Queen represents a “baseline” for an early Caribbean marine ecosystem; a pristine ecosystem that is home to healthy populations of Caribbean reef sharks and Goliath groupers, important grazers like rainbow parrotfish and long-spined sea urchins, and recovering endangered species such as elk horn coral and hawksbill sea turtles.
There is also an extraordinary area back in the mangroves where dive operators over many years have developed a relationship with a few resident American crocodiles!
Overnight passage to Cayo Largo.