Ocean Vista Azual, Varadero, Cuba

This week Sister Sarah and I spent our annual sisters' week at the Ocean Vista Azual, an all-inclusive in Varadero which promotes itself as a five-star resort.  It's about a half hour drive from the airport, on the resort strip.  We were part of a large group organized by Faith at Niche Travel Group in Nova Scotia.

Here was my room ...

Saturday - Varadero, Cuba

Today is Sister Sarah's and my last day in Varadero.

We spent the morning at the beach.  It was hot and humid so it was a good place to be.

Not a bad view as I was laying on my lounger

We spent the week eating at the buffet restaurant, which I didn't find very good.  The à la carte restaurants don't take reservations and there has been 45 minute wait so we haven't bothered.  I stopped by the Italian restaurant about 7pm this evening and asked if we could eat at 8pm and they took our "reservation".  Yay!

Shaydid, Ocean Vista Azual, Varadero, Cuba

Shaydid, the cover band from Halifax that is along with our group, played their fourth and final night tonight.  As with the other three shows, they were excellent and a lot of fun!

Thursday - Varadero, Cuba

Sister Sarah and I had a quiet lazy day.

After breakfast, we headed to the beach where we spent the morning.  The water was lovely!

Sister Sarah is in the water

There she is!

The view from our loungers

Yep, those are my toes!

We had lunch at the snack bar at the beach.

Cayo Blanco, Cuba

Sister Sarah and I did a day trip today called the "Sea Tour".  Everything was included including an open bar, lunch, snorkeling, time on a private beach, etc.

A bus picked us up at our hotel at 8:30am and took us to our catamaran.

Our guide gave us the rules and then got the party started.

The netting over the water was a popular spot.

I dozed for a while on it

The boat ride was more than an hour and it was nice to be out on the water.  There was snorkeling if you were so inclined (I wasn't).

Tuesday - Varadero, Cuba

I went for a long walk this morning.  My goal was to find the other beach, which is the larger of the two on the property.  I knew it was somewhere nearby but hadn't come across it.

Found it!

I walked to the far end

Shaydid, Ocean Vista Azual, Varadero, Cuba

I'm spending the week in Varadera, Cuba, with Sister Sarah.  There are about 80 in our group that was organized out of Halifax, Nova Scotia, by Faith of Niche Travel Group.

Shaydid, a band from Halifax, is along with us and are playing four times this week ... this evening was the first.  Faith welcomed everyone and introduced the band.

I've never heard of Shaydid but really enjoyed them.  They are a cover band but also played some traditional east coast songs.