The Marina Hemingway, built in
1957, is located on the west coast of Havana, about 20 km
far from the Old Havana. It has an area of 600.000 m2,
gained from the sea. It is the largest marina of Cuba with a
capacity of up to 400 vessels officially. However, it is
hard to talk about the full capacity today, as some parts of
the marina need to be repaired. Vessels longer than 230 feet
(about 70 m) and deeper than 12 feet (about 3.65 m) are not
allowed to dock in the marina.
The marina is run by run Cubanacán
SA that is a state corporation, established in 1987 to
operate hotels in Cuba.
At the entrance of the marina, the
vessels should follow a very narrow channel through shallow
coral islands. The vessels should avoid entering the marina
at nights, as the channel marker lights are difficult to
distinguish from city lights on the background.
The four deep navigation channels
(each one 30 meters wide and 5 meters deep) are designed against cyclones
and have complete accommodation infrastructure to provide
the crew the basic services like drinking water,
electricity, fuel, communication (phone & internet), cable
TV, laundry, ice, showers, weather information service etc.,
if they would prefer to stay on board (up to 200 vessels).
For unforeseen events, the marine repair service and the
naval hardware, the medical service and the pharmacy, and
the Cybercafé (for internet) are available.
For those that would prefer to stay in hotel, the hotels in the marina like the Hotel El Viejo y El Mar and the Hotel Club Acuario are good options, because besides the many facilities of the hotels, the area of the marina is intended to serve to the semi-closed community with its many facilities, such as the supermarket, boutiques, tobacco shop (tienda de tabacos), restaurants, cafés, discos, water sports, freshwater and saltwater pools, parks, walking paths, post office among other services. In addition, Havana is only for 10 minutes by taxi.
On the other hand, Marina Hemingway has a wide variety of bungalows and residences with 1 to 4 air-conditioned rooms, all with private slips, satellite TV, phone, bar, chambermaid and other facilities.
There are also some good restaurants in Marina Hemingway, such as La Cova (former Pizza Nova) (Italian restaurant) and Dai Boa Lu (Chinese restaurant). Snack Bar El Dorado, Papas Bar and Cafeteria Chan Chan are other places to rest and drink.
The Marina Hemingway is remembered
also by the fishing tournament called after Ernest Hemingway in
the past.
Marina Hemingway's entrance is
controlled. If you are not staying in the marina, you will
not have any problem, if you are driving a rent car with “T
(turismo)” plate in front. The pedestrians may be stopped at
the entrance; however, the officials don't make a sound when
they see that you're a foreigner. The restriction for
the Cubans on the
entrance is softening more and more.
