Cayo Levisa is a

cay A cay ( ), also spelled caye or key, is a small, low-elevation, sandy island on the surface of a coral reef. Cays occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, including in the Caribbean and on the Great ...

Pinar del Río Province Pinar del Río is one of the provinces of Cuba. It is at the western end of the island of Cuba. Geography The Pinar del Río province is Cuba's westernmost province and contains one of Cuba's three main mountain ranges, the Cordillera de Guanig ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. Accessible only through boats from Palma Rubia, the white sand beaches on its north coast attract tourism. It has several

snorkeling Snorkeling ( British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped breathing tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a ...

and

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

sites. It is part of the

Colorados Archipelago The Colorados Archipelago ( es, Archipiélago de los Colorados, also called ''Archipiélago de Santa Isabel'' and ''Archipiélago de Guaniguanico'') is a chain of isles and cays on Cuba's north-western coast. The sea surrounding the islands is us ...

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

and well known for its

black coral Antipatharians, also known as black corals or thorn corals, are an order of soft deep-water corals. These corals can be recognized by their jet-black or dark brown chitin skeletons, surrounded by the polyps (part of coral that is alive). Antip ...

Geography

The cay is roughly 1.5 km² (150 hectares) in size and 4.2 km long. It is several hundred yards wide in most points, with a maximum width of 750 m and a minimum of 280 m. It is located roughly 150 km west of

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

. Swamps cover more than three quarters of the surface of the island; the south side is inaccessible due to a forest of

mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in several ...

Climate

The average temperature in Cayo Levisa is between 21 °C and 33 °C and the water temperature varies between 1 °C and 3 °C.

Coral reefs

The

Benthic zone The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning " ...

of the coral reef was analysed in 2002 and 2003. Foliaceous and calcareous algae cover at least half of the substrate. Live coral cover was 30–40%, with ten dominant species of coral occurring more densely than sponges and gorgonians. Disease was identified in less than 3% of coral colonies, with white plague being the most common disease.

Tourism

According to ''

Rough Guides Rough Guides Ltd is a British travel guide book and reference publisher, which has been owned by APA Publications since November 2017. In addition to publishing guidebooks, the company also provides a tailor-made trips service based on customer ...

'' in 2003, the island is more developed for tourism than nearby

islands like the Cayo Jutías. A boat leaves from Palma Rubia at 11a.m. and returns at 5p.m. There is a hotel facility on the island made up of 20 cabins, as well as a restaurant and a dive centre. According to a 2006 study, it is the only cay in the archipelago to offer diving, at coral reefs of depth 5m to 30m.

References

External links

{{commons category, Cayo Levisa
Cayo Levisa
Geography of Pinar del Río Province Islands of Cuba