Boca de Yumuri

The Yumurí comes down through a narrow limestone canyon and meets the Caribbean at a small village, and the meeting is abrupt: dark green river, a bar of stones and sand, and open sea. Rowing boats take visitors a short way up into the gorge where the walls close in and swifts come out of the rock. The beach at the mouth is stones rather than sand, the village sells polymita snail shells that should not be bought, and the road out from Baracoa is worth the drive on its own.

What you actually see

• The river mouth - the Yumuri meeting the sea across a bar of stones.
• The gorge - limestone walls closing in a short way upstream, entered by rowing boat.
• The swifts - birds nesting in the canyon walls and coming out over the water.
• The coast road - the drive east from Baracoa, with bridges and small bays along it.

When to go

November to April is drier and the river is clearer. After heavy rain the Yumuri runs brown and fast and the boats do not go up. Mornings are quieter, before the day trips arrive from Baracoa.

Honest expectations

Boatmen and sellers at the village are persistent and prices are quoted high to visitors. Polymita snail shells are sold openly here and buying them drives the collection of a threatened endemic species. The beach is stones and swimming at the mouth is affected by the current.

Nearby

Baracoa is half an hour west, and Humboldt National Park is on the other side of the town.