Planning a palm trip to Western Cuba this winter

[GMann]

A few years back a few members of the forum here did a trip to Central and Eastern Cuba with Cuban palm expert Duanny Suarez. The trip was a great success, you can see the photos from that trip here:

Now I am planning a return, but this time visiting the Western end of the island. More or less picking up where we left off last time: from Santa Clara Province through to Pinar del Rio. Once again Duanny Suarez will be the guide.

I'll be flying in and out of Havanna and thinking of a 4 or 5 day itinerary, visiting the habitats of these palms:

Hermithrinax ekmaniana in Mogotes de Jumagua

Copernicia hospita in Motembo

Copernicia roigii, Coccothrinax borhidiana, and Coccothrinax miraguama roseocarpa in Matanzas

Acoelorrhaphe wrightii (blue form), Copernicia brittonorum, Copernicia x occidentalis, and Coccothrinax acuminata in Cortez

 

Is anyone else interested in coming along? If you have other palms in the area of Western Cuba that you would like to see I am sure we could fit them in the itinerary. I am pretty flexible with dates: thinking of sometime this winter, most likely between January and March. 

Last time we went it was 3 of us and we split the costs of the rental car, and paid for Duanny's meals and accomodation, he does not charge a fee for his service. Last time the family hotels we stayed at were about $35 a night, meals were $18 per day and the rental car was $200 per day.

We would be traveling to Cuba under the "Support for the Cuban people" license, that allows US Citizens to visit Cuba legally. Effectively we would be supporting Duanny Suarez in his work in conserving and raising interest about the rare palms of Cuba and staying in family run hotels and restaurants not connected with the Cuban government. "Support for the Cuban People" is a self-certify permit,  meaning you do not need to apply for it or get approval for it before you go. You simply check the box on the card they give you at the airport.

[DoomsDave]

Go! Take lots of pictures!

[JohnAndSancho]

In a perfect world, I'd love to go just for the mojo pork and the rum. But due to the way my life is set up, it's not gonna happen. 

Enjoy - and, like @DoomsDavesaid, take pics. 

 

[Dave-Vero]

I think the trip's feasible, though hurricane damage in the west looks serious.  I had to interview for renewal of my Global Entry this spring, and came to it ready to explain the Cuba trip, which I'd inadvertently left off the application.  The lack of reporting was a non-issue.  Touring with Danny Suárez in support of his great field work, and in support of small-business lodgings and such, is fine.  I bet there's plenty of birding tours.  

I have a big load of committee meetings, with 2nd week of month, Tues and Thurs predictable, also 3rd Sunday.  I've booked two cancelable trips, Jan 31-Feb 3 and Feb 28- March 6 (San Diego and SW England, respectively.  I think I've been priced out of Newport Beach).   Both evade important stuff at home, so are good for Cuba.

 

[Barry]

Gareth 

I’m interested, let me know when you have more details or want to discuss options.

Barry

[GMann]

On 10/8/2022 at 1:10 AM, Dave-Vero said:

I think the trip's feasible, though hurricane damage in the west looks serious.  I had to interview for renewal of my Global Entry this spring, and came to it ready to explain the Cuba trip, which I'd inadvertently left off the application.  The lack of reporting was a non-issue.  Touring with Danny Suárez in support of his great field work, and in support of small-business lodgings and such, is fine.  I bet there's plenty of birding tours.  

I have a big load of committee meetings, with 2nd week of month, Tues and Thurs predictable, also 3rd Sunday.  I've booked two cancelable trips, Jan 31-Feb 3 and Feb 28- March 6 (San Diego and SW England, respectively.  I think I've been priced out of Newport Beach).   Both evade important stuff at home, so are good for Cuba.

 

Don't worry about canceling your trips Dave, we will make sure to schedule it not during Jan 31-Feb 3 or Feb 28-March 6. How about sometime in early February? I think by then whatever damage palms have sustained during the hurricane, that ample time for them to grow out some new leaves and return to health.
 

On 10/8/2022 at 9:39 PM, Barry said:

Gareth 

I’m interested, let me know when you have more details or want to discuss options.

Barry

 

OK great Barry, how would early February work for you? We can discuss more via private messages if you like.

[Dave-Vero]

Cuba took quite a bashing from Ian.  The island's history was shaped in part by severe storms, notably a series starting with a cat-5 in 1846, which destroyed coffee trees, which often were replaced with sugar cane, which made for vastly worse working conditions.   The storm also wrecked Key West and places far to the north, including Charleston.  

[A. Cubiñá]

I am also interested. Let me know when you have a better idea on the dates.

 

Saludos,

Alejandro

[GMann]

This trip was again a great success. Duanny is a fantastic guide, highly recommend. Here is a short summary video of the trip:
 

 

[Cindy Adair]

Enjoyed the video! Thanks!

So many beautiful palms!

[palmfriend]

Very cool - absolutely enjoyed the video! 

Thank you very much for sharing!

 

Lars

 

[Barry]

Gareth,

Great video of our trip. It was an awesome trip all the way around. Thou these won’t compare to your video’s, here are some of my pictures from the trip. 
 

Hemithrinax ekmaniana habitat, incredible to be able to visit this site in person.

 

[Barry]

Copernicia hospital (silver)

[Barry]

Coccothrinax borhidiana

Habitat endangered by construction of homes and possibly restaurants. It is on the waterfront, prime real estate.

[Barry]

Colpothrinax wrightii

[Barry]

Copernicia gigas 

 

[Barry]

Coccothrinax spirituana (silver)

Duanny was not happy to see part of the habitat being bulldozed! 

[Barry]

Copernicia fallaensis

Very small tract of land where these grow!

[Barry]

Copernicia rigida

[Barry]

Copernicia x vespeatilionum

Which I am calling Copernicia rigida silver, not sure if the color came out great in the pictures, but it was very silver, compared to the true rigida species.

[Barry]

And then we come to the Copernicia cowellii, pretty incredible to see this many and how large they are!

[Barry]

Copernicia baileyana (silver)

[Barry]

This is the family of Finca and Francisco de Porcayo where the baileyana silver grow on there farm. Four generations of family live there with Francisco being 100 years old.

[Barry]

And Gareth is correct, Duanny was a spectacular guide for our trip. He took care of everything, including keeping an eye over us! I always felt safe with him everywhere we went. He had the contacts and locations to get us to the palms. We learned that they are not taking people to the top of the magote, where the Hemithrinax ekmania grow. But Duanny knew the local caretaker of the protected land. We traveled over a lot of territory during our 10 days there and thinking about planning to make another trip to the eastern end of the island.  We did not get to see. We were in the backroads of Cuba, not seen by many Americans or tourists from other countries. The people are very friendly and social. To see all of these palms in habitat was incredible, but to also see the Island of Cuba and experience it was just as rewarding!

Barry

[Neil C]

Wow......totally amazing 👍

Regards Neil

[aztropic]

Barry,

Great shots of some of the rarest palms in habitat! Photos of Coccothrinax spirituana are almost non existent,and yours give me a better idea of what my little one may look like some day.

Here are a couple of my rare cubans grown under desert conditions in Arizona to compare. (spirituana,hemi,and cowellii)

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona 

[GMann]

Fantastic photos Barry

[Barry]

On 2/25/2023 at 6:23 PM, aztropic said:

Barry,

Great shots of some of the rarest palms in habitat! Photos of Coccothrinax spirituana are almost non existent,and yours give me a better idea of what my little one may look like some day.

Here are a couple of my rare cubans grown under desert conditions in Arizona to compare. (spirituana,hemi,and cowellii)

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona 

Scott,

it looks like you are doing a great job with these! I killed my spirituana, need to get another one from Mike Harris. Also need to get a cowellii, so I can get it to some kinda of size before I die.

 

[Barry]

7 hours ago, GMann said:

Fantastic photos Barry

Thanks Gareth. Your videos cam out really great! Amazing for the size of the camera.

[LP305]

Those are some of the best pictures ever taken of Cuban palms in habitat.  Itching to visit.

Thanks for sharing.

[GMann]

On 2/25/2023 at 4:27 PM, Barry said:

Coccothrinax spirituana (silver)

Duanny was not happy to see part of the habitat being bulldozed! 

 

They were cutting them down when we visited the place 6 years ago too. You could see loads of them cut down on the side of the path. Possibly this habitat is not going to last long. 

Ironically those palms in the US would be worth $400 each for the small ones and at least $1,000 for the really tall ones.  That is how much the more common "Macroglossa" go for, whereas this one is even more silver and not in cultivation at all yet as far as I know. (Edit: looks like I was wrong, sounds like Mike Harris is selling these palms in a small size)

[GMann]

For clarification, Barry and I both visited the Western part this year, but then Barry continued on with his friend Alex and Duanny to visit central Cuba, the same region I had visited with Duanny back in 2017.

[GMann]

Video from the trip of the Cuban Belly Palm (Colpothrinax wrightii) in Pinar del Rio:
 

 

[LP305]

3 hours ago, GMann said:

Video from the trip of the Cuban Belly Palm (Colpothrinax wrightii) in Pinar del Rio:
 

 Those are great pictures. Usually one whizzes by these palm trees on  the main highway on car on the way to see the mogotes, so it's a treat to walk among them. One question; did you see any baby palm trees being recruited, or is the livestock eating all the babies? 

 

[GMann]

1 hour ago, LP305 said:

 

I dont remember seeing any young ones. But they do use those palms for a host of purposes: thatch, pillars, canoes (traditionally) and even trash cans. they are kind of a tourist attraction in and of themselves, they are there next to the rest stop on the main highway. So perhaps they are growing a lot of them elsewhere?