In Cuba, my family and I went on an excursion to the Bellamar Caves and to the city of Matanzas. This post will focus on the Bellamar Caves, while the following one will focus on the city of Matanzas. The Bellamar Caves are a set of underground caves in Cuba near the city of Matanzas. They are a group of caves that had no opening in them until people found them in the 18th century. The only way to access the cave is by going on a guided tour as this is a national monument and the government wants to protect it. For this tour, you descend a set of stairs until you reach the bottom of the cave from there you walk 800 or so metres until you have to turn around due to the size of the tunnel becoming too small. The caves are all lit up with motion sensor lights that show off the amazing crystals inside the caves. There is also a couple of pool of water inside the caves such as the fountain of youth and the fountain of love. This was a genuinely great experience as I would love to go back. This is also great for photos if you have the right camera as there is very few people on these tours. Part 3 will be coming soon.
Our latest camping trip was to Murphy's Point Provincial Park on June 19–20. We stayed at site 197, which we'd stayed at before back in 2021. Murphy's Point is great as it's about a 1.5-hour drive from my home in Ottawa, and it's a well-managed and well-kept park. I find there are always people around, but it never books up fully, and the sites are spread far enough apart to make it feel private. We like site 197 as it's a bit on its own, and is right beside a water tap and a short walk to the vault toilets, or a bit longer walk to the comfort station if that's more your style. Once we had camp all set up, we wanted to go for a hike before it rained, as it was calling for scattered storms later that evening. Since my wife and I had been to this park before, we had done most of the trails except for Loon Lake (which is a loop) and McParlan House Trail (which is a there-and-back trail that branches off the Loon Lake Loop). My wife is pregnant, so we wanted som...