Laguna de Leche

Where is Laguna de Leche?

Countries on its shores: Cuba.

Largest lake of: Cuba.

Middle of the lake: 22.20° N, 78.62° W

The story behind it

Laguna de Leche means «Milk Lagoon» in Spanish, and the name fits. The bottom of the lake is made of limestone, a pale rock. When the level of the nearby sea rises and falls, it also moves the water in the ground, and this stirs tiny bits of lime from the lake bed into the water. That makes the lake look milky white. The lake is shallow: the water is only a little more than 2 metres deep. In 1940 people dug a channel from the lake to the Bay of Buena Vista on the Atlantic coast. Sea water flowed in, and the lake lost its white colour. In 1988 the channel was closed, and slowly the milky colour came back. Caribbean flamingos live on the lake and its islands. And every year there is a traditional water carnival with decorated boats.

Find it on the globe

Laguna de Leche is there as a small blue dot with its name, right on the water. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.

It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.