Castro hands over power and oil is found, is Cuba the golf destination far behind?

Travel and real estate investors just can’t wait until Fidel Castro kicks the bucket. As the 80 year-old Cuban leader enters surgery this week and hands over his power to his brother (not in tip-top shape himself), that day could be coming soon, and there is speculation once he signs off, the United States will lift their embargo they’ve had in place since 1961.

While Cuban travel is a no-no for US travelers, their borders have been open to tourists for over a decade, and many other countries, like the U.S.’s grudge-less neighbors to the north, have been puffing authentic Cohibas in the Havana sunshine for quite some time.

Of course, as the sweetest, most powerful country in the universe, ever, it will take the U.S.A.’s not-as-mighty-as-it-once-was dollar to really make Cuba boom. Even if Communism remains post-Castro, the prospect of Cuban oil has the U.S. salivating enough to lift its sanctions.

Ah, the priorities in this world.

As for golf, Cuba has a handful of courses (the first coming in 1998), and as the Caribbean’s largest island, the sky is the limit. Fazio, Doak, Weiskopf and Nicklaus’s people are all salivating to get their paws on the first four-star couse.

Whatever the case, this is exciting news for U.S. travelers who are tired of being denied access to the Caribbean’s most intriguing destination. While the Caribbean makes its buck of Jimmy Buffett-like drinkin’, boatin’ and chillin’, Cuba will bring some much needed culture (and poverty and crooked governments, but hey, that’s the Caribbean).

And don’t tell me the steel drum band that plays on the end of the cruise ship docks is culture, or the hair braiding or pirate museums is culture, either.