Jutting out into the Caribbean Sea between Batabanó bay to the west and Cienfuegos bay to the east, Zapata peninsula is home to the long, narrow Bay of Pigs. This flat landscape lies right at sea level and floods regularly, hence its name "ciénaga" (marshland), and is protected by a national park. Since the 1970s, sugar plantations and some of the most important citrus orchards on the island, have been developed here.