Cojímar is a district in Havana, Cuba, forming a ward that is part of the Habana del Este municipality. Its population is 20,390. It was an inspiration for Ernest Hemingway's 1952 novel The Old Man and the Sea. It was also the location where during the 1940s an enormous great white shark was caught, which is one of the contenders for the largest specimen of all …Cojímar is a district in Havana, Cuba, forming a ward that is part of the Habana del Este municipality. Its population is 20,390. It was an inspiration for Ernest Hemingway's 1952 novel The Old Man and the Sea. It was also the location where during the 1940s an enormous great white shark was caught, which is one of the contenders for the largest specimen of all time. However, there is considerable controversy about the accuracy of great white shark measurements taken before modern times.