Return to Cuba

Return to Cuba – March 5 and 6 , 2012

As the sky started to lighten in the east the Cuban coastline and the distant mountains became visible. The shoreline was scattered with the bright lights from the resorts making it difficult to identify the lighthouse at the entrance to Bahia de Vita. As we got closer the steady, if not bright, pulse of the light was discernible. All four boats that had left from Hog Cay arrived together with a fifth approaching from the east.

 Fishermen just outside the Bahia de Vita entrance. Note the Styrofoam hull.

 A campismo at the entrance to Bahia de Vita. These are reasonably priced, rudimentary vacation accommodations where Cubans are given priority over foreign tourists.

 Sail Away, Mascaret and LaRose des Vents V were just a few minutes behind us.

We did not make contact with the guarda frontera until we had taken down the sails and were preparing to make our entrance into the channel. In fact, we called them before they called us.There was no little boat to guide us down the channel as there had been the previous year. Alexi was probably not at work yet. We were on our own. Using the NV charts on a lap top computer as the detail on the chart plotter from the Navionics chart are not very good for the area, we passed through the well-marked channel and had the anchor set by 7:30 AM next to Suncast who had arrived the day before but not yet checked in.

We had our morning coffee and tidied up the boat in preparation for the officials to come aboard. Just after 8:00 AM the shuttle brought Dr. Rolando out. Prior to leaving Hog Cay we were able to use our kindle e-book reader to access the internet via the cell phone tower at Duncantown and send an email to let him know that we were on our way and would arrive in the morning. We each filled out a basic questionnaire about our health plus one for the boat and were given our Libre Platica meaning we could go to the dock and continue with the check in procedure.

Libre Platica

Dr Rolando was excited to see us. We spent more time visiting than doing official business before Tom delivered him to the next boat.

The marina staff had to shuffle boats around in order to make room for the six boats that were arriving that morning. The staff on duty were not as efficient as Alexi’s who was on a day off. With the help of the cruisers space was made to fit everyone in.

At the dock the rest of the officials paid their visits. One man, whose title I didn’t know, collected our passports and returned with visitors visas. Next we were visited by immigration and customs, two gentlemen that I recognized from last year. They asked for a count of GPS, VHF, computers, SSB radios and SAT phones. We gave them each a copy of our boat registration. I had to set up my computer and printer to make the copies while they waited as I had forgotten that the registration had been renewed and the copies I had on hand were outdated.

Aduana

The drug dog was a pretty, all black cocker spaniel. She was very methodical and thorough as she sniffed her way around the cockpit and interior of the boat. She was followed by her human colleagues who examined the more easily accessible under bed storage spaces and lockers. They were satisfied that we were not bringing any contraband items or persons into the country.

The veterinarian did not need to come on board as we had no live animals on board. The representative from the department of agriculture said he would see us the next morning.

The flamboyant Tina was no longer working in the marina office. She had been transferred to a position on the big tourist catamarans (a.k.a. booze cruises) but was at the marina that day for some computer training. She was happy to see us and said that she would rather be at the marina full time. No doubt she will earn more tips on the catamarans, especially with her personality, but will have to work harder.

We arranged for a taxi to take us in to Guardalavaca so we could go to the bank and get some Cuban currency. We wanted convertible pesos and national pesos. We tried to do both banking transactions at the cadeca in the Camelon resort but they do not do credit card transactions. We had to go to the bank first to get the convertible pesos then back to the cadeca to change some of them into national pesos. The taxi driver was quite willing to shuttle us back and forth without asking for anything above his standard fee of $15 CUC as well as waiting for us as we had lunch on the beach and spent some time in Guardalavaca before heading back to the marina.

The next morning the agriculture inspector and his trainee wanted to see our fresh fruits and vegetables. They made a few notes but did not take issue with anything we had on board. We have heard from other cruisers checking in at Varadero that they had had their supplies of frozen meat sealed and uncooked eggs confiscated.

M de Agricultura

 They gave us this document that we needed to keep for presentation at our next port.

We signed a marina contract for 15 days with the option to do an extension if we decided to stay longer. The daily rate of .65 CUC per foot included water and electricity. The other fees we had to pay were $20 CUC for the customs inspection, a $10 CUC stamp fee for temporary importation of the boat, $5 CUC for the veterinarian/agriculture inspection and $15 CUC each for the tourist visas.

We joined Sail Away when they made their bank run to Guardalavaca. They had the misfortune of having a credit card declined and only saved it from being destroyed by being fluent enough in Spanish to convince them to hold it until a call could be made to the bank to have the problem sorted out. Making an international telephone call from Cuba can be an expensive challenge. First you need to locate an international phone. Then you need to purchase an international phone card from an etecsa outlet. The charge for the call is $1.40 per minute. A $5 card will not last very long, especially if you need to call an institution that uses an automated system to direct your call or you get put on hold. After several attempts it was determined that the card could not be reactivated and the bank either would not or could not send a replacement card to Cuba. We never travel with only one credit card.

 I tried to collect the ingredients to make my own mojitos and was getting directions for a supply of fresh mint from the cashier in one of the little tiendas when his friend, a horse and buggy driver, offered to take us to the residential side of Guardalavaca where he thought we could get some from a local garden.

 A typical ponchera where the locals get their tire repairs, no mint garden in sight.

Our transportation waiting patiently while we took the driver for a drink,

.... bought loaves of crusty bread for 8 national pesos or about 32 cents,

... and fresh vegetables from the back of this truck.

We never did find any mint.

Back in the tourist market I purchased a music CD by the well-known Cuban musician, Pablo Milanes. I was assured that it would be a good choice if you like “feelin” music. According to my guide book “feelin” is a recognized category of Cuban music. My other purchase was an original print on banana leaf paper done by one Orlando Carralero Glez, an instructor at the art college in Holguin. It was refreshing to find a piece that has not been mass produced and the subject matter is not a classic American automobile. The artist assured me that it would not be necessary to have an official government stamp to take his artwork out of the country.

Marina Vita

The Ragged Islands – February 29 to March 4, 2012

Once again we used the nearly uninhabited Ragged Islands as our path out of the Bahamas and on to Cuba. From Thompson Bay on Long island we steered for the Comer Channel with a ten knot wind on our stern.  After passing to the south of Little Exuma Island we made a turn to port, travelling on the west side of the Jumento Cays at the top of the Ragged Island Chain.

Ever trying to be self-sufficient we had two fishing lines out on rods. Nothing edible was brought on board but we were entertained. Shortly after midday three hooks had been snatched and spit out and one more bitten off. A large barracuda was landed and released on starboard while his brother on the port side swam away with the hook, line, reel and rod after breaking the rod holder!

 We anchored at Flamingo Cay, sans fresh fish for dinner, with Sail Away and La Rose des Vents V just off of Two Palms Beach.

In the morning we continued to move south down the Ragged Island chain. About two hours from Raccoon Cay we were hailed on the radio by the catamaran Amazing Grace, who had made the crossing with us in 2011. They were just returning from Cuba and apprised us of adverse crossing conditions.  They reported southeast winds of 20 to 25 knots, quite a bit higher than forecast, and 6 to 8 foot waves near the Cuban coastline, conditions that Polar Pacer likes the least.  It was our intention to use Raccoon Cay as the jumping off point as we had the previous year and we were concerned that if we did not cross in this window we might not get another opportunity for weeks. We went over the ditch bag check list and had an early dinner, still planning an early morning departure. In the end we came to our senses and decided to wait. It was just not worth getting beat up for.

The next day we moved down to Hog Cay and an anchorage that would provide more weather protection for the next couple of days. The Ragged islands are not known for an abundance of all-round protected anchorages and it is common to have to move frequently to avoid uncomfortable ocean swells that come around the cays. Middle Pen Bay on the west side of Hog Cay was suitable while we waited two days for the weather window we needed.

Hog Cay is inhabited by goats only. There must be a source of fresh water on the cay somewhere as they are not tended by anyone.

This cutie couldn’t quite keep up with mom when she heard us coming and scuttled off in the dense brush.

Another little one.

The Ragged Island Regulars have used found objects to mark some passable routes to the ocean beaches.

A fossil in progress.

The wait time at Hog Cay afforded an opportunity to practice adapting my bread recipe to make cinnamon buns.

Not exactly Cinnabon but an acceptable alternative under the circumstances.

Speaking of found objects. This pot luck happy hour venue has  been built from objects found on the beach. Note the construction grade bamboo poles. They are not native to the island.

Sun Cast also arrived in the anchorage to stage for a crossing to Puerto de Vita, Cuba. Their preference was to leave early in the morning and cross in daylight for an afternoon arrival while we intended to depart in the early evening and make landfall early in the morning. As we left the Bahamas just before sunset we heard Sun Cast calling us on the VHF radio as clearly as if they were right next door. They had  heard us talking on the radio to another boat in the Hog Cay anchorage and were  wondering where we were as they could hear us very clearly as well. They were approaching the entrance to Puerto de Vita and were being hailed by the Cuban coast guard whom we could also hear. The VHF propagation was amazing.

The great ball of fire dips into the ocean once again.

Long Island Revisited – February 17 to 28, 2012

Joe’s Sound on Long Island has become one of our favorite stops and was our destination after a short stay in Georgetown. About six hours after leaving Georgetown we had crossed Exuma Sound via the Middle Rocks and North Channel Rocks waypoints and were anchored in the narrow channel that is Joe’s Sound.

 Not long after the anchor was down the strong current swung us towards the shore and our starboard rudder was on the bottom.

We put out a stern anchor and used it to hold us in the deeper water. After reviewing the predicted weather pattern for the next few days Tom decided that it would be better to turn around in order to have the bows pointed north where the stronger winds were expected from. It was a tricky manoeuver to get the two anchors back up and down again with the current pulling us along the channel and the wind off our beam pushing us into the shallow water. Let it be said that we should have been using the marriage-saver headsets for that exercise.

After working on the ever present job list for a while we took the dinghy out to explore the channels that are defined at low tide.

We ran out of enough water for the dinghy twice and had to turn around without reaching the other side of the sound.

The water was clean and warm and I walked/swam back to the boat. By the time I did the short swim across the deep channel the current from the incoming tide was quite strong. I had to swim at an angle away from the boat and the current pushed me upstream to the stern. Knowing my limitations as a swimmer, Tom stood by with the dinghy in case I needed rescuing.

A sunset wiener roast on the beach was organized for dinner. The fire was built with a perfect view of the sunset over Galliot Cay. We landed the dinghies on the small rocky beach next to the ruins of the Galliot Cay Yacht Club. Our bannock encrusted hot dogs (in lieu of hot dog buns) were a hit, even with the kids who claimed not to like hot dogs.

The Cape Santa Maria Resort is a dinghy ride away from the anchorage at Joe’s Sound but is open to Exuma Sound and unless you have a much bigger dinghy than ours you will probably get wet.

A stop at the Stella Maris Marina and Resort were also on our Long Island itinerary. We needed to do laundry, use the internet and clean the salt off the decks. Polar Pacer had not had a fresh water bath since marsh Harbour about seven weeks earlier.

We needed slack tide before we could tackle bringing up the anchors in the narrow channel. With headsets in place Tom pulled in the slack on the stern anchor as I let out more rode on the bow. We used a bit of engine to keep us off the shoals. Once the stern anchor was off the bottom and up on the back deck, Tom pulled up the bow anchor while I took the engine controls and followed his directions. Twenty minutes later we were freed and making our way out of Joe’s Sound. No yelling. No miss-communication.

We had a patch of coral to cross on the way to the marina. With the sun directly in front of us and scattered clouds above it was difficult to spot the dark patches in the water and then make the differentiation between a cloud shadow and a dangerous hard bit.

The channel marking system in to Stella Maris Marina was still intact after being subjected to the forces of Hurricane Irene in 2011.

 Polar Pacer in Stella Maris Marina.

A young manatee made a rare appearance in the marina, attracting a lot of attention. Manatees are not common anywhere in the Bahamas and there was considerable speculation as to how this one came to be there.

It is doubtful that it would have been strong enough to have come across the Gulf Stream from Florida but possible that it could have travelled north from Cuba or the Caribbean.

The Speed Queen Laundry near the marina was still functional after being flooded by Irene with a foot of salt water. The proprietor’s attached home was flooded as well and there was damage to the building’s roof. The only government support that was available to help Cynthia recover from the damage was some cleaning supplies. She was on her own for the rest. I was glad that Cynthia’s postage stamp collection was intact and I was able to make some contributions to it.

With the laundry done and a few boat jobs taken care of we were free to go and play at the resort for an afternoon. The resort shuttle picked us up as well as a snorkeling group that had been dropped off a few miles down island earlier in the day.

The other pick up location was the site of the former Millarton All Ages School that was abandoned with the introduction of a school bus that transports students to a larger, newer school where each grade has its own teacher and classroom.

My archeological observations revealed that the facility was last used for instruction in straw weaving.

Someone’s hard work, left behind.

The view from the Moonshine Beach Bar at the Stella Maris Resort..

Thompson Bay was our last Long Island stop and the last place we could provision before heading for Cuba. We spoke to boats who had just returned from Cuba and heard about their trips as well as others who were potential travelling companions for our upcoming passage.

A fishing fleet returning to Thompson Bay.