1 December 2012 Vero Beach, Florida
We woke up in a “real bed” – Glenys didn’t sleep very well because the bed was too narrow, too short and too soft – you can’t please everyone…
We called in at a Saturday market at Fort Pierce and then asked Mike to take us to a supermarket to take advantage of his car, where we stocked up ready to go to Cuba in a few weeks – tins of essentials like tomatoes, big bags of rice, pasta, beer etc.
Back on the boat, I replaced 10 bulbs in the saloon with LED lamps that I’d had delivered to Mikes’ house – they cost me $200, but will substantially reduce our power drain with the lights on. I also fitted a new VHF radio handset in the cockpit to replace the one that stopped working in Charleston.
We had a quiet night in.
2 December 2012 Vero Beach, Florida
I did a few more jobs. The outboard is still playing up, so I checked the fuel filter – there was water in it, so I cleaned it out but it’s still stalling at low revs. I’m running out of ideas now. I finally fitted some plastic tubes over the shrouds to protect the genoa and stay sail sheets that are being torn up when we winch the sails in tight.
I tried out the new finger picks that I bought a couple of days ago and didn’t like them at all. We had a good internet connection again, so I did some more research on finger nails. A lot of professional players, such as James Taylor, add false acrylic nails to their right hand, which is supposed to be very strong, but “looks a bit weird” – I don’t fancy the hassle of that. Then I read about some really good guitar players who play with just their finger tips on steel stringed guitars. This sound like the way to go, so cut off my finger nails and wiped off the strengthening nail varnish.
“San Miguel” rafted up with us yesterday, so we stepped across to have a beer with Joe and Lizbeth on - we last saw them in Deltaville a month or so ago.
3 December 2012 Vero Beach, Florida
My lower back has been aching for months, so we caught the free bus into town this morning and I went to a chiropractor. He readjusted my spine and gave me some electro-treatment. My lower back feels a little bit less restricted, and I’m going to go back in a couple of days’ time for a bit more work. I’m a little annoyed that I had to pay for the treatment – we have quite expensive medical insurance, but it doesn’t cover chiropractic costs, but at least it was only $50 for the session.
We met Ron & Judy from “Pioneer” on the bus, who gave us some more information about Cuba. It sounds like there’s a bit of hassle at the Marina Hemmingway in Havana – the locals have got used to demanding tips for everything. Judy suggested that Varadero is a better place to clear in and to use as a base to go touring the island – they spent three months there last year. They also think that Marathon is a better place than Key West to wait for good weather to cross to Cuba. We may change our plans (again.)
Back on the boat, we pottered around for the rest of the afternoon doing a few small jobs, then went to have a beer with Thierry and Claudia on “Vanupeids”.
4 December 2012 Vero Beach, Florida
We had our six new AGM batteries delivered this morning. The delivery man left them on the fuel dock and we rushed back to Alba to come alongside. It only took me thirty minutes to swap the batteries over, but it was hard graft hauling the very heavy batteries up and down the companionway steps – my chiropractor would have been horrified. The batteries are called “Intimidators”, obviously some salesman on drugs thought that one up.
While we were on the fuel dock we filled up with water, diesel and bought some more gasoline. The marina has special Ethanol-free gasoline which is not available to road users. I’m hoping that this will sort out the problems that I’ve had with the outboard, although I’ve got a few more days of suffering because I still have a few gallons of crap fuel in the dinghy fuel tank.
Back on the mooring, I spent the rest of the morning tidying up the wiring in the battery compartment. Over the years, the previous owner had added pieces of equipment and there was a rats-nest of wires, all connected with screw “choc-blocks” which I removed and replaced with crimp connectors.
I spent the afternoon chilling out. Glenys has been working hard at looking at the various anchorages that we can visit on the way down towards Key West. It would appear that there aren’t a huge number of places that we can stop because we’re very constrained by our 6’ 8” draft.
5 December 2012 Vero Beach, Florida
Our batteries were still at 12.5 volts this morning which means that they are still 75% charged which is fantastic considering that we gave them a good thrashing last night by watching a movie and then using the computer until late. Our old batteries would have been down below 12 volts.
We went into town in the morning to go to the chiropractor. He readjusted my spine again, which moved (clicked) much more than on Monday, so I think that the vertebrae are now back in their proper places.
In the afternoon, we lounged around and then went out for a meal with Thierry and Claudia from “Vanupieds” – it was Thierry’s 50th birthday, so I gave him a packet of Q-Tips to remind him of his age. We ended up back on “Vanupieds” opening a bottle of champagne which went down well after the two bottles of wine that we consumed over dinner.
6 December 2012 Vero Beach, Florida
We both felt a bit dull this morning and it was raining, so we lurked around surfing the internet.
I’ve sort of lost my way with playing the guitar – I’m not sure what kind of music I want to play and I’m just dabbling in anything that takes my fancy. My practicing is not very focussed, so I spent most of the day looking at guitar websites and trying to decide what kind of music I really want to play and working out a better practise schedule.
I’ve come to the conclusion that I really like finger style and blues, so I’ve set myself a target to be able to perform ten technical finger style songs without music by next Christmas. In addition, I’m going to learn ten strumming songs which I can play when there’s a group of people. I just need to choose what the songs are and then practice, practice and practice.
We had a quiet night in.
7 December 2012 Vero Beach, Florida
Another day of jobs – I fitted a new sea water wash-down pump, then stripped down the old one, which took up five hours of my day.
Glenys has suddenly been motivated to pull out her concertina, which has been lurking in a locker for the past fifteen months. She spent most of the afternoon playing around and searching the internet for music that she might want to play
We met Mike and Rona at five o’clock and went to a bar to watch a very dull marine Christmas parade before going back to their house for a Chinese and more reminiscing and drinking.
8 December 2012 Vero Beach, Florida
We woke up in a proper bed again and after a luxury shower, Glenys made Egg MacMuffins for breakfast – I could get used to this. Mike and Rona took us on some errands and picked up our mail that had come from UK. There was nothing much of interest because we do most things on-line or by email. However, there was a whole load of statements and letters from our various banks and credit cards. Why on earth do banks keep sending out paper when we can do everything on line? We even get a letter every three month from our main bank telling us that we’ve not been on-line for six months – we’re on-line at least once a week - what are they on?
Mike and Rona dropped us off at boat and came for lunch.
I’d ordered a finger style guitar course which was delivered to Mike’s yesterday, so I spent the rest of the day backing up the DVDs and dipping into the course – it looks like a lot of hard work, but no one said that it would be easy.
9 December 2012 Vero Beach, Florida
We woke to another plague of crows sitting on the top of the mast. They seem to come and go. One day there are none and the next day we’ll have hundreds in the anchorage with at least ten sitting on every boat cawing away and crapping all over the deck. Glenys is sick of cleaning up after them, but shaking the rigging to scare them away only works for about ten minutes and then they’re back – perhaps we’ll have to invest in a plastic owl.
In my desperation to fix the outboard engine, I bought and fitted an extra filter to the fuel line to remove water from the fuel, but it didn’t seem to make much difference to the problem, in fact it seems a little bit worse and the outboard is still cutting out at low revs. My next plan is to replace the fuel lines and the squeeze bulb - perhaps there’s not enough fuel getting through.
I spent the afternoon messing about on the internet getting guitar music. We’ll not have any internet at all in Cuba, so I'm starting to narrow down the 20 songs that I want to be able to play and I'm busy downloading videos of people playing acoustic covers of the songs on YouTube as well as trying to decide on the best style for each song.
10 December 2012 Vero Beach, Florida
The weather forecast says that there’s some unsettled weather with a cold front coming through the area over the next few days. The winds are still from the south, so we’ll need to wait three or four days for the front to pass over and then we should get some nice north east or east winds, which will be perfect for our over-night sail south.
We’ve decided that we’ll not bother going to Miami and will go straight to Biscayne Key twenty miles further on. Glenys was checking out the anchorages and it sounds like it’s a lot of hassle. Yachts are anchoring off small islands to the West of Miami Beach and the locals living in their luxury mansions are getting pissed off with the scruffy boats. One guy has even moored a small fleet of sailing dinghies just off his house to deter anyone anchoring there – he also plays loud music and shines strong lights on any yacht foolish enough to anchor there, then calls the police to complain!
We had another lazy day on board because the weather was very unsettled – we had a cracking thunderstorm in the late afternoon. In the evening, we went for drinks on “Nuwam” with Robert and Heidi where we caught up on their escapades since they left Deltaville.
11 December 2012 Vero Beach, Florida
I finally started doing my morning exercises again – my motivation is that I’ve realised that I’ll soon be taking off my t-shirt in public. I’ve put a fair bit of weight on over the past four months while we’ve been sampling the culinary delights of the USA – hot dogs, burgers, philly cheeses steaks, etc. This overindulgence combined with very little exercise, has left me with some impressive love handles. To make matters worse, I’ve lost my tan – a white flabby body is not very attractive.
Glenys went out to the cinema with Mike and Rona while I did a job or two. There are two valves on the cooling system hoses between the engine and the hot water heater which are leaking slightly. It’s one of those jobs that could take an hour or turn into a nightmare, so I’ve been putting it off for several days. Fortunately, it only took me an hour of grunting and swearing to remove the valves, which are in an awkward place between the engine and the generator. I was forced to cut an inch off the rubber pipes, but thankfully there’s enough left to refit the valves.
Mike and Rona picked me up after lunch and dropped us in town, so that we could do some Christmas shopping. As usual, I wandered around aimlessly and bought a few small things, but I still have no idea what to “really” get her.
Back on the boat, I replaced the fuel lines between the fuel tank and the outboard, but it didn’t make any difference – the damn thing still stalls at low revs. However, I’ve discovered that if I pull the choke full out, then the engine will keep running. I’ll have to read the workshop manual again and see if it will give me any more hints.
12 December 2012 Vero Beach, Florida
I re-fitted the two valves on the engine cooling system – another half an hour of grunting and cursing while lying across the engine crushing my ribs. At least it’s another job off the list.
I sent my camera off to get it repaired over two weeks ago and UPS should have delivered it to Mike’s house, but they’ve tried three times and have now sent it back to the camera repair company. This is a pain in the neck and it took me an hour to sort it all out. UPS were useless and it took ages to talk to a real person who could tell me what had happened. I’ve now asked the camera company to send it to the City Marina in Marathon. Hopefully it will be there in a few days when we arrive – having things delivered is always one of the traumas of living on a boat and having no fixed address.
We took advantage of the excellent internet connection for the rest of the afternoon. We were both looking for sheet music and lessons to practice for the next few months. It will be a bit of a culture shock not having any internet access while we’re in Cuba, so we’re making the most of it while we have such a good link.
In the late afternoon, I remembered that I needed to recharged the fridges with Freon – I’ve still not found the leaks and I’m hoping that there is a cruiser living in Marathon who will have the correct gear and will be able to help me sort it out. While I had the floorboards up, I found that there’s a lot of diesel in the bilges and after some investigation found that the fuel pump for the generator is leaking. I’d noticed a very small leak a few months ago, but it has become much worse. I’ve got a spare pump, but I ran out of time to sort it out – a job for tomorrow.
13 December 2012 Vero Beach, Florida
We’re still here in Vero Beach – they don’t call it “Velcro” Beach for nothing. We’ve been here for over two weeks and we’re keen to get moving again. The wind has finally come around to the north, but the predicted cold front has not passed over yet and it looks like it will be very windy tomorrow, so we’ll wait another day…
I tackled the generator fuel pump, which was easy enough to do once I’d pulled the salon to bits. It took one and a half hours to remove the dining table and floorboards, half an hour to replace the pump and an hour to clean up and put everything back together. I then ran the generator for a couple of hours and everything looks to be working OK. That’s another job to cross off the list which has been lurking around for a few months.
Glenys looked at our various credit cards and bank accounts and found that Lloyds and Halifax have suddenly started to charge us an extra 3% for every foreign transaction, which is a damn nuisance. Halifax has another credit card that doesn’t charge anything for foreign transactions, so Glenys tried to apply for that one on-line and failed miserably – the web site keeps reporting a problem.
In the afternoon, I had another look at our outboard engine. I read the manual and the only thing that I haven’t changed is the low speed jet needle, which I didn’t want to touch because I didn’t want more problems caused by not being able to adjust the carburettor properly. Taking a deep breath, I removed the needle, sprayed carburettor cleaner in to the hole and fitted a new needle. Low and behold, the engine now runs smoothly – fingers crossed that I’ve finally solved the problem.
We went out for a meal at a beach bar with Mike & Rona. They had a live band which cut down on the reminiscing on the good old days, but we still drank too much…
14 December 2012 Vero Beach, Florida
Overnight the wind veered around to the north-east and should be more easterly tomorrow, so we’re definitely going to go in the morning. We declared today a holiday and went to the cinema to watch “The Hobbit”, then did a bit of last minute shopping before returning to the boat where we got ready for sea – pulled up the outboard, stowed the dinghy on deck, stowed the cases of beer and generally tidied up.
We had a quiet night in - both feeling a bit apprehensive about sailing overnight. We’ve been here on this nice protected mooring for seventeen nights, which is the longest that we’ve stopped anywhere for about a year. We’ve become land lubbers.
15 December 2012 Vero Beach to Key Biscayne, Florida (Day 1)
Bizarrely, we woke up to a foggy morning – our first for months. We dropped the mooring anyway and motored out into thick mist, which unfortunately became thicker as we got to the Intra Coastal Waterway. Thank goodness for our little chart plotter that shows our position on an electronic chart – it’s incredibly accurate here in the USA. All I had to do was punch in the position of the next buoy, motor in that direction and the buoy loomed out of the fog dead ahead. I wouldn’t trust the charts or the GPS in these conditions in the Caribbean, but here it’s spot on.
It took us two hours to motor to Fort Pierce Inlet, where we anchored just off the Coast Guard station, so that I could climb up the mast (again!) and put the VHF antenna back at the top of the mast. While I was at the top of the mast, Glenys found the arm from our Windex wind direction indicator on the deck. It’s been snapped off by something, but I’m sure that we haven’t hit a bridge, so I guess that one of the bloody crows that have been plaguing us in Vero Beach had perched on it.
We motored out against a strong current into a fairly calm wind. Typically for the East coast of the States, the seas were confused with a two metre swell rolling over the shallow seabed. There wasn’t much wind, so we rocked and rolled for a while until we had the sense to motor a bit further off-shore where it settled down a little bit and the wind picked up.
It’s awkward down this section of the coast because the Gulf Stream, which runs at 3½ knots towards the north, is only four miles off the shore - if we got it wrong would slow us down considerably. Our strategy was to stay within three miles of the shore line which made the passage a little bit more stressful – it’s much easier being ten miles from the nasty, hull-breaking land.
For the rest of the day, we had winds between 15 and 25 knots from 60 degrees off our port bow, which combined with the confused seas made it difficult to read a book or do anything without feeling a bit queasy – it’s been nearly a month since we’ve been a sea and it showed. Hey, but at least we were sailing again…
16 December 2012 Vero Beach to Key Biscayne, Florida (Day 2)
The night watches were unpleasant in the confused seas, but we survived. It was interesting as we went past Fort Lauderdale and Miami before dawn because the cruise ships were queuing up to get into port before breakfast. At one point I had six cruise ships in sight. They’re a nuisance because they vary their speed erratically depending on their particular schedule – you could have one doing fifteen knots to get to port and another one that is wandering around at three knots because they’re early – it’s hard to tell what they’re doing.
Just after dawn, I hove-to just to the north of the ship channel into Miami Port because I didn’t want to argue with a huge container ship that was coming in – I “might” have made it across the channel, but I doubt that Glenys would have been impressed being awoken by a huge ship splitting Alba in half.
As we approached the entrance to Key Biscayne, the wind was still 20 knots from the south east, so we abandoned our original plan of continuing onto Rodriguez Key (which is not very well protected) and went into Biscayne Bight which is a lovely protected anchorage.
We collapsed for the rest of the day reading our books, napping and watching the locals arriving on their boats for their Sunday afternoon party-time. It was chaos with huge powerboats boasting three-storey inflatable water slides, jet skis, a fleet of optimists and fifty or so small powerboats zipping about. The centre of Miami Beach is only 5 miles away and this appears to be a very popular place. By five o’clock it had quietened down and was lovely.
17 December 2012 Key Biscayne to Rodriguez Key, Florida
The alarm clock went off at half past six. We dragged ourselves out of bed and motored west in the mirror calm waters, passing some strange houses on stilts which are on either side of Biscayne Channel – they don’t look to be inhabited, perhaps they’re some sort of bizarre holiday cottages.
It was a very uneventful trip - motoring all day against a ten knot wind that was directly against us. We followed the Hawk Channel which runs inside of an outer reef. It’s only around five metres deep and weaves its way around shallow reefs and sand bars, but the channel is half a mile wide in most places, allowing us to use the autopilot and read a book. There’s not much to see because the Florida Keys are low lying islands and we were mostly a mile away from them, however, the sea is nice and blue – we finally feel like we’re getting close to the Caribbean.
We anchored off Rodriguez Key, which is not the best anchorage that I’ve ever seen. It’s very shallow water – we dropped the hook in 2.2 metres of water about a quarter of a mile from the island. There’s no protection from the south, so I’m glad that we didn’t come here yesterday. The water is clear enough to see the grassy sea bed and I’m curious to see how the antifouling is holding up after five months, but the sun went behind clouds, making it chilly and I couldn’t bring myself to jump overboard.
18 December 2012 Rodrigues Key to Marathon, Florida
The alarm went off at half past six again – another forty mile day. The wind was light and directly against us, so we motored and had another boring trip, but at least we’ve started to see frigate birds again, which makes it feel more tropical.
There’s a damn power cable stretching across the entrance into Marathon Harbour at a height of 65 feet - we had to anchor outside, so that I could go up the mast and remove the VHF antenna AGAIN. We’ve been a little concerned about the availability of moorings because Marathon is a very popular place, with some people staying for the whole winter, but there was loads of space.
Marathon is the most organised harbour that I’ve ever seen – the facilities are excellent. There’s over a hundred and forty moorings, a huge lounge area with tables for internet access, two TV viewing areas, a book swap library, a workshop area, laundry and twenty washrooms. The dinghy dock even has rules – hard dinghies only on this dock, inflatables only on this dock, painters should be between three to six feet in length, etc, etc.
19 December 2012 Marathon, Florida
We listened to the VHF radio net at 0900 on channel 68. There was the usual chatter that one gets whenever there are a load of permanent residents – announcements for yoga classes, carol singing on Christmas Eve, treasures of the bilge, etc. It was nearly an hour long.
We did the usual things that we do when we arrive somewhere i.e. laundry and checking out where the local shops are, so we walked a few miles in the beating sun. Marathon doesn’t have any town centre. It’s all spread along the main road running between Miami and Key West- the strip of land is very narrow being only half a mile wide. There’s a couple of big supermarkets, a big hardware store and a West Marine store, so we can stock up on anything else that we might need in Cuba. We spent $150 of two pairs of sandals – I’ve been wearing my Keen sandals continuously for 20 months and I’ve worn out the soles.
I found out that my damn camera has only just arrived back at the camera repair company and they are planning to send it out today. The lady on the support desk kindly upgraded the delivery to be next day so hopefully, I’ll get it before Christmas.
20 December 2012 Marathon, Florida
I asked on the radio net if there was anyone who could help me with the leaks on our fridges, but had no joy. There’s a local company who charge $100 per hour, but I’m not going to pay that. I had a chat to a guy who repairs fridges, but he’s unfortunately leaving in the next couple of days. He agrees with me that I’ve probably got air and moisture in the system and, although not environmentally friendly, mentioned that I might be able to get the system purged if I charge it and then let the refrigerant out and few times. I’ll give it a go when I’ve got time.
Mike and Rona arrived just before lunch – they’re staying for a few days. We got them to take us to the supermarket to pick up enough provisions for a few days. They must be getting weary of us by now – every time that we see them, they have to go to the supermarket.
After lunch, we went for a dinghy ride into the mangroves next to the anchorage and ended up on a nice beach. We had another heavy night of trying to drink Alba dry.
21 December 2012 Marathon, Florida
A cold front came through just after dawn bringing a strong, cold, northerly wind meaning that it was far too windy to go out sailing, so we went to Key West for the day. We had a nice lunch at a beach bar and then wandered aimlessly around town, which is very touristy, but there are some nice suburbs just off the main streets.
Glenys wanted to go to the cemetery because the guide book mentions that there are some very amusing epitaphs such as; ” I told you I was sick”. Unfortunately, we didn’t see anything amusing at all and I become increasingly concerned by her unhealthy obsession with graveyards.
On the way back we stopped off at Big Pine Key and saw some of the Key Deer, which a small species of deer only found in the Florida Keys. They were nearly extinct a few years ago but there are now 300 or so living around Big Pine Key. We had another night of drinking.
22 December 2012 Marathon, Florida
The wind was still howling – I turned on the wind instruments and we had 25 knots gusting up to 35 knots, so we had to abandon our plan of going out for a sail. Mike and Rona decide that they would go back to Vero Beach, but first kindly took us to the supermarket (again!) so that we could buy some more food and drinks to top up our stores.
When they had left Glenys tidied up and restored the boat back to normal while I nipped ashore to get a better internet connection to update our web site. I spent the rest of the afternoon writing Christmas emails to family and friends. There’s over eighty emails to send, but it’s a lot easier than the old way of writing out Christmas cards by hand.
23 December 2012 Marathon, Florida
There’s only two more sleeps to Christmas. I woke up thinking about going to Cuba and the things that we’ve got to sort out before we get there. There’s going to be a whole load of paperwork to get through when we arrive, so I read through the pilot books and made sure that I have all my documentation to hand over if required.
The Cuban government still have a terrible record of civil rights abuse and censorship, so it’s difficult to get internet access and what the locals receive is heavily controlled. Glenys and I spent most of the day reading up on Cuba, planning and saving information to our laptop.
I recharged the fridge. This time I purged the system by topping it up and then letting out all refrigerant a couple of times. Hopefully this will get rid of any air and moisture from out of the system. It’s not very environmentally friendly because Freon affects the Ozone Layer, but I’ve not got many options now and the amount of Freon in our fridge is tiny – I reckon it's about 15 grams per fridge, so I don’t think that I’ll be causing the next Ice Age by myself.
24 December 2012 Marathon, Florida
It was a lovely sunny day, so we went for a stroll to the shops and bought some last minute provisions and the essential bottle of Port for Christmas. We called in at the marina lounge and my camera has finally arrived. It’s been a month since I sent it off for repair and I've been worried that we couldn't leave Florida before I got it back – how could I possibly survive without my underwater camera?
While we were in the supermarket, I searched in vain for mince pies. These are an essential part of Christmas in the UK, and it just wouldn't be the same without them. Back on the boat, Glenys magically produced a jar of mince-meat that she’d bought in Trinidad a year ago and baked a batch of the wonderful, extremely fattening pastries - I just HAD to eat a couple before they went cold.
I spent the afternoon reading while Glenys browsed the internet finding out more about Cuba. Then after dinner, we watched “Love Actually” to get us in the mood for Christmas. Glenys is feeling a little bit sad because we’re not going to see our sons for Christmas – it’s the first time that we've been apart.
25 December 2012 Marathon, Florida
Christmas Day dawned with blue skies and sun. Glenys made us a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and we quietly opened the few presents that we’d bought each other. All a bit sad really - Christmas is supposed to be about family and fun…
At lunchtime, we went ashore to a pot luck gathering of cruisers, which was okay, but there are a lot of long-term Marathon “veterans”, who are on a different wavelength to us. The conversations go something like this:
I wander up and say, “Hi, you been here long?”
“No, only a month”
“Nice, where are you heading?”
“Oh, we’re going to stay here for the winter”
“And then where are you heading?”
“Back up to South Carolina. How about you?”
“Cuba in the next few days, then Mexico, Jamaica and down to Panama by June.”
“That’s great”. Silence as he sips his beer and then starts to edge away.
Fortunately, Ron and Judy from “Pioneer” turned up and we talked some more about cruising in Cuba. We didn't eat too much at the pot luck – they’re always somewhat “bitty”, so we’d decided earlier that we’d treat the pot luck like going to the pub before having a proper Christmas dinner (another great British tradition).
Four beers later, back on the boat, Glenys managed to rustle up a very nice “Roast Pork Calypso” with all the trimmings, which went down nicely with a bottle of Chianti. After that we collapsed in our arm chairs and watched two movies, while sipping port and eating mince pies – fabulous.
26 December 2012 Marathon, Florida
The weather forecast is looking good for a crossing to Cuba tomorrow night – there’s a weak cold front coming through tonight and then we should have north-east winds of 10-15 knots. The course to Varadero is more or less south from here and the biggest danger is having a strong wind against the easterly setting Gulf Stream which can run up to 3 knots, so the light winds look perfect.
We took our propane gas bottle to be filled and Glenys swapped the wet suit that I bought her for Christmas for one that fitted better (I’ll leave you to guess whether I had bought one too large or too small…)
With our local chores done, we took the bus into Key West to clear out, which was very tedious. We left the boat at half past eight and arrived back at half past four – a long day with a lot of waiting around and four boring hours on the damn bus...
The customs in Key West have a reputation of being paranoid about boats going to Cuba. There are numerous anecdotes of the authorities being very difficult and subjecting yachts to searches, etc. When they asked where we were going, I told them that we were going to Mexico, which is true, but I neglected to tell them that we would be staying in Cuba for two months on the way. I find it difficult to understand why the American authorities are so paranoid about Cuba, particularly when the café in the airport has a whole wall dedicated to Cuba with pictures of Havana and the old planes that used to fly there before the embargo…
Back on Alba, we did some last minute preparations. I sorted out a few administrative and financial things on the internet while Glenys had a big cooking session to clear out her fridge. We’re not allowed to take uncooked meat, fruit or eggs into Cuba, so she either threw stuff away or cooked it this evening. Our dinner was an interesting melange of flavours.
27 December 2012 Marathon to Varadero, Cuba (Day 1)
First thing in the morning, we went ashore where Glenys did her final load of laundry and I sorted out a few last minute administration things. We rang our UK bank and told them that we would be using our credit and debit cards in Cuba, Mexico and Jamaica in the hope that they won’t block the cards when they are used over an extended period. While in the cruiser’s lounge, we met Pia & Goran from “Catrine” who are also crossing to Varadero tonight.
By noon, we’d taken the VHF antenna down (again) so that we can fit underneath the electrical cables strung across the harbour entrance, stowed the outboard and dinghy on deck and were refuelling at a dock on the way out of the harbour.
We anchored outside to have lunch and to allow me to go up the damn mast to put the VHF antenna back in place. I rang the Border Protection Agency for the final time to tell them that we were leaving for Mexico and we upped anchor at half past one. There was very little wind, so we had to motor south.
We encountered the Gulf Stream after a couple of hours and our speed over the ground dropped by two knots because we had to steer into the strong three knot current to maintain our rhomb line to Varadero. By ten o’clock in the evening, the wind had picked up enough so that we could sail.
28 December 2012 Marathon to Varadero, Cuba (Day 2)
We had a lovely sail all night with a full moon. It was very exciting to be making landfall at dawn in Cuba – it gave us a nice feeling when a fisherman standing on the sea wall at the entrance who shouted “Welcome to Cuba”. The approach was very straight forward through a dredged canal and into Varadero marina where some people were waiting to take our mooring lines.
We weren’t allowed to get off the boat until we had fully cleared in, which took a couple of hours. The first person to arrive was the doctor, who asked us if we were well, took our blood pressure and filled in a form. Once we were declared healthy, the other officials were allowed to come on board. Two ladies from the Ministry of Agriculture and Customs came next, filled in another three sets of forms and gave the boat a cursory search, looking for people and guns (I think). The immigration officer arrived and (worryingly) wandered off with our precious passports. Then the Guarda Nacional appeared and filled in even more forms, followed by a lady from the Veterinary Department, who came on board and inspected Glenys’s fridges and fresh food. We were left in a daze with a handful of paperwork, but it was fairly painless and the people were very friendly and courteous.
Debbie from “La Vida Dulce”, who has lived here in the marina for twelve years, introduced herself to us and very kindly took us under her wing. She’s Canadian, speaks Spanish and gave us a lot of information about the marina and the surrounding area, before taking us and “Catrine” into the small town of Santa Marta to show us around.
Walking through the town was a huge culture shock – we’ve been very spoiled and sheltered during our six months in the USA. There are market stalls selling a few vegetables, a butcher selling hacked up chunks of pork covered with flies, horse drawn carts made from old car axles, shops with their poor stocks hidden behind iron bars and classic cars from the 50s and 60s that are in various states of repair. It was almost too much to take in – I think that I’m going to love it here. However, the language is going to be a huge barrier and I’m annoyed that we haven’t taken the effort to learn Spanish while we were in the states.
One of the first places that we visited was the small bank. I’m glad that Debbie was with us because we would have struggled to find it. Glenys and Debbie went into the bank leaving Goren, Pia and me outside. Unfortunately, just before they got to the teller, a van pulled up outside and armed guards took some bags of money into the bank. All of the bank employees immediately stopped serving customers and set about counting the money. We were hanging about for an hour – welcome to the Cuban mentality.
We had lunch in a small state-run restaurant, which was very basic (pork or chicken with rice) and poor quality, but only cost $20 for a meal for five people, eight beers and a bottle of rum. We went back to the boat to have a nap.
There are only two other yachts visiting the marina – “Catrine” and, amazingly, another Hallberg Rassy 41 called “Windfall” with Per and Lena who we met a year ago in the British Virgin Islands. We all had sun-downers on a picnic bench on the dock next to “La Vida Dulce” to chew the cud.
29 December 2012 Varadero, Cuba
We had a lie-in to catch up on lost sleep, then over breakfast, we decided that we would go into Havana tomorrow and stay for a couple of nights. While we are staying in a marina, we intend to travel around Cuba by bus to see some of the countryside and cities.
Glenys walked along the dock to ask Debbie from “La Vida Dulce” to help us book some accommodation in Habana for two nights - we’ve heard that they “really” celebrate New Year’s Eve there. We’ve booked into a Casa Particular, which is a kind of bed and breakfast place. The government allow certain licensed private individuals to rent out rooms in their homes. We’re told that the quality varies immensely – some are like mini hotels and some are very basic rooms in a house or apartment. We’ve booked one that has had good reviews in the Lonely Planet guide book, so hopefully it will nice.
Having booked the accommodation, we then had to book the seats on the bus to Habana. It’s a two mile walk into Varadero, which is one of the more popular tourist areas - the town is really a five mile strip of land with nice beaches and lots of hotels.
Despite our poor Spanish, Glenys managed to get two seats booked on a bus which goes at eight o’clock in the morning. We then had lunch from a takeaway “Taco” place, before wombling back to the marina, where Debbie kindly arranged a taxi for us for tomorrow. We booked it for seven o’clock even though we don’t need to leave until half past because there’s a high chance that the taxi won’t turn up and we’ll have to order another one…
It’s very hot here - we’re definitely below the Tropic of Cancer and in the “tropics” now.
30 December 2012 Varadero, Cuba
It all started off well. The taxi actually turned up and we successfully caught the correct bus which left on time. It was a long, three hour journey, but we were very comfortable on the air-conditioned coach.
We jumped off the bus near the university and walked to our Casa Particular – this is where it all started to spiral downhill. The proprietor of the Casa opened the door and said that some of his other guests had decided to stay another week and therefore he had no space for us. However, he said that he had arranged for us to stay at a friend’s Casa, which he said was a lovely colonial house.
We hung around for twenty minutes until his mate arrived. He couldn’t speak any English and so we just followed him to his house about ½ mile away. In sign language, our new proprietor indicated that we should sit on the rundown porch, while he organised the room. Fifteen minutes later, he took us down a side passage and into what was obviously the part of the house where he normally lived – I guess he was going to go and stay at some friend’s house while we were there.
It was horrible. The room was very basic with a kitchen next door that had obviously been quickly tidied up. The guy wanted $25 per night, so I told him to stuff it and we walked out. We then had a dilemma; we were in the middle of nowhere, in a residential district and couldn’t speak much Spanish – where the hell were we going to stay? In addition, we’d stupidly not brought our passports, so I suspected that we’d have trouble trying to book into a hotel in a country where every movement of people is strictly regulated.
Glenys had a list of addresses of Casa Particulars in Habana, but no telephone numbers, so we picked one that was at the top of her preferred list, who we knew could speak English. We then walked for another half an hour to find it – all the time heading further and further away from the old city, which is really what we’d come to see.
The proprietor Armando was very helpful. No, he didn’t have any space, but he spent ten minutes on the telephone ringing around and eventually found someone that had a room free – his friend Amelia would come and pick us up. Thank God!
While we were waiting, we had a look around the ground floor of his Casa which was beautiful – marble floors and four nice rooms. Frustratingly, it was just what we wanted. The proprietor confirmed that we would have problems because we didn’t have our passports and visa with us. Apparently, they have to take the details of every guest and their passport numbers down to immigration office every day.
When Amelia arrived, she reluctantly agreed to take us for two nights with just our driving licenses as identification. I could have kissed her, because our only other option was to catch a bus back to the marina some three hours away. Before we left, Armando invited us back to his Casa for dinner on New Year’s Eve which we gladly accepted.
We climbed into Amelia’s run-down Lada and she tore through the streets taking us even further away from the old part of the city. The car was a wreck - the suspension was gone completely and she had immense trouble turning the steering wheel – it was obviously well seized up. Amelia could speak English but not very well, so it was very disturbing to listen to her babbling away, being distracted from the difficult job of driving this heap of junk.
When we finally arrived at the Casa, it was okay, so we took the room - we had no other choice because it was about two o’clock by now and we had no idea where the hell we were. After dumping our bags, we went out and had lunch in a small local pizza place before having a wander around the area. Having no other aim, we headed north-west towards the sea and amazingly managed to find it. We were obviously wandering through a residential area for local Cubans, who were going about their business and giving us the odd strange look, but we didn’t feel in any danger.
We had dinner at the Casa which was okay – shrimp with rice and beans, but a bit expensive for $10 each. After dinner, I invited some other residents to share a bottle of rum with us. They had an interesting story. The guy was from the Bahamas and had brought his nine year old, disabled niece over to Cuba to get some operations done on her legs. The lady was a Cuban nurse looking after the little girl. Apparently, it is a very common thing for Bahamians to come to Cuba where the medical treatment is low cost and very good. The little girl had an operation three weeks ago and could now stand up where before she was confirmed to sitting in her wheel chair – impressive.
We collapsed into bed at about half past nine.
31 December 2012 Varadero, Cuba
I had a terribly restless night and woke up at seven o’clock convinced that our run of bad luck was going to continue today and things could rapidly get worse. We had no passports and we could run out of money at the rate that we were spending it – without passports the banks won’t change any money. We decided to cut our losses and go back to Varadero. The only thing that I regretted was not going to Armando’s for dinner on New Year’s Eve, but that in itself could turn into a disaster – how were we going to get there and even worse how were we going to get back after midnight?
We had to do a bit of hustling to get Amelia to take us to the bus station, but it all worked out well with a bus leaving twenty minutes after we got there. Amelia helped us get tickets – we all hugged each other when we parted company which was very nice. The bus journey was uneventful and we arrived back at the marina in the early afternoon.
In the evening, we went for a meal in the Italian restaurant in the marina with Pia & Goran from “Catrine”. We met Debbie as we came out of the restaurant and everyone ended up on our boat, drinking until we saw the New Year in - a nice evening.