CUBA

BAHAMAS

Great Inugua

We visited the salt works, this is the last of the 61 ponds before the salt is washed in brine & dried


The dried salt is then ready for export



This Haitian hulk arrived in Gt Inugua to collect dis-used goods such as refrigerators to take back to Haiti for recycling. Resources are very scarce & everything is recycled, even the sails on the boat are old billboards from Miami







CUBA

Santiago de Cuba





Saliander on the dock at Punta Gorda Marina. Very few foreign boats visit Cuba, currently there are around 100 boats per year go to Santiago

Houses in the fishing village on Cayo Granma, an island in Santiago Harbour

Terra Nova arrives in Santiago, the harbour entrance is guarded by Castillo de San Pedro (Castle of St Peter) built in early 1700's

It's like stepping back in time where 1950's cars are a part of every day life. They keep them going through sheer ingenuity out of necessity

The houses in the old town of Santiago do not stand up well to the hurricanes that visit the country on occasions

Old Russian Ladas, trucks & jeeps are still a common site on the streets of Cuba

The house where Fidel grew up

There are no refrigerators at the local meat markets

Washing day

The marina held a party for "Women's Day". The music was great & after a few free rum & cokes we thought our dancing was pretty great too....

Cabo Cruz

We weren't allowed to go ashore so we explored the town from the dinghy

The local fishing boats are in dire need of maintenance

Trinidad

This busy street in Trinidad is typical of most towns we visited

People make a living any way they can, this man has set up a table on the pavement repairing watches & seemed to be getting plenty of work from passers by

The "peso pizzas" were a regular part of our diet when we were ashore sightseeing

The old town of Trinidad has been declared a World Heritage Site & is being restored with the help of UNESCO

This church is another example of the beautiful architecture found throughout the country

Cienfuegos

The "Yacht Club" which is now a restaurant overlooks the marina at Cienfuegos

People sell refreshments from the windows of their houses

The main street is always busy with people

Che Guevara is still a popular hero in Cuba & his portrait adorns many wall & billboards including this local market

The locals use any form of transport available

Bullocks are still used by the farmers for ploughing etc

It was refreshing to get up in the cooler air at El Nicho in the Escambray Mountains

View of the Escambray Mountains

Ride 'im cowboy

Terra Nova at sunset anchored out from the marina

Road trip to Havana

Michael & Sharon thought they were going home!!!!

Exploring the streets in Centro Havana

There are many monuments & landmark buildings in Havana. The one behind the flags called Capitolio Nacional is similar to the US Capitol Building in Washington DC.

Ernest Hemmingway made Cuba his home for a number of years prior to the Revolution. His frequent haunt was the bar "El Floridita" where he made Daiquiri's famous, they now have a life size statue of him at one end of the bar

Some of the architecture in Havana is quite magnificent

However the buildings that house the locals are crumbling down around them

The beat of Cuban music can be heard all around town as live bands play all the old favourites at most bars & hotels

China Town

No it's not a "Classic Car Show", but it is a common sight on any number of streets in Cuba

Back in Cienfuegos

Palacio de Valle - This ornate building covered in mosaic tiles & resembling a Moroccan Kasbah was built in 1917 by a Spaniard

The local fishing boat harbour

Spring time

Farewell dinner with Alexandra & Tim, for Sharon & Michael before their departure for Panama

Cay Largo

Finally the drought has broken, I have been chasing Bone fish all over the Bahamas trying to catch one of these little f....kers, they are so wyllie. At times I have been surrounded by them thinking yes this time, but as soon as my lure hits the water they high tail it in the opposite direction. Then there are the times when I have been stalking these little critters, like Sylvester the cat stalking Tweetie Bird, and I am just getting my aim in with a nice big long cast and what happens on my back cast, I get the flag on the dinghy, or the outboard, or the dinghy itself, or the mangroves, my shirt, my hat, or the line gets in a tangle... Bugga!!! (or sometimes that other word)
So any way here I am in (Cayo Largo) Cuba were I am sure the Bone fish are like the Cubans - smart and one step ahead of the little white gringo in the zodiac. Well off I go for a look for these little fella's armed with my only weapon of choice: one 5 wght fly rod, a hand full of shrimp pattern lures and now a bottle of pre mix of Rum & Coke to calm the nerves, or my only other option "dynamite".
Its not long before I find these little fella's muddling around in the weed with their fins out of the water as a flag saying "over here you little idiot". So here we go again six large bone fish 15 mtrs away and my Cuban Rum & Coke. At this stage I must tell you that fishing from the zodiac has its fare share of problems mainly snags all sorts of them including me and the noisy anchor and all of the above previously mentioned. Ok, first cast I drop it about 8 feet away from the mob, start to retrieve, snagged grass - lots of it. Second cast closer, all the old bad dreams start over again as they wander off in the other direction - Bastards!!! Right time for that Rum and a rethink of my stalking tactics. I really need to get away from the easy fishing on the channel sides where they get a lot pressure from other fisherman and wade deep into the sinking mud flats were these little fella's have never seen a little Gringo like me before and the guides don't like going as it is real hard work.
So there I am waiting this time for them to come to me and it’s not long before one large 8-10 lb fish turns up just 10 mtrs away. Ok take quick swig of Rum & Coke to calm the nerves, first cast about 8 ft in front, a fast retrieve as I am still in weedy territory. Well here he comes, large bow wave following the lure, my hearts racing and BINGO. Off goes this express train in a foot of water, the reel is just singing, it's going out that fast I am at the backing in no time at all and am wondering how I am going to slow him down and just when I am thinking about that great photo I am going to get - "snap” he broke me off on the one lone mangrove sprout within 300 mtrs - Bugga!!!! (well I used that other word really) Right back to the Rum bottle and I wander deeper into this swamp and it's not long till the next fish turns up. First cast and I am in, he takes off like the freight train again, but this time I am running (well walking as fast as I can) through the mud chasing him as I see him heading into the small mangrove sprouts, man these fish can go. It's not long before the backing is out again but this time luck was on my side. After what seemed like an a hour battle, but was only about five minutes, I had my very first bone fish in my hands , and I have the photo to prove it """YES""" I AM ON THE BOARD.... I caught one more before it got dark and then a long wade out.
The next day back to the same spot, Rum & Coke and all. It was a little bit quiet for a while so started wading my way out again, when I was almost out I looked back to see the little flags waving at me in the sun light, as if to say "we are hiding over here you silly little gringo", about fifty of the little fella's. So back I go, this time they're in about 2 feet of water so the chances of snagging the grass was far less, I positioned my self up stream of them and waited for them to come to me. I didn't have to wait long before I took my first cast, a little short and wouldn't you know it a small mutton snapper nailed my fly - the litter Bugga. Anyway a quick retrieve & release and I was fishing again in about 30 seconds. First cast "bang", another freight train hit, these fish just take off. Well I did this another 2 times in the space of 20 minutes before the weather started to change, I just got back to the boat before a localized storm came through the anchorage at 45 knots' causing all sorts of problems for 3 boats with anchors dragging and boom tents being blown apart.
Ok, the moral of this story, as they say "God loves a trier", and I love a Rum & Coke.

Cayo Largo del Sur

The squeeky white beaches at Cayo Largo attract a lot of foreign tourists

Cayo del Rosario

We found the "crayfish supermarket"

On board Brave Heart with Tim, Alexandra, & their crew, Anna & Ben enjoying a magnificent crayfish banquet which Anna did a wonderful job of preparing

Oh look, it's a plastic tree......

Pete spent months trying to catch a Bone fish & I caught one first time out, mind you I could hardly miss as there were literally hundreds of them

And how's this for a couple of 8lb woppers......

Pete spent the morning on a local fishing boat, they caught a great array of fish in their sein nets including Puffer fish & stingrays

Isla de la Juventud (Island of the Youth)


Another form of local transport that is poplular around the country

The main town of Nueva Gerona

Back to Havana

Marina Hemmingway was buiolt by a rich American prior to the Revolution, but never finished

The old town of Vieja is being restored with the help of UNESCO & other foreign investors

I found some interesting books at this outdoor book market in Plaza de Arms, Vieja

Valle de Vinales

Mural de la Prehistoria is 120m long & took 15 people 5 years to complete

When we stopped to take a photo these girls came running out of their house to see what we had to give them & were very happy to recieve some soap. Many country houses still have thatched rooves.

The "Pincushion Mountains"

There are very few cars on the Autopiste which runs east to west along a good portion of the country

Good bye Havana, we're on our way to Bahamas???

FLORIDA, USA

Key West

Pete went into depression for a couple of days after he had to "surrender" his Cuban cigars & rum to the American aurthorities.....

We had to go shopping to replace our fruit & veges

Fort Lauderdale

We took Penny on a "Tiki Tour" of the canals

We cleared out of Great Inagua, Bahamas to go to Cuba, but before we left we did a tour of the island. Amost all the inhabitants are employed by "The Company" Ericson, who produce Morton Salt. Their salt ponds take up a good part of the island with 61 x 10 acre ponds. The water is pumped from the ocean to the ponds at the rate of 75000 gals per minute. The brine is moved through the ponds over a period of 7 months & then the salt is ready to be extracted. There are various grades of salt all of which have different uses eg for domestic use in home cooking, salting down the fish for drying, salt lick blocks for farm animals & salt for the snow covered roads. Most of the salt is exported to USA & Canada, however the salt for the fish is sent to Iceland. We drove around the ponds to the national park boarder where we saw a great variety of bird life including flocks of flamingoes, Spoonbills, grey & white Herons, Osprey & and an Owl. There’s a huge variety of fish land locked in the ponds where the water enters from the ocean, including Bone fish which Pete got quite excited about.

We set off with Sharon & Mike on Terra Nova on 9th March & had a good overnight sail down to the Eastern end of Cuba, through the Windward Passage (between Cuba & Haiti), & along the South coast of Cuba. We passed Guantanmo Bay, where the Americans have their military base, in the middle of the night & although we couldn't see any other boats around we had the distinct feeling we were being shadowed through this area. On our arrival at Santiago de Cuba in the morning of 9th March we were given a warm welcome by the marina staff, along with our French friends Eric & Isabell on Catleya who arrived 2 days earlier from Bahamas. Our clearing in proceedure took 2 hours, but was realtively easy with all the officials comming to the boat. First we had the Doctor who checked our health (but no physical exam) & the Pest Exterminator who checked for mosquitos. Then came the 2 ladies from Agriculure who checked our fresh food supplys & rice etc for pests. The last visitors were a group of 6 men from Customs, Immigration & La Guarda Frontera (Coast Guard), plus 2 drug dogs. They were all very polite, most of whom could speak English, the rest was sign language.

To understand Cuba you need to understand their history which is very colourful & varied. So here's my version in a nut shell. The bigest changes occured in 1959 when the exiled Fidel Castro stormed the country with Che Guevara & their rebel army to oust President Batista & his corrupt government. At that time a large portion of the countryside was owned by rich Americans as were a number of large companies such as Bicardi Rum & Hersheys Chocolate. The American Marfia were also rife in Havana running hotels, casinos & brothels. By 1950's Havana was a city for the rich & famous who lived a decadent lifestyle of all night parties, gambling & debauchery. Mean while the local Cubans lived in poverty & anyone who spoke out against the Goverment was tortured & executed or imprisoned. Castro instituted over 1000 new laws & reforms in the first year to reduce the economic divide between rich & poor, such as reducing rents & electricity costs. He also confiscated basically all foreign owned businesses & properties (without compensation). The new reforms made things very difficult for the weathy foreigners & Marfia, who were basically forced to flee the country. The US government placed an embargo upon Cuba in 1961 & that embargo is still in place today. Cuba turned to Russia for support, however when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 there was no more support & Cuba entered what they call the "Special Period" that sent living standards plumeting & harsh rationing was instituted which is still in place to some degree today.

Almost everything in Cuba is owned & run by the goverment eg houses, resturants, taxis, shops, hotels etc. If you want to run your own business you need a special license which is very expensive, to operate a Cassa Particular (B&B) you pay $350pm in central Havana & $150pm in smaller towns.To put this into perspective, the Cuban wage is around $25 per month & Cassa Particulars charge $20-30 per night, so they need a high occupancy rate to cover their costs before they can even start to make money. The average Cuban has a hard time making ends meet so in order to survive they set up illegal business selling all sorts of products from their homes & on the street eg a lot of people sell anything from shoes, DVD's (pirated), pizas & refreshments from the windows of their houses & Black Market racketeering is prevalent. If they have access to a vehicle it's comon for them to run unoffical taxi service, & of course tourists are fair game for making money as unofficial tour guides. The Cuban people are very resourceful out of necessity & have a way of bending the rules – it’s a matter of survival…..
They have 2 currencies Cuban Convertables (CUC), which the tourists have to use & the locals use to purchase "non essential items". The other currency is the Peso which the locals use to purchase essential items such as basic foods & transport. 25 pesos = 1 CUC = US$1 & anything purchased in pesos is usually very cheap eg a pineapple is 15 pesos (60cents) & a piza from a street vendor is 5 pesos (25 cents). However if you go to a proper resturant & buy a piza you will pay 10CUC (=250 pesos).

In 2006 a survey showed that 28 out every 1000 Cubans own their own car (in USA th ratio was 850 per 1000) & it's still pretty much the same today. Most of the privately owned cars are Lada's from Russia & 1950's Chevy's Rambler's, Bel Air's etc from USA, which with a lot of ingenuity, the locals have become very adept at keeping them running. Horse & buggies, trucks & all types of bicycles are also an essential form of transport, along with hitch hiking. In fact the government encourages hitch hiking & provide Amerillo's to organise & flag down vehicles at official hitch hiking points on the periphery of towns, where it's common to see crowds of people waiting, sometimes for several hours, for a ride. The government owned vehicles are more modern & mainly imported from China. All government vehicles, identified by their blue license plates, are obliged to stop & pick up hitch hikers or risk being reported. However even though there aren't many cars around, there is still a problem with polution as the old cars & buses belch out black fumes from the poor quality diesel. The Cuban's are only allowed to use internet under supervision for educational purposes or if their job deems it necessary. Although there are no such restrictions for foreigners, there is no wifi & we had to go to the Etecsa (state run telephone shops) for internet which is painfully slow.

We were intending to leave the boats in Santiago while we hired a car & traveled Cuba by land, however there was a major problem with polution floating in the air from the local power station or cement works ,which as our friends on Catleya discovered, left yellow spots all over their decks & could only be removed with acid. So we covered Saliander as best we could with some old tarpolins while we visited Sanitago, 20 minutes by taxi. Our taxi was an unofficial one & we got a tour walking around the Old Town with an unofficial tour guide who worked at the marina bar & "just happened" to see us in town. He also took us to see some of his friends to buy black market cigars & rum.

Music is an integral part of Cuba. While the younger generation are listening to Reggaeton (a techno version of hip-hop, rap & reggae), the older generations are still heavily into Rumba, Son, Salsa & Jazz etc. We spent an evening in the city to experience the music scene, along with Mojitos (a drink made with white rum, sugar, lime juice, crushed ice, lots of fresh mint & a dash of soda). They were holding a "Cuba Night" where everyone turns out to listen to a live band playing in the central piaza & a lot of older people, dressed in their "Sunday best", put on a great dancing display. Like most South Americans the Cubans have great rhythm, they learn how to dance from a very early age, & the music is fantastic.

We left Santiago after 3 days because of the pollution fall out & headed West towards Cassilda, stopping over night at a couple of anchorages along the way. Our movements were monitored very closely by the authorities who requisioned local fishing boats to come out & check our documents, clearing us in & out of the anchorages. We were not allowed to go ashore which we found very puzelling & frustrating, however we discovered this was for our protection to ensure none of the locals "borrowed" our boats to escape to greener pastures. We could leave the boats to go ashore if we were anchored outside a tourist hotel or in a marina where there was 24 hour security to watch our boats. In one anchorage a couple of local boys swam out to the boat under the guise of going spear fishing, they are not allowed on board the foreign boats. They had fresh produce for sale, such as vegetables, friut & eggs, which they towed in plastic bags, together with freshly cought fish. The fishermen would also come along side in their boats at remote anchorages to sell or trade fish, prawns & crayfish. All the local fishermen are monitored very closely by La Guarda Frontera & get their boats inspected when they leave & re-enter the ports.
We anchored at Casillda for a couple of days & took the tourist bus to Trinidad. In the 19th century French refugees fleeing the slave uprising in Haiti arrived in Trinidad where they set up sugar mills. The beautiful arcitecture from that era has become a big tourist attraction, especially since UNESCO stepped in to declare Trinidad a world hertiage site & is helping restore some of the houses to their former glory. But despite the tourists Trinidad remains a rural town with horse & carts trotting through the main streets.

We arrived at Cienfuegos on 23rd March & anchored out from the marina. Cienfuegos also prospered from the sugar industry & it's grand French influenced architecture, built in the 19th century, has benefited from UNESCO funds for the restoration of it’s crumbling architecture. The local inhabitants appear to be better off than the other towns we visited & you can certainly see why it is called "Perla del Sur (Pearl of the South). At the entrance to Cienfuegos harbour you can see a big dome structure of an abandoned nuclear power station that was started in the 1990's, the collapse of the Soviet Union meant that the Cubans did not have the financial support to complete the project.

As this was to be Mike & Sharon's last port in Cuba (they were heading down to Panama on their way home to Australia) we hired a car for a few days to explore inland. We took a trip up into the Escambray Mountains to vist El Nicho, a natural park with waterfalls & bush walks. We had to hire a guide to get there as it's very hard to get detailed maps in Cuba & roads signs are very scarce, even our guide managed to get lost. It was lovely to get up in the cool mountain air & have a refeshing swim in the waterfalls. Our guide arranged lunch at a local house in a rural village. It was very interesting to see how they live with just the bare necesities, their only luxury being a TV. The walls & roof weren't lined so I'm not sure how they managed durring the wet season as you could see through the gaps in the rough weather board clading & there were small holes in the tin roof. The family cooked a big traditional banquet (comida criolla or creole food) which consisted of fresh pork (they slaughtered one from the back yard & the remainder was hanging at the back door), sliced tomatoes & onion, raw cabbage, plantain (banana) chips, rice & yucca (a root vegetable that tastes like potatoe).

We drove over to Havana which was a lot easier to navigate as there is an Autopiste (highway) that runs along a good portion of the country from east to west. This is 6 lanes wide for most of the way & increases to 8 lanes near Havana (4 lanes each way) & was also built during the era when the Soviet Union supported Cuba. The irony of it is that there are very few cars that use the Autopiste, we saw maybe 3 cars & perhaps a tourist bus at any one time on the Autopiste, that's apart from a few horse & carts that trot along the outter lanes. The Cubans need permission to travel to other provinces & even if they could travel freely the fuel prices a prohibitive for them to travel any great distances.

Havana being the capital city, is where you find all the foreign embassies that occupy beautiful elegant mansions in manicured grounds. This is quite a contrast to the rest of the city which is a diverse mix of architecture, but sadly most of which is crumbling down through neglect. We stayed the night in a Cassa Particular in Central Havana & although our hosts did not speak English, we got a little taste of how the locals live. We spent the evening searching for live music which we found at the big hotels & during the day we wandered around taking in all the sights & sounds of the busy streets & lanes.

After 2 days in Havana we drove back to Cienfuiegos where we spent a few more days before heading west along the coast, while Terra Nova headed south towards Panama. Our next stop on 2nd April was Cayo Largo, an island with picture perfect beaches & white squeeky sand, in the Archipielago de los Canarreos. There were several tourist resorts on the island that were staffed by people from the main land ie they were housed in staff quarters for 21 days while they were working then they would go back to their families on the mainland for their 7 days off, so no one lived full time on the island. Pete had spent the past 3 months trying to catch a Bone fish & it was here at Cayo Largo that he finally had some success.

On 7th April we had a great sail under spinnaker to Cayo del Rosario. We were told that when we got to the Bahamas the crayfish would be plentiful,"like going to the supermarket", so we spent a lot of time with Mike & Sharon searching but not finding many. However it was here at Rosario that we found the “crayfish supermarket”. We were snorkelling in 6ft of water & got 15 big crays, 7 of which we returned as they were in egg. We had been travelling in tandem with an English boat "Brave Heart" since Santiago & they arrived in Rosario at the same time as us. Anna & Ben (the crew), & Tim & Alexandra (the owners) were with us when we got the crays, so invited us for crayfish dinner which Anna did a superb job of preparing. We stay a couple more days enjoying the snorkelling at Rosario & got two more 8lb crayfish for the freezer. Pete spent a morning on a local fishing boat watching them pull in their sein net, so I baked the crew some scones to say thank you & despite our protests we came away with 8 more cray tails & an 8lb Mutton Snapper - life is good.....

Our next stop Isla de la Juventud was an interesting island. One of Castro's ideologies was to stamp out illiteracy, so in the 1960's & 1970's he had over 40 junior high schools & 8 high schools, along with night schools, technical institutes & teacher-training colleges built on the island. Tens of thousands of young people from Cuba, along with some from African nations came to the island to study anything from art to zoology & in return for free board they worked in the citrus plantations. Today there are still some foreign students comming to the island to study, but in smaller numbers. We took a bus to the main town of Nueva Gerona on the northern side of the island. We saw the now abandoned derelict schools that litter the countryside, along with the citrus trees that are in various stages of dying. The main road to Nueva Gerna was in good condition, however our driver took a detour to the town of Santa Fe. We thought we were in the middle of a war zone as the driver wove his way around the huge pot holes in the road, perhaps the military had been using it for bombing practice!!! The island also attacts international tourist for the spectacular diving, so we headed out to Capo Francis & discovered an awesome wall dive with a fantastic aray of coral & fish life. The southern coast of cuba is quite unique in the world in so far as it gets relatively few visitors & is not accessable to most Cubans so it's very natural & untouched.

We left Isla de la Juventud on 15th April & took advantage of the winds to make our way around to Havana on the northern coast of Cuba. We arrived in Marina Hemmingway, Havana on 17th to be reunited with Brave Heart who arrived several days earlier. The marina which is a big gated complex built in the hay days of the 1950's, with a series of canals, a couple of hotels & a few resturants. We had a few more days exploring central Havana & discovered the original old town of Vieja, which is undergoing restoration with the help of UNESCO & other foreign investors.

20th April we hired a car & drove to the western district of Pinar del Rio. We spent a night in Vinales where the scenery is spectacular. The Pin-cushion mountains, with trees clinging to the vertical cliffs & lime stone caves are quite unique. We stayed at a Cassa Particular with a lovely English speaking family who put on a huge banquet for our dinner & breakfast. We wandered up to the town piaza after dinner where they had a type of karioke, there was a band playing & the old guys who were well primed with rum took turns at singing the verses. It was just a shame they were tone deaf because the band was very good, never the less people were enjoying dancing.
From Vinales we went to Pinar del Rio & visited a cigar making factory where they still hand make the cigars. Each person makes 250 cigars per day & each cigar is tested to ensure a standard consistency is maintained. Pete splashed out on a pack of 5 cigars to take home for friends, which were wraped in cedar & sealed in alumnium containers so they would keep fresh. We had taken a lot of soap, shavers, pads & pencils with us to Cuba as we heard they were scarce & expensive. We enjoyed giving them away to people we met & to random people walking along the country roads on our travels, they were all greatly appreciated.

We arrived back in Havana on 21st April & had another day in the city. It usually costs CUC30 for a return taxi trip, so we decided to travel the way the locals do, ie we walked from the marina to a designated hitch hiking stop & after waiting 15 minutes the Ammerillo got us a ride in a government owned car. However the car only took us half way, so from there we caught a bus. It was a big "bendy bus" that at times must have had over 100 passengers jamed like sardines on board. We weren't exactly sure where it would take us, even though the driver nodded when we asked for “Centro Havana”, so we kept a good eye out & were quite happy while we could see the ocean as the bus wove around the streets. Then suddenly the ocean disappeared as did the familiar land marks so we decided it was time to get off. We had a bit of a walk to get to where we wanted to go, but arrived at our destination 2 hours after leaving the marina at a cost of 3 pesos (25 pesos = 1 CUC). Needless to say we caught a taxi back to the marina ……

We really enjoyed Cuba despite (or maybe because of) all it's little quirks & idiosyncrasies. Having the boat had been a bit of a handicap as we realised we had only scratched the surface with all there is to see in the country, but by now we had been there for 6 weeks so decided it was time to depart & head north. The day we were leaving our Bermudan friends, Bob & Betsy, on Belair arrived unexpectedly at the marina so we delayed our departure a further day. Because of the US trade embargo it's not a good idea to go directly back to America from Cuba so on 23rd April the winds looked good for going to Bimini in the Bahamas. Unfortunately the weather gods had other ideas & we ended up in a rather lumpy sea getting pushed up in the Gulf Stream. It was like being in a washing mashine with 4-5m swells at 5 second intervals, so in order to save any breakages or damage to Sali we changed course for Key West on the southern tip of Florida which is only 90nmls from Cuba. Normally when arriving in the US you go to the Customs & Immigration offices, however as we were arriving from Cuba we got "special treatment". We had to go into a marina & the officials came to us. Our boat was searched & we had to surrender our Cuban cigars & rum, along with all our fresh veges & fruit. Luckily we only had 2 bottles of rum, but Pete had brought 5 cigars to take home for freinds so he was pretty dark about that!!!!

We spent 2 days in Key West before making our way up to Ft Lauderdale where we caught up with Australian friends, Ian & Lee-Anne from Windwalker, along with their 2 sons Carrick & Dylan. Our friend Penny, who lives in Ft Meyers, also came down for an overnight visit & we took her for a "tiki tour" around the canals.

We left Ft Lauderdale on 1st May & had a quick 3 day trip up the coast in the Gulf Stream to Beaufort, North Carolina. This time the wind was from the south & running with the current so it was much more pleasant sailing & we managed to do 11-12 knots most of the way. We only stayed one day in Beaufort, long enough to catch up for lunch with David & Julia on Daq Attack, before heading to Deltaville, Chesapeake (where we left the boat last year). Once again we had a fast trip up in the Gulf Stream with the wind behind us, but the wind died as we arrived at the Chesapeake entrance so we motored the last 30nmls up to Deltaville. Our old boat yard neighbours, Don & Margaret, were waiting on the dock to welcome us back to "Hotel California"