Key West to Cuba to Grand Cayman

At the end of our last posting, we described how we had trouble with both our engines overheating and all the work we did to get them working better (lifted the boat and got the bottom cleaned, cleaned out the cooling systems on both engines and the keel coolers, put in new coolant and additive).  There was very little sea growth on the bottom and very little sludge or muck in the cooling systems, so we were stymied.  We began to hope that the whole problem was due to the hot sea water (85 degrees) which did not allow the keel coolers to get cool enough. 

We took the boat offshore to test it out and learned that the engines ran cooler but not cool enough for 1500 RPM.  We could, however, drive both engines at around 1000 RPM without a problem, so we decided to head out for Cuba, run the engines at only 1000 RPM as well as resting them alternately as we travelled.  So, we left Key West around 5 PM  Wed. Aug 1. 

The seas were 1-2 feet and the winds under 10 kt. for about ½ the trip.  We noticed a decrease in speed from the Gulf Stream but it wasn’t too bad.  Then, around 12:30 AM, the winds were 20 kts, the seas were 3-5 feet, and the push from the Gulf Stream had increased.  We could not find a comfortable point of sail without turning east and tackling the Gulf Stream at 90 degrees.  At 2 AM, the seas were still unpleasant, and we altered our course further.  Ultimately, at 7 AM, we were 20 miles east of where we should have been.

At 10:17 AM, we crossed the Tropic of Cancer, and Dave celebrated with a capful of rum!  At that point, we still had 91/2 hours to go to get to Havana.  We entered Cuban waters (12 miles off shore) at around 2 PM, but we still couldn’t see the shoreline due to mist.  We started flying the Cuban and Quarantine flags as required, and at 8 PM Aug 2 we were able to contact Marina Hemingway by VHF.  Here are some pictures of Havana as we approached.  You can see how misty it was that day.

 

We explained to the Marina Hemingway harbour master that we were in transit to Grand Cayman and asked if we could travel around the island.  He was very pleasant and spoke English well, but he informed us that if we did not plan to enter Cuba, we would have to stay 5 miles offshore, and we would not be able to anchor anywhere in Cuban waters.  He added that we could call on VHF 77 if we needed help.

Now, I need to explain why we did not want to enter Cuba.  We certainly were interested in spending some time in the country, but Grand Cayman will not accept a pet if it has been in Cuba, and we had stipulated to the Grand Cayman authorities that we would not be setting foot in the country.  But we had been hoping that Cuba would allow us to anchor within their waters.  Since this would not be allowed, we had to make the decision to keep going non-stop to Grand Cayman.  Yet another reason not to travel with your pet!

So, we thanked the Marina Hemingway harbour master and said we would travel around the island at 5 miles off shore and not anchor anywhere.  By then, both engines had been running over 24 hours, so since our practice was to shut down each engine for 3 hours rest after 24 hours running, we started to alternate shutting down the engines.  In this way, Dave could check fluids in the shut-down engine when it wasn’t too hot to touch. 

We started heading west along the north shore of Cuba, and at 10 PM the starboard alternator quit.  This was extremely frustrating because it was a brand new alternator!  So, we started our portable generator in order to get power to our navigation lights and equipment as well as charge our batteries.  We like to use the portable generator while traveling because our main generator only adds extra heat to an already very hot engine room. 

We travelled along the north shore for 38 hours, taking 3 to 4 hour shifts at the helm.  The time of day lost relevance except whether it was dark (night) or light (day) outside.  It was hard to remember to take our medications or even to brush our teeth and meals were whatever was easiest.  By 10:20 AM on Aug. 4, we had been travelling for 65 hours without a stop. 

Luckily, the seas and winds remained relatively calm, and when the seas picked up to 2-3 feet, they were following us and helped to push us along.  It cooled down at night, so the night shifts started to become the preferred time to be at the helm.  We experienced some light rain but lots and lots of lightening, which was a bit scary, but I still managed to fall asleep at the helm!!  (Dave woke me up to take his shift).  There was no traffic except large freighters which were 7 miles away in the shipping channels.

The first thing we noticed about Cuba when we decided to take this route to Grand Cayman was how big it is.  It is a huge island.  It is not much smaller than England but with a longer coastline.  It takes months to cruise around the whole island to see it properly. 

Most of the coastline, including the north shore along which we were travelling, is wild and untouched, and only a handful of the 4,000 or so offshore islands are inhabited.  Most of the coastline is lined by reefs which apparently provide some spectacular snorkeling and diving opportunities.  There are some tourist spots with great beaches, but generally, cruisers that are looking for tourist-type accommodation will be disappointed.  This island country is for self sufficient cruisers who want to adventure into basically uncharted places and natural settings.  And cruisers need to be careful because there are many islands, bays etc. that are off-limits for military reasons, and these places change from time to time.  The Cuban Guarda (similar to the Coast Guard but more military) have state-of-the art boats and will board any yachts in unapproved places.  There are stories about bad experiences cruisers have had with the Guarda.

During our trip along the north shore, we had been receiving weather data via SSB radio and from family via SSB email, so we knew that there was a tropical storm starting off in the lower east Caribbean Sea.  We kept a close eye on the reports and started to get worried when the storm became Hurricane Ernesto with The Yucatan Channel in its projected path.  At this point, we were almost at the capes at the western tip of Cuba.  These capes can be treacherous even in good weather because they are directly bordering the Yucatan Channel through which flows the full force of the Gulf Steam (moving north at up to 7 knots).  We knew we would need local knowledge to determine the best times, winds and seas to make our trip around the capes, and the closest hurricane hole after rounding the capes was a few days away.  So, we decided that regardless of Grand Cayman’s rules about pets or Cuba’s rules about anchoring, we needed to find a safe harbour and/or hurricane hole in northwest Cuba. 

Luckily, we were close to Marina Los Morros which is a port of entry for Cuba, so we tried to contact them.  But they did not respond, so we just drove into the marina.  We arrived there at 12:15 PM on August 4.

The marina was not at all what we expected as a port of entry.  And so now we will tell you all about the entry process – hold your hats and try not to laugh too hard!  The “marina” is really just a long concrete pier, some single story buildings housing government officials and a bar.  Here are some pictures.

 

Los Morros Marina resembles and has the feeling of an outpost.  On the other hand, they generate all of their own electricity, and they have their own desalination plant.  There is a hotel about 3 km. away and a charter fishing boat for the hotel guests ties up at Los Morros.  It was the fishing crew that helped us dock, and luckily one of them spoke very good English.  They were all super friendly and helpful, but the fellow who spoke English really went above and beyond the call of duty.  We’re not sure what his real name was, but his nickname was Machine (apparently, he was good with machinery), and we are certain that without his help, we would have had a great deal of difficulty with the entry process.  Ultimately, we learned that he was a diver as a well as a fisherman.

Machine told us to wait on the boat until the officials came, and it was only about ½ hour before they arrived.  Now, the fun began.  There were 8 officials in total, but luckily, they did not come onboard all at once.  Machine stayed on board with us and became our interpreter, thank heavens.  The immigration official came first, and we gave him our boat registration information and our passports.  He passed our passports to another immigration official who took them away with him – which made us a bit nervous.  Then came the Drug Officer who brought on board a drug sniffing dog.  It was hilarious because the dog was a cute, little spaniel and much more interested in smelling our food than sniffing out drugs.  However, Dude was not impressed with another dog in his territory, so it was a bit raucous for a while. 

Then the veterinarian came on board and asked for any papers we had for Dude.  Luckily, we had everything he needed.  He did not examine the dog at all – just filled in his form and left.  Then, the medical doctor came and asked us if we were feeling well, had any cough etc.  He filled in his form and charged us $12 USD for his services.  Then came the food inspector.  I was nervous about this because we had heard that they will confiscate certain foods, particularly chicken, vegetables and fruit.  Since I had provisioned for 10-14 days, we needed all of the food we had.  He checked everything and took away one orange that had a spot on it, one tomato that had gone bad at one end, and he found a bug in our rice and just took the bug and left us the rice – saying we could eat the rice, no problem.

But they weren’t finished yet.  The immigration official, a marina official and our interpreter, Machine, then followed Dave around the boat looking at and into everything, except the engine room - they looked inside, but no one wanted to go in there - the generator was going and the engine room was well over 100 degrees!

Now, we must tell you about the government representative.  He was dressed in an olive green communist-style uniform with a hat.  Looking at him, you immediately felt like calling him ‘comrade”.  He spoke little but was present throughout every phase of the inspection and watched everything carefully.  Occasionally, the other officials looked to him for agreement/disagreement with what they were saying.  He had only 2 questions: first, he wanted a list and to see every piece of electronic equipment capable of communication which included all cell phones, WiFi adapters, GPSs, radios including the AM/FM stereo; secondly, and most interestingly, he wanted to see our chart plotter’s recorded track of our whole trip from Key West and our planned trip around Cuba.  While reviewing the track, he paused at every military installation on the north coast to ensure we had not entered there.  Apparently, on the south shore, there are a number of sensitive military installations which concerned him, so he wanted to know why we had a course that followed the coastline instead of going directly southeast to the Caymans.  Luckily again, Machine helped out and was able to convince him that the course we had plotted was due to favourable currents and was the preferred route for boaters. 

After all of the inspections, it was 2:15 PM, so we had been at this for about 1.5 hours.  We were told to remain on the boat while all of their paperwork was completed, and we would be summoned to the office.  At around 4:30 PM, we were hailed on VHF, so we proceeded to walk up the long pier to the administration offices.   But no, it was not the administration offices we needed to go to – it was the bar!  The final and official clearance would be completed at the bar!!  We were quite amused by this and joked with Machine and the other fishermen about it.

Once at the bar, we gave the bar maid $45 USD which paid for a Cuban visa for each of us.  Again, we had to thank Machine for explaining to the officials that since we were only passing around Cuba, we should not have to pay for a $300 cruising permit.  We are certain that we could never have made them understand that without his help.  After receiving our passports back (yes, at the bar) we treated Machine to a beer.  Whereupon, the medical doctor entered the bar, so we treated him too.  Then it seemed all of the officials came into the bar, took off their official white coats, and everyone started to play dominoes!!

Sounds like we were finished, right?  No, not yet.  We were told to go and see the food inspector at the administration building.  When we arrived, he explained that the mold on the tomato was “a problem” and that the bug in the rice was “also a problem”.  They were apparently not acceptable in Cuba.  He told us that we must not bring any of our food ashore, and I started to wonder where this was going since there would be no way to police us in this regard.  Then, he said there was a $25 USD fee for his services, but that we must not tell anyone about the bug and the mold because he did us a favor and signed us off as okay on the paperwork.  He emphasized that we would all be in trouble if we talked about it to anyone.  So, I checked my wallet, and I did not have $25 USD, but I had $20 CAD.  He immediately said that $20 was fine.  Actually, I had a lot more than $20 CAD, but he didn’t know that.  It was interesting that the ‘comrade’ was not present for any of this! 

Another example of this simple graft occurred when the bar maid who had been present when we arrived left to go home and another bartender arrived.  The bar maid had charged us $3 USD per beer, but the new bartender only charged $2 per beer.

So, when in Rome, do as the Romans do – graft of some description is present everywhere around the world.  At least in this case, an individual who needed money benefited.  In Canada and the USA, it is crooked stock market speculators who are already rich that benefit when they rip you off!

But we need to say that none of the officials carried guns, and there were no guns present anywhere that we could see.  This was different from the reading we had done which indicated that most officials carried guns and there was a strong militaristic feel in the country.

Later that day, we talked to Machine about the “comrade”, and asked him what his feelings were toward the man.  Machine said, “Oh, he’s a nice guy.  We had a beer with him later.”  For us, it felt like ‘BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING”.  It’s always interesting how travel causes you to confront your own preconceived (and often erroneous) notions and beliefs.

In any case, it was late in the day when we finally got our passports back, so we decided to stay at the marina instead of finding an anchorage.  We had been told we could hook up to electricity and get water.  Dave had read that one must be careful about hooking up to electricity in any of the Caribbean islands, so he turned off all of the breakers on the boat and discovered via using his meter at their pedestal that the 110 volt lines carried 240 volts of electricity!!   This would have fried all of our circuits had we been hooked up.

Machine and Dave then proceeded to take the pedestal apart and discovered a mishmash of wires and corrosion inside.  Dave asked Machine how this could happen, and he said they do their best but they are given no equipment or tools to make sure it is right.  We were continually confronted by their lack of equipment/tools during our 4 day stay there.  Dave and Machine were eventually able to get a 30 amp circuit to work successfully.

Then, Dave asked to get a water hook up, but the water outlets on the pier were not hooked up to the water source.  It took another 20 minutes to sort this out, but we did finally get water.  We were surprised (and happy) to see that because of our prodding and Dave’s help, the fishermen also got water. 

We had talked to Machine about tropical storm Ernesto, and he said to come to the bar at 8PM when the weather would be on television.  He and the other fishermen explained that there was a great hurricane hole about 5 miles away, and we could follow them there if they got the go-ahead from their boss.  The television was in Spanish, of course, but with Machine’s translation, we were able to verify that our SSB reports were accurate and Ernesto was headed for the Yucatan Channel.  We had made the right decision and were very glad to be safe. 

Dave likes to fish, so naturally, he asked the fisherman about their lures and what kinds of fish they caught.  Next thing he knows, he was given 2 lures and the fisherman refused payment.  Yet, we learned later from Machine, that they only earn $20 in Cuban currency a month.  This is about $29 USD a month!!  They rely heavily on tips from tourists, obviously, but one wonders how Cubans not employed in the tourist industry survive at all.

And as we mentioned earlier, they have no equipment or tools to do the jobs they need to do.  They knew Dave had lots of tools (from observing during the inspections) so they asked for his assistance which he readily supplied.  For instance, Dave helped them try to repair a stuffing box coupler on one of the dive boats, and he was able to repair a cleat on the sport-fishing boat.  We were horrified to see their version of an extension cord (bare wires stuffed into an electrical outlet) so Dave grabbed a plug and socket from his spares locker and gave it to them.  We should mention that the boats themselves were state of the art and immaculate, but if a boat required maintenance, the fishermen had to requisition a mechanic, and it might be weeks before one arrived.

One day, Dave noticed that two of the fishermen took the boat out with no customers and in stormy weather, so he asked Machine what was happening.  He said, “They went fishing because they have no food.”  Apparently, all staff at the marina work 12 hours a day for 2 weeks and then they go home for 1 week.  Most of them live far away – as much as 200 kms. away.  Occasionally though, a staff person may have to work for longer than 2 weeks without a break, as was the case for Machine.  He had been at work for 21 days straight the day we met him.

Another thing we noted was that the officials all used carbon paper to make 3 copies of everything, and their offices were very meagerly furnished with old desks and chairs and no file cabinets or computers.  Los Morros is relatively new (about 5 years old) and the buildings are small but well made and beautifully maintained.  There is this kind of dichotomy everywhere that we could see – state-of-the-art things side by side with old fashioned tools or no tools at all.

We spent a total of only 4 days actually on land in Cuba and talking to Cubans, so we are by no means or in any shape or form can we be considered experts or even very knowledgeable.  But I would like to share some of our thoughts on the country any way.

In preparation for going to Cuba, I did some reading on the country’s history.  I was woefully ignorant and pitifully uneducated in this regard.  My notions and ideas about Cuba started in the 60’s when I was about 10 or 11 years old (around the time of the Bay of Pigs fiasco).  On the empty lot beside my grade school an air-raid siren was erected; we began to have weekly bomb-safety training in school (which consisted of merely hiding under our desks) and lots of adults were talking about building bomb shelters. 
Even my father had plans for a shelter laid out on the dining room table, when my Mom told him it was ridiculous, and said, “I’d rather die than live through a nuclear bomb.”  Now, how scary is all of that for a kid! 

And the culprit was Cuba, and the devil was Castro.  At least as far as the Americans were concerned, and my only education was their propaganda. 

Well, the reading I did on the way to Cuba was fascinating, and I learned a great deal.  Mostly, my opinion of Castro changed.  If you find my thoughts interesting, get a book on Cuba’s history.  It’s extraordinary.  I plan to read a lot more about it.  Here is a little taste, and I would be very interested in your thoughts, Sheryl.  (Sheryl is my sister and she lived in Cuba for about a year.)

Before Castro took over in 1959, the country was in chaos and the economy was in ruins, mostly because of Baptista who, incidentally, had the support of the USA.  There is a lot to learn about Baptista, but what kind of sums it up for me is that by the time he was overthrown by Castro, he salted away several hundred million dollars!!!  Yes, several hundred million dollars directly out of the mouths of the Cuban people!!!  Oh, and he retired to Florida!!

Naturally, Castro’s revolution was extremely popular because all the people had ever known was corruption – from their politicians, from their government and from their landlords and employers.  With Castro in power, authority was now on the side of the people, and justice could not be bought.

In the space of a single generation, Castro produced the best educated society in the Caribbean and Central America, with a relatively high standard of living, a super public health system and very little unemployment.  Some historians even describe his government as ‘democratic”.  He did not do this alone, of course; the Soviet Union subsidized his government, and the Soviets and their allies were Cuba’s trading partners for Cuba’s main crop, sugar.     

I asked Machine what he thought of Castro, and he almost wept as he said, “I love him.  He is like my father.”

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba lost the subsidy and the trading partners, so the economy collapsed.  For instance, the sugar cane harvest plummeted from 8 million tons a year to 3 million tons in 1997.   Castro knew that the Cuban/communist policy of state-owned, mechanized farming would no longer work to feed the people, so, in 1995, he started to allow farming cooperatives which could sell 20% of their output in farmer’s markets and distribute the profits among their members.  This change in policy has brought some improvement, but there is still a lack of food and food distribution.  So now, Cuba is looking for foreign investors for their factories and focusing a lot of their attention on tourism.

We have all heard stories about Cubans leaving the country on rafts, crossing the 90 miles or so to reach the USA.  We know that this has happened and may still be happening.  So, now I wondered at the difference between the perceptions of these Cubans and the perceptions of the Cubans I met, namely Machine.  I asked him about it, and he laughed as he replied, “They think it will be better in America, but every country has its problems.  We have ours, they have theirs.  These Cubans, I think they are confused and thinking the streets are made of gold.”

Machine and his co-workers were very proud of their country and to be Cubans.  They talked freely and with pride about what good doctors they had and how the country sent Cuban doctors to other countries to help in times of need or disaster.  They were aware that Cuba is often ignored even in simple ways, yet it is huge and the largest island in the Caribbean.  For instance, we explained how hard it was for us to get weather information about the waters around Cuba because the US national weather organization (NOAA) just does not issue any information on it, but they do issue considerable information on all other Caribbean islands.  We joked that it was pretty hard to travel by boat anywhere in the Caribbean without encountering Cuba, and they laughed with us but there was a sadness in their eyes.  They liked Dude and wondered why we did not let him off the boat, so we explained that Grand Cayman would not accept a dog that has been in Cuba, and the sadness shone from their eyes again.    

So, we learned a lot.  We learned that Castro was not the devil, and that many Cubans and perhaps most Cubans (as some writers claim) love Castro and his brother Raul.  We still have lots of questions about what it is actually like living in a communist country, especially as it relates to personal freedom or lack of it, but we definitely won’t be swayed by American propaganda any more.  We plan to return there, if possible (and sans Dude) but we won’t be going to the overpriced resorts/marinas.  We will be stopping in towns and villages like the ones Machine and his co-workers live in.

So, we stayed at Los Morros Marina for a few days and watched the reports on Ernesto.  It was still headed for the Yucatan Channel which meant we could not travel in that direction until it passed by.  Instead, we decided to be completely prepared to weather a hurricane, and we would go to the local hurricane hole, Cayos de la Lena, about 5 miles away.  But in the meantime, there was some pretty nasty weather with very high winds, and one morning, we heard a large crash at the back of the boat.  We went to investigate and found that our wind generator had fallen down, breaking two of the three blades as well as breaking the antenna line for the SSB radio!  Dave was able to fix the SSB antenna line, and we lashed the wind generator to the deck rather than try to erect it again.

Finally, we left Los Morros for the hurricane hole, and the fishermen also headed there after their boss gave them the go ahead.  We were pleased because they promised to help us get all tied up to the mangroves.  Before we left the marina, we took down the upper canvas and lashed down everything on the decks.  As well, we did our best to stow things inside so they wouldn’t fly around and potentially knock one of us out.

The hurricane hole was really very pretty.  The islands are completely covered in well established and large mangrove trees, and there is a canal/lagoon (Canal de Barcos) which was completely calm and not too wide, so it provided a perfect retreat.  We got there ahead of the fishermen and were trying to decide on where and how to tie up, when they arrived bearing freshly caught lobster – lots and lots of lobster!  They gave us 6 very large tails, the largest tails we had ever seen.  I was not sure how we were going to eat it all, but we managed over the next two days to devour every bite of it. 

The fishermen showed us how to get tied up.  I was terrified with what I had to do, but I did it.  Dave was at the bow and I was at the wheel, and I drove the boat directly into the mangroves!  Yes, head-first and with enough speed to stay straight.  It was quite an experience.  Here are some pictures of us tied up alongside the fishing boats.

With the help of Machine on shore, Dave got lines around the trees.  We were a bit concerned because our reading regarding tying up in mangroves clearly stated to not tie up any closer than 15 feet next to another boat.  And here we were right on top of each other.  But the fishermen said this was the way they always did it, and there would be no problems.

After barbequing our lobster tails, we went to bed expecting to be awake later in the night once the winds picked up.  But they never did.  We slept all night and woke to a beautiful, calm morning.  Hurricane Ernesto was a non-issue for us.

The fishermen left, but we stayed an extra night to wait for just the right weather to travel around the capes and into the south shore of Cuba.  It was hot in the lagoon, so we considered taking a swim until we looked in the water and saw a pile of Jellyfish swimming past!  Here are some pictures.

 

We had to return to the marina in order to get an exit clearance from Cuba, and we knew that Machine would not be there as he had gone back home, so we were a little anxious about how the process would go without an interpreter.

Back at the marina, there was no space except to raft up to a catamaran, and there was no water or electricity on the pier.  This was a bit of a problem because we were running low on water, but there was nothing we could do about it.  Again, we wished we had finished building our water-maker before leaving Canada. 

As expected, the Immigration official did not speak English at all, so it was only through gestures and the use of a Spanish-English dictionary that we were able to understand him and make ourselves understood.  He insisted on coming onboard the boat to do his paperwork and then wanted us to go up to the bar to pay for the exit transaction.  Apparently, the cost to leave Cuba was $10 USD.  I was uncomfortable leaving the official on the boat alone, so I stayed with him and Dave went to the bar.  But the bar was closed!  The official was agitated about this, and he had no change for the $20 bill I had.  So, he left to get change and came back with just $7 Cuban!  We were not surprised by this or the fact that he refused to give us a receipt.  

He took our visitor visas, and we were concerned about this because we knew we would likely have to anchor somewhere before leaving Cuban waters to head for Grand Cayman.  Again using gestures and the Spanish-English dictionary, we were able to make him understand that we might have to wait at anchor for a weather window, and that we did not want a problem with this since we would have no visas to show the Cuban Guarda if they boarded us.  He seemed to understand and told us that there would be no problem, but we were not entirely reassured.

In any case, we left Los Morros Marina at 8 PM on August 9.  The wind was around 10 kts and the seas were a bit rough but the forecast was good. 

There are 4 headlands at the western tip of Cuba; Cabo San Antonio, Punta del Holandes, Cabo Corientes and Cabo Frances.   Travelling around these headlands and capes can be treacherous because they form the eastern border of the more than 3,000 meter deep Yucatan Channel, through which the Gulf Stream travels north at a speed of up to 7 knots.  At the edges of the Gulf Stream, there are some difficult eddies and counter-currents.

We rounded Punta Perpetua, just south of Cabo San Antonio, at 10:30 PM.  The seas had been rough and on the bow which we had expected.  At around 3:15 AM August 10, the engines were laboring, and we had lost about a knot of speed.  So, we throttled back for 20 minutes until the engine temperatures came back down.  At this point, as far as we could tell, since it was pitch black outside, at least some of the waves were around 12 feet high!  It stayed this way until about 8:15 PM, so you can imagine we were pretty sick of rocking and rolling and bouncing around, not to mention the fact that we were making very little headway.  You know you aren’t getting anywhere when each time you look out the window, you can see the same tree and pile of rocks on the shore!

It was a most unpleasant 22 hours, but finally, the waves and wind died down a bit.  Then at 8 AM on August 11, we passed Cabo Frances and turned east into the Golfo de Batano, which covers most of the southern shore of Cuba.  Now the seas were calm at 1-2 feet, and we were able to go about 4.5 knots. 

Our course was to the east, around the north shore of the Isla de la Juventude and then southeast to Cayo Largo, which is almost directly north of Grand Cayman.  We expected it would take us at least 2 days.

Apparently, the Isla de la Juventude is very picturesque and well worth a visit, but from the water, it looked barren and foreboding.  Here are some pictures.

 

During the Baptista regime, the island was primarily used as a prison.  Castro and other revolutionaries were held there, and there is an interesting museum there now.  Since the revolution, the island has been developed into farmland and a nature reserve. 

East of Juventude, there is a string of cays that extend almost to the mainland, and they form a natural barrier to navigation down the middle of the Golfo de Batano.  However, there are several passes, and we chose to take the Pasa de Quitasol to get to Cayo Largo to the southeast.

We passed Juventude in daylight and expected to reach the pass in daylight as well.  It was a narrow and tricky pass, so we did not want to do it at night.  However, just as we reached it, a squall came out of nowhere, and the sky darkened considerably.  It was a bit scary, but we managed to get through the pass in the blinding rain and under the dark skies.  Luckily, it was fairly well marked with red and green lights, but we were very grateful that there was no other boat traffic at the time.

The most notable thing w saw as we travelled to Cayo Largo was the colour of the water.  It was an amazing soft lime green.  We have never seen water like it, and it was clear as a bell.  We tried to get a good picture, but the colour just doesn't show up well.

On August 12 at 5:30 PM, we dropped anchor at Cayo Largo, which was our jumping off point for the trip to Grand Cayman.  We had a lovely, much needed sleep overnight in a calm anchorage, and the next day, we checked all of the weather information with help from family via SSB email.  Although the weather forecast was not perfect for us, we decided to leave because we were worried about being boarded by the Cuban Guarda and having to potentially go through another entry process.  The seas from Cayo Largo to Grand Cayman were forecasted to be 3-5 feet with 15-20 kts of wind which was doable for our 30+ hour trip to Grand Cayman.  But wait!  Taking a quick tour of the decks before leaving, we found that the portside davit (davits hold the dinghy up out of the water) was completely pulled out of the deck.  All of the bolts had sheared off, presumable during our rocky ride around the capes.  Sheesh!  We certainly were not going to give up now, so we lifted the dinghy onto the back deck and tied it down.

We left Cayo Largo at 6:30 PM on August 13 and quickly realized that the weather forecast was wrong, wrong, wrong!!  The seas were 4-6 feet with some waves at 10 feet, and we encountered frequent thunderstorms.  In hindsight, we realized we probably should have headed east from Cayo Largo along the shore of Cuba until we could travel on a southwest heading to Grand Cayman.  The almost dead south heading we were on meant we were headed directly into the current coming from the south. 

There are two events of note during our 36 hour trip to Grand Cayman, aside from it being an uncomfortable trip.  Firstly, although we did our best to avoid the thunderstorms by changing course frequently, we were caught in one downpour that soaked the inside of the boat and left puddles all over the navigation station and the floor of the salon.  Yes, the inside of the boat.  Why?  Because we had taken down the upper station canvas for the non-issue hurricane! 

The downpour was tremendous, and every little hole from the upper deck brought oodles of water into the salon.  We used every towel we had to try to sop up the water, but we couldn’t keep up.  It was almost funny to look at each other drenched and the dog looking like he had been swimming, except our navigation computer got soaked and has not worked properly since.  Yet another computer to buy!

The second event we did not discover until we were anchored in Grand Cayman.  We had noticed that our SSB radio stopped working about half way there, and we couldn’t send or receive emails, but we thought it had to do with the storms and atmospheric issues.  And then, upon inspection when we were anchored, Dave found that the top 16 feet of our antenna vanished during the trip!  It had unscrewed itself!  We assume that the wind whipped it around so much that it finally fell off.

I doubt I have to say that the trip was not very enjoyable for us, but we were pleased with how the boat responded.  She took everything thrown at her, including constantly righting herself smartly from 20+ degree rolls.  Way to go, H&E Hope!

Here are a couple of pictures on our approach to George Town Harbour, Grand Cayman.  We arrived there around 6:45 AM on August 15, a 36 hour trip from Cayo Largo, Cuba.

Port Security told us to take a mooring ball and wait for them to come out to us.  At around 9 AM, a Port Security boat pulled up alongside, and the officers gave us some paperwork to complete.  They returned about ½ hour later and asked us to follow them to the customs dock.  But, guess what?  Our port engine wouldn’t start!  Dave went below to have a look, muttering something like, “@#$% will I never catch a break?”

We limped into the custom dock with one engine and tied up.  An immigration officer, and officer from the department of agriculture (for the dog) and a customs officer were waiting for us.  They came onboard and filled in their paperwork.  All of them were very nice and friendly, and it was a relief to not have to use a dictionary to talk with them!

It all only took about an hour, and there was no problem with the dog’s paperwork – HOORAY!!  We were issued a one-month visa and told we could apply for a longer stay.

Here are some pictures of the cruise ships anchored just behind us.

Now, we needed to contact my daughter and her husband (Kristen and Graeme), but we had no way to do this.  Our SSB email was not working (the antenna had broken off during our trip), and we had no local telephone or Internet access.  The pay telephones at the customs dock were for International calls only.  To make a long story short, we did finally make contact via VHF radio, but we could not make plans to move the boat to the dock at the back of their house until we fixed the port engine problem.  Furthermore, we physically could not get off the boat at the mooring ball and get into town to pick them up or go to see them because our dinghy was still tied on the back deck, and it was a 3 hour job to get it back in the water.  The next day, Dave was able to get the port engine working again (a wire to the start solenoid had broken off), and we launched the dinghy into the water.  We would have to drag it to Kristen and Graeme’s house since it was impossible to fix the davit without parts.

Graeme had done considerable planning for our arrival but without any way to communicate, it was impossible to get things arranged.  I searched the Internet and found a service that provides Internet for travelers (especially crew on cruise ships) called World Wifi Network.  It’s a cool service with reasonable fees, but you have to be at or near one of their hotspots.  Luckily, George Town Harbour is a hotspot, so we were able to make some plans with Kristen and Graeme via email.  With our dinghy in the water, we were able to get to shore and meet them for dinner (and Marvelous Marley too, of course.)  Marley knows us well now, so she was quite excited to see us, and her welcome hugs and kisses made the grueling trip to Grand Cayman worthwhile and then some!

We finally got everything organized, and we left George Town Harbour on August 17 at 11:15 AM.  The trip from the Harbour on the west shore of Grand Cayman to the North Sound where Kristen and Graeme live was about 15 miles, so we arrived at their dock at around 4 PM.  Graeme was there to help tie us up (and take pictures)!  Here is a picture as we entered their canal and one of us on the front of the boat after we were tied up at their dock.

 

Assuming we can get a visa, we plan to stay here about 6 months, part of the time at Kristen and Graeme’s dock and part of the time at anchor.  This will have us here beyond Christmas and give us time to complete making the forward cabin into sleeping quarters for guests.  Yes, you are all invited to visit us once the cabin is completed.  We would love to see each and every one of you.  We’ll send out pictures of the cabin once finished, and we promise that our rates will be the best in the Caribbean!!

We will not be sending out another blog posting while here, but when we leave and go elsewhere, we will let you all know and continue on with our blog.  We expect our next port of call will be Cuba, Jamaica or Guatemala, but who knows!

In the meantime, you are welcome to check in with us on Facebook (Pat Dunn [and/or] Dave Bowman) to see what we are up to while in Grand Cayman, or you can email us at patdave.hehope@gmail.com. 

 

“Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.”  Jim Rohn

TRAVELLING WITH A PET AND WAITING FOR A WEATHER WINDOW

As we write this, we are docked in a marina in Key West.  We were a very long time at Boot Key Harbor (Marathon) – from May 18 to July 28.  Although we had things to do to prepare for our voyage to Grand Cayman, it was really the dog and the weather that kept us there so long. 

We had heard very nice things about Boot Key Harbor Marina (Marathon) – that it was a great community, friendly, easy to get to shops etc.  We were disappointed.  The setting is lovely, and the taxis are reasonable, but we found the Marina staff at best, disinterested and at worst, surly.  All of the staff except one – Anne, the receptionist.  She was always friendly and helpful. 

There is a group of local liveaboards who run the Boot Key Harbor net.  Every morning at 9 AM on VHF Channel 68, one of them will be the net controller.  The net is interactive and meant to encourage people to get to know each other, to share information and to get help if needed.  The topics include giving people a chance to introduce themselves if they are new; say goodbye if they are leaving; sell, trade or give away items (“treasures from the bilge”); share information about things going on at the marina or in town; and a little trivia quiz for fun.  It is very entertaining and helpful – we generally waited until after the net to get to work on the boat or go to town.

We met one of the net controllers by chance because he worked part-time at the West Marine store, but no effort was made by the net controller group to meet newcomers.  In fact, no effort was made toward newcomers at all.  People we passed as we walked or did laundry at the marina would smile and nod, but they never stopped to chat.  Most of the local liveaboards had cars, but no one ever offered us a ride or even asked which way we were headed.  It was really strange to us since at every stop we made, the local people had been so friendly and went out of their way to help us – even in New York State where one might expect people to be less willing to help then in the ‘laid-back’ Keys. 

One of the newcomers, Bill, put out a feeler on the net one day, and asked if anyone wanted to get together to play cards one evening.  We took him up on it and made a new friend.  We had many a pleasant time with him, and he was very helpful to us on several occasions.  Thanks, Bill and we hope you find everything you are looking for (including all of the lost goodies in the bilge!)

Here are some pictures of Boot Key Harbor: a storm in the distance, a Sunday morning rainbow and a pink, spotted stingray.

So, why did we spend over 2 months in Marathon you ask?  Well, it was a somewhat frustrating experience.  We had planned to stay just long enough to rest and get ready for our voyage to Grand Cayman, so our plan was to leave Florida in early July.  We took a flight to Grand Cayman for a week in June for Pat’s daughter’s 40th birthday, but other then that, we worked on getting the boat ready and ensuring the dog would be permitted in Grand Cayman.  Aside from lots of little things, we got the SSB radio working properly and we purchased and installed 2 solar panels (which by the way, are an excellent investment).  We felt it was essential to have a working SSB radio because once we are outside US waters, there will be no VHF radio access, no Internet access and no telephone access.  So, in essence, no way to get help if needed.  The SSB allows us to do text-only email, receive weather information and send out position reports to our family.  As well, we can contact ham radio operators and ham radio nets to seek assistance.

With regard to the dog permit, we had been working on this since before we left Canada.  Grand Cayman has very strict and rigid rules for bringing a pet into the country.  They have never had rabies on the Islands, and naturally, they don’t want it there.  It takes 6 months to a year to get everything done to their satisfaction.  For instance, the pet must first have a microchip inserted (and it has to be a specific kind that their scanner can read), then the animal must have a rabies vaccine¸ then at least one month after the vaccine, you have to get a rabies titer done (this cost us over $400 and the blood has to be sent to Kansas State University), then within 14 days of travel, the pet has to be examined by a veterinarian who must treat the pet for tapeworms and ticks and complete a  International Health Certificate in which specific wording must be used and which then has to be sent to a government veterinarian for an official number.  The certificate is only good for 14 days.

Well, you know you really love your pet when you spend all of the time and money getting a permit for another country.  Grand Cayman’s rules, although rigid, are similar to the Bahamas and other Caribbean countries, so if you are considering bringing a pet along with you on your boat, make sure you understand the rules of entry for wherever you are going and be prepared for a great deal of expense, anxiety and time.

Dude was microchipped shortly after birth (just by luck with the correct kind of microchip), and his rabies vaccines were up to date.  We had the rabies titer done in Canada just before we left.  We found a weather window, quickly made an appointment with a local vet and got the International Health Certificate completed and sent all of the info they needed (which was everything Grand Cayman needed) by UPS one-day delivery ($54) to the government vet in Gainesville Florida.  It actually took 3 days to get there because we sent it on a Friday.  Now, we had another issue because there was no way we could guarantee we would be in Grand Cayman within 14 days of getting the Health Certificate, considering weather and that the trip would take us at least 10 days, and the fact that we still had to wait to receive the official go-ahead from Gainesville.  At this point our weather window was shrinking fast and we were really anxious.

So, we contacted Grand Cayman (Department of Agriculture) and asked if we could have an extension considering all of the above.  They realize their 14 day rule really applies to animals coming by plane or cruise ship, so after we sent them a formal letter of request, they gave us a month from the date of the Health Certificate.  Great, now we had some breathing room.  Not!!

In order for Gainesville to validate the veterinarian’s health certificate, they needed the Kansas State Rabies Laboratory to fax them a copy of the rabies titer.  Okay, we called Kansas State and asked them to fax it.  They agreed, but they didn’t do it!!  So another day was lost while we sorted it all out and got the info faxed to Gainesville.  In the meantime, Grand Cayman was not altogether happy with our health certificate because some of the wording they wanted was not present.  So, we had to ask the vet to write an addendum which also had to be worded in a specific way.  Sheesh – another day lost and another too many dollars spent.

Added to all of this is the fact that Grand Cayman required a Clearance Certificate from the last port of call.  This is a certificate filled in by the Coast Guard that states details of your boat and who you are along with the date you left the country.  Essentially, it means that the US have cleared you to leave.  Technically, you must leave on the day you get the clearance certificate completed, but the US authorities don’t care as long as you and your boat are still eligible to be in the US.  However, Grand Cayman does care and they consider the date on the certificate is the actual date you left.  So, we had to try to fit in getting this certificate done along with everything else, and we had to take a 2 hour bus ride each way from Marathon to Key West to get it done.  Are you out of breath yet, because we sure were!!

By this time our weather window was gone, and to top it off, our generator stopped working!!  So, Dave fixed the generator and Pat contacted Grand Cayman again to see what we needed to do.  Well, they agreed to give us another chance but we would have to get the dog dewormed and deticked again, another addendum from the vet and another clearance certificate from the US!!  So another look for a weather window, another trip to Key West and another bill from the vet!!

Can you spell ‘perseverance’?  We stuck to it, did everything needed and found another weather window.  We left Marathon on July 28th, exhausted but relieved and excited.  There is yet more to this story, so hold that nice thought for now!!

We want to let all of our cruising friends know something not dog related that we learned through this experience.  When we got the clearance certificate, the coast guard were interested in just two things.  Was our cruising permit still valid and were we (Dave and I) still validly in the US?  Did you know that the cruising permit is valid for 1 year but people can only stay for 6 months!!  Luckily, we had left the country at Christmas and again in June, (they checked our passports for this).  Otherwise, we would not have been legal.  When we entered the US at the end of October, nothing was said about this and there was no requirement for a visitor visa.  It is really weird and something you might want to check into.  We did not learn what the consequences are if you stay longer than 6 months, but that would be worth finding out for sure before you come.

Now, back to our story.  Yes, we left Marathon headed for Cuba but within an hour our engines started overheating.  In fact, the starboard engine just stopped it got so hot.  Shortly after that the port engine stopped too.  We just drifted for an hour to let them cool down and then re-started them and limped into an anchorage.  Dave started trying to diagnose the problem and we stayed at the anchorage overnight.  Now, I’m in a panic worried that we will lose our weather window again and be faced with going through all of the dog stuff again – which quite frankly, I’m not sure I would do again.

The next day, after Dave had checked all of the coolant levels, looked for leaks and tightened the belts, we started out from the anchorage but both engines overheated again within an hour and we had to call Boat US for a tow.  We were towed to Robbie’s Marina in Key West (a three-hour trip).  There was really no reason for both engines to overheat at the same time, so we figured that maybe the keel coolers (on the bottom of the boat and responsible for cooling the engine water) were covered in sea growth.  So, yesterday we had the boat hauled out to get the bottom power washed.  It’s weird to say this, but we were disappointed when we had a look at the bottom and discovered there was very little sea growth on the keel coolers.  Now, we still had to figure out what the problem really was.

Today, Dave took apart the starboard engine cooling system and cleaned out every single thing.  Again we were disappointed that there was only a little sludge and muck.  Tomorrow, he will do the port engine and put in some new coolant with an additive that further cools the engines.  We are hoping that the whole problem is due to the fact that the sea water temperature here is high (85 degrees) and the keel coolers just can’t get cool enough.  Hopefully, with the clean bottom, cleaned cooling systems and new coolant, we will be able to leave tomorrow night, weather permitting.

Finally, here is a picture of the aforementioned dog that has caused us so much trouble and cost us so much money.  He really is good company and fun, but we have to admit, knowing what we know now, we would not have brought the dog with us.

Our next posting should include only good news about our voyage to Grand Cayman via Cuba.  We have lots of interesting things to tell you about with regard to both of those places, so stay tuned.