Now or Never!: THE ANSWER MY FRIEND?

If indeed the answer is blowin’ in the wind, we’d have it by now. It’s been blowing 20+ knots non-stop for over 72 hours and there’s more to come. Chris Parker, our weather guru said that if we could make port in Cuba by mid-day Friday, we’d escape the nasty front that was on its way.

Actually, the adventure started in early December when we left home and headed for Fort Pierce, Florida.

We spent the next 2 months getting the boat ready for the trip. It had been on the hard for a year and the engine had run for about 30 minutes during the 18 previous months. So there was a lot to do. Much of it more easily done out of the water..

We buffed the hull to a glistening shine and redid the upholstery in the salon.

We were visited each evening by a great blue heron who stood guard over the skeleton of a tree.

Naturally we had some mechanical problems when we splashed (ships and sailors rot in port!) and spent a frustrating day tracing them down.

Bruno came with us, of course, but he is not a sailor. He decided to retire from a life at sea and went to live with Theresa (Kathleen’s sister) and her grand kids Lea and Roman in Madeira Beach Florida. Maybe he’ll learn to paddle board.

We took a few days to work our way down the 100 miles to Ft Lauderdale where we joined our friends on s/v Sparrow, Al, Frank and Carol and a new friend, Jim. Together, we headed down to Biscayne Bay and points further south. We enjoyed some fine sunsets which were naturally saluted by the blowing of the conch. (Turn your speakers on)

Key Largo gave us a fine welcome with a spectacular fireworks show.

We took advantage of the small weather window to head from Marathon in the Keys to Varadero, Cuba. We had to leave earlier than desired in order to escape the approaching weather in Marathon. That put us at the Varadero entrance at 4 AM, way too dark to try to negotiate the 6 miles into the marina, so we circled like sharks waiting for the sun.

Checking into Cuba was a long but easy process. A parade of officials came on board the boat. First was a doctor who made sure we were healthy enough to enter Cuba. Then there were customs officials, agricultural inspectors, immigration agents. In all, the process took about 2 hours. It was a pleasure to meet all of the officials. They seemed genuinely interested in us, our personal lives and histories. Thanks to them, we immediately fell in love with Cuba.

Gaviota Marina is a modern 1000 slip facility but there are only about a dozen private boats here. It is surrounded by shops, restaurants and all-inclusive hotels filled with people from all over the world, but especially from Canada.

We took a bus the 12 miles into town. Most of the passengers were tourists from the surrounding hotels and the bus was packed.

After a ride in a 1956 Chevy convertible, we changed money and asked the bank doorman about a restaurant. He told us about one nearby. “I know the owner. Tell heem that the man at the bank send you, he treat you real nice.” We did and he did. It was wonderful.

Latin America is very much present in Cuba. There are parks and plazas where friends and families gather. Flowers abound everywhere. Caribbean whimsy produces visual jokes like mustachioed gates. Old houses, sandwiched between more modern buildings are monuments to the past.

The wind does not seem to have kept people off the beach. They were there in full party mode—drinks, volleyball, salsa, dancing. We took advantage of the free drinks offered to the all-inclusives. We didn’t have bracelets, but nobody asked.