It’s Sunday morning and we are been back on U.S. soil (well at least near dirt) as we are anchored in a harbor here in Ft Lauderdale.
I should note that this harbor, our favorite in southern Florida, will be closed to overnight anchoring as of July 1st, leaving very few places to anchor going forward. It seems that the Florida Legislator agrees with the property owners that they should control federal waters in their “back yard”. This is a very unfortunate state of affairs and I fear that this “contagion” may spread to other communities if this new law sticks. I expect that we have not heard the last of this.
Brenda flies out on Tuesday and Chris and Dave, my crew, arrive the next day for our trip north. I wish that I could say that they will arrive and we will shove of for the run the next day. However, as of now, it looks like we may run into a delay for a few days due to a big low that’s expected to move off of the coast on Thursday. However, if the guys don’t want to sit still and wait for fair winds, we can always head up on the “inside” via the Intra Coastal Waterway for a few days until the winds shift in our favor. Our strong preference will be to head offshore and make the 1,100 mile run in a single jump which should take about a week.
Anyway, stay tuned as the long term forecast becomes short term. When you get down to it, here’s nothing quite as accurate as a weather forecast for today. Just look out and see what the wind is doing “right now”. Beyond that, well, it’s an educated guess at best. I plan on talking to Chris Parker, the weather router, on Monday morning so, more to come…
Perhaps before I get into our departure from Cuba I’ll show one more photo of Pandora in the marina. And, Brenda relaxing in the cockpit on our last day in Havana.
And, that night, we had a wonderful dinner with friends at a local spot a short walk from the Marina. 
Brenda wrote about this spot, I am sure. Check it out but don’t get lost and forget to come back and read the rest of this post. Right? It was fun to have a farewell dinner with our new Canadian friends.
Ok, now that that’s out of the way…
We left Marina Hemingway on Thursday morning early, just as it was getting light and visited the Guarda Frontera to check out. Even though I had already “cleared out” the prior afternoon and paid my bill, they still wanted to go through the formalities, yet again. Have I mentioned that the Cuban government loves process?
Anyway, we had to call the Frontera as we cast off of the dock and alert them that we were on our way. And that was in addition to confirming, the day before, that we’d be leaving at 06:00. We arrived at the customs dock as directed. They checked our passports and signed our “despacho” for the last time, clearing us to leave Cuban waters. They had each of us sit in a chair to have our photo taken. I snapped this photo just before they waved “photos forbidden”. Got the shot! The Frontera work 24/7 so you can leave at any time, with permission and proper procedure followed, of course. With good weather in the forecast, it had been a very busy morning for them.
Papers signed, they boarded Pandora, in stocking feet of course, to confirm that we were not harboring any additional “stowaways”.
We passed by Havana as the sun rose over the city. A fitting moment to reflect on all that we had experienced during our two months in this fascinating country. Of particular note, the Soviet embassy really sticks out on the skyline (the tower on the right with the odd top) as a reminder of all that has happened in Cuba for the last 50 years. It is fitting that relations between our two countries are finally improving. However, it’s very unfortunate that it has taken so long to make things right. 
The excitement of the Cuban people as they look toward the future made our visit very timely and perhaps nothing illustrates the friendly people of Cuba better than this tiny fishing boat out for a day on the ocean. The crew ,as is always the case, waved enthusiastically as we sailed by. 
And, nothing better exemplifies the changes coming their way than this huge ship heading past us and that little fishing boat as they make their way into Havana harbor.
The Frontera were called out to check on a small sailboat that someone thought was having trouble. They passed right by us however, for a moment, I did wonder if perhaps they would board us for one last look as we headed home.
So, off we headed for the 250 mile run to Ft Lauderdale. About ten miles outside we were visited by a “stowaway”, we thought might be attempting to emigrate to the U.S.. I don’t know what type of egret this was but he stood nearly two feet tall. We have been often visited by birds in the past but never by one as regal as this.
He circled Pandora for nearly an hour, trying to find a good spot to land and rest.
First he tried to perch on the lifelines, right outside of the cockpit, not 5 feet from us. Not too comfortable as Pandora pitched in the short steep chop.
Then, he tried clinging to the bouncing dink on the stern.
Finally, he settled down on the deck where he rested for the rest of the day.
We did what we could to avoid frightening him away until we had to tack near dusk. The banging of sails as we came about, proved too much for him so he headed the 50 miles back to Cuban soil. So much for international travel.
We made a fast trip to Ft Lauderdale helped along by the Gulf Stream that gave us a boost of nearly 2 kts for much of the run. We could have gotten more current but I stayed near the edge of the “stream” to avoid the most confused seas caused by easterly winds against the current. Brenda was feeling pretty “green” as Pandora pitched along in the short steep 5-7’ chop. It was a bit of a wild ride with spray flying over the bow as we drove into the short seas.
I had been wondering what clearing customs would be like after all of the complexities of gaining approval for visiting a “hostile state” like Cuba and was prepared for officers to board us here in Ft Lauderdale. The whole process turned out to be a “non-event” with the clearing done via phone with both the USCG and then customs. However, we were still required to show up in person, within 24 hours, at a customs office near the cruise ship terminal to finalize our arrival.
Expecting to be grilled and be forced to prove that we had indeed followed the “rules”, I was ready. “So, what happened when you cleared in Bob?” Not much. A simple “how was Cuba?” and “welcome home”. I followed with “Great, you should go”.
And yes, you should go. What an experience. What a great country. What terrific people.
Don’t miss it…
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