It’s early on Sunday morning and we are just about abreast of Guantanamo Bay on the southeastern end of Cuba and still about 50 miles from Santiago de Cuba, our destination where we plan on clearing in later today.

As I mentioned in my last post, we opted to skip stopping along the way and decided to continue on directly to Cuba, finishing the entire 350 mile run in a single leg. That turned out to be a good decision but has made for a long trip of nearly three days. Seas were mostly calm and wind light much of the way but that meant that we ran the engine a good deal of the time.

However, as I write this we are romping along at 7+ kts in less than 15kts of apparent wind. It’s a very nice sail and all at about 12 degrees of heel.

As we approached the Windward Passage yesterday afternoon it was impressive to see just how many ships converged on this area from everywhere. We saw a tanker headed to Houston, a cruise ship heading to Aruba as well as a number of medium sized, 500-600′ cargo ships that were on their way to deliver cargo in the Caribbean all converging on the same area simultaneously.

Chris Parker had warned us about confused seas in the passage when the wind pipes up out of the North East and based on last night, I’d bet that it gets plenty nasty indeed. There was a fairly strong current heading north and with about 15kts of wind opposing it, we definitely experienced some pretty confused seas. It was tough to get a good feel for it as it was pitch dark, but I’d say that it felt like waves were coming from every which way and the boat was lurching around quite a bit. And with the wind from behind and the boat slamming from side to side, Brenda wasn’t a happy camper.

By rounding eastern tip of Cuba after dark, we didn’t get an opportunity to see the mountains that dominate that part of the island, rising some 2,000′ above sea level. The water drops off very quickly to thousands of feet deep less than a mile from shore so you don’t have to be very far from land to be sure of enough water. I stayed offshore by about 2 miles and the coastline was positively dark with almost no lights on shore with exception of the occasional lighthouse, so I had no visual reference to see just how close I was.

As I write this we are passing Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. Naval base in Cuba. I can only imagine how much having us there must piss off the Castros. I’d guess that they frown on the base hooking into the local electrical grid which would explain why there are a number of huge wind generators on the adjacent hills near the base. From the time we approached the exclusion zone, a small Navy boat shadowed us to be sure that we didn’t do anything out of order. They abruptly stopped when the reached the western end of their “zone”.

I expect that there was someone from the Cuban military watching them watch us. “I see you!”, no make that “I see you watching the gringos”.

After spending time in the Bahamas that boasts it’s highest “mountain” at about 200′, It’s really impressive to see the mountains of Cuba rising several thousand feet right up from the shoreline. The landscape is quite stunning and in spite of being on the dry side of the island, it’s quite green.

Brenda did very well with the motion of the boat over the last few days however, as we approached the passage last evening and it’s very confused following seas, not so great. I don’t think that she will be begging for more time there any time soon.

Well, today should be an interesting day as we go through the hours long clearing in process. I expect that it will be a very different experience than what we have experienced in the Bahamas where everything is finalized in about 15-20 minutes. I have been told that it takes forever here (they love process) with a parade of officials coming and going as they go through the boat and our paperwork leaving plenty of time for chat too.

I also understand that there is a whole host of foods, such as chicken, eggs and citrus that aren’t allowed. However I read that someone was able to avoid tossing everything by wrapping each item in plastic wrap.
I’ll report back on that one.

Well, perhaps clearing in will be a topic for tomorrow’s post. Until then…

It’s Saturday morning and we have begun the second day of our passage to Cuba.  At the point when we had been underway for 24 hours, we found ourselves about 50 miles from Great Inagua and about 75 miles from the eastern most point of Cuba.

Earlier today I spoke with Chris Parker, the weather router, and asked if he would recommend that we skip Great Inagua and just keep going to Cuba for a total nonstop run of about 350 miles.  His recommendation was to continue on and head directly for the Windward Passage as he feels that we will enjoy moderate winds behind the beam that will carry us all the way to our destination on Sunday afternoon.

For the first 24 hours we motor-sailed as the wind was just too light and clocked in direction from SE to SW and ultimately settling in to the 10kt NE wind we are enjoying now.  Pandora sails well with apparent wind near 10kts with the larger forward sail, the Code Zero.  It’s a huge light sail and can’t be flown in more than about 14kts apparent.  As I write this we are sailing along on a beam reach with about 8-10kts and are doing between 5-7kts through the water.  Fortunately, there isn’t much current to speak of so we are making good time and staying near our target speed of 6.5kts SOG much of the time.

Last evening was uneventful and Brenda stood watch for about half of the night, by herself so I could get some rest although it was pretty warm down below with the engine running.  This is the first time that Brenda has been underway for more than 24 hours and I have to say that she is doing great.  The fact that it was a clear evening with no moon made for some fabulous star gazing, one of her favorite pastimes.  At one point I came up on deck to check on everything and found her tipped back in her chair listening to music while watching the stars set on the western horizon.  That passed the time nicely for her and although she’s a bit queasy now and then, she has a great attitude.

After a hot 24 hours of being underway we both felt pretty grubby so we took showers in the cockpit this morning.  With Brenda reclining in one of the adjustable deck cushions, I washed her hair and then she showered out in the breeze.  Me too…  We both feel very refreshed. It’s very private out here as there is absolutely nothing within 40 miles of us in every direction except an occasional ship heading north from the Caribbean.

I have to say that I am still a bit surprised that we expect to arrive in Cuba on Sunday after so many months of preparation and to be one of the few American’s doing so by boat legally after more than 50 years is a big deal.

Brenda appreciates this and has been very supportive all along the way.   She wrote a funny post yesterday afternoon while we were underway (that’s a big deal in itself) that’s worth reading.  You can see it here. (put in www.argoknot.com link here)

Yes, this is a big deal and I am so pleased to be sharing it with Brenda.  Who knew, way back in Highschool, when we first met, that we’d be doing this together now.   And, speaking of Highschool, we both wish that we’d taken Spanish as it sure would have come in handy on this trip.

Indeed, we are very close to arriving in Cuba and after all the planning and setbacks, I’d argue that we are WAY closer than half way there.

Well,  today at 06:15 we hoisted our anchor and headed out for Cuba, finally, after months of work and head scratching on how to do it legally and safely.

So, off we go and our next landfall will be Great Inagua where we will spend the night before continuing on to Cuba Sunday morning.

As we left George Town today, threading our way between electronic way-points, as there are very few navigation aids or buoys anywhere in the Bahamas, our electronic chart plotter started acting up, rebooting every few minutes and freezing the screen.  We were blind, at least electronically blind.  Fortunately, we have backup charts on our i-Pad as well as paper charts but the idea of loosing our primary plotter at the helm was very bad news.  We continued on while I tried to figure out what had happened and after about an hour I decided to call Raymarine Tech Support for a solution.

Fortunately, The Bahamas have excellent cell coverage so I was able to get someone on the first try.  The solution, it seems, is that we somehow suffered a voltage spike, perhaps when I started the engine, that had sent the plotter into an endless loop and the only way to solve it was to do a “factory reset”.  Simple enough but all of our routes and waypoints were gone.  Not the end of the world as I can put them in again.  And that’s far, far better than loosing our Radar, AIS and electronic charts.   However, it’s resolved now but not without a few, well more than a few, nervous moments.

There has been a lot of discussion over the last few years about the question of the value of paper charts in an era of electronic charting and today’s experience is just one more piece of evidence that paper is here to stay, at least aboard Pandora for years to come.  Call me old fashioned, but today is not the first time I have had my plotter act up and I shudder at the thought of what would have happened if the hardware instead of a simple “reset” as there aren’t many places to have equipment fixed in the middle of “frigging” nowhere

Anyway, problem solved for now.

A little while ago I spoke by radio with my friend George on Trumpeter and he told me that he and Nancy had visited Great Inagua many years ago and had been amazed by a huge number of parrots that they had encountered on shore, making a huge racket.  I can’t recall ever seeing a parrot in the Bahamas so I guess it’s very different there, so much further south and close to the Caribbean.  The island is also known for their huge flocks of pink flamingos.

Interestingly, Morton Salt has a huge plant on the island where they harvest salt in enormous evaporation pans where ocean water is pumped into shallow “lakes” on an industrial scale where the sun does it’s work and all that’s left is salt.   This part of the Bahamas gets very little rain so production of salt by evaporation is practical, unlike other areas of the norther Bahamas that are too wet, if still arid by our standards.

As I write this we are making our way south along the eastern side of Long Island.  In a few hours we will pass the southern tip and head out into the ocean for the over night portion of our trip, prior to landing in Great Inagua on Saturday afternoon.

When we are making passage, we settle into a routine that involves reading, preparing meals napping and some boat chores.  As Brenda and I will have to spell each other during the over night hours to be sure that someone is “on watch” at all times, we try to take it easy and prepare simple meals.

My favorite spot to read when the weather is settled.I will say that it’s pretty hot and a bit uncomfortable down below.  Unfortunately, because of the risk of spray getting down below through open hatches, we have to keep the boat well buttoned up.  We do have fans but with the engine located under the galley in the main cabin, there is extra heat down below so it’s pretty warm.

There is also very little wind which is a bummer so we are motor-sailing with both sails and motor to keep moving.   The weather forecast calls for light conditions for much of our trip meaning that we will be under power most of the time, at least until we get to Great Inagua.

We should pick up some good wind on Sunday as we pass through the Windward Passage between Haiti and Cuba prior to turning west along Cuba’s south coast until our arrival in Santiago de Cuba on Monday.    Our landfall is about 30 miles past Guantanamo Bay.

It would be nice to be able to sail but there is a risk that we will encounter very strong winds upwards of 30kts going through the Windward Passage if we don’t get through there by mid day on Monday.  And, even though the winds would be behind us, we have been advised to press on as the seas there can be quite confused with a strong NE wind.

Well, that’s about all I have to report but I thought that I’d put up a post while I still have cell coverage.   After we pass the southern end of Long Island later today we will loose coverage until we get to Great Inagua.

I expect that I’ll post again sometime on Sunday morning.

Until then…

 

It’s Thursday afternoon and a beautiful day here in George Town.  This morning’s sunrise was particularly spectacular as the sun rose over Stocking Island to the east.  And, as the sun was higher in the sky, the clouds to the west took on a beautiful hue in the reflected sunrise.
I coudn’t resist a panorama.  If you click on the photo it will get bigger and hopefully more impressive.    Notice Monument Hill in the center of the photo. The other day I hiked up over the Monument Hill and took a photo of Pandora riding at anchor among the other boats. There are a LOT of boats here in the harbor.  The view to the south shows just a portion of them. After enjoying the view I found my way down to the ocean side of the island and spent some time collecting shells.  It’s a pretty well picked over beach but I was still able to find some little gems. As I mentioned in a recent post, I have mixed emotions about being here in George Town.  On the one hand, it’s a lot of cruisers jammed in one place, 310 boats at last count, which makes for some interesting dynamics.  However, I have to say that it’s a very nice group that will do just about whatever it takes to help out each other.

Today, during the morning radio net, here in the harbor, I made an announcement that we were looking for a particular book, Spanish for Cruisers, which would help us with phrases that are particular to boating, something that really isn’t covered in most English/Spanish phrase books.  And, within a few minutes, we had a call from a fellow boater, from the same town we live in in CT, no less, offering for us to have their copy of the book to keep or borrow.    Now that’s fast service.  Who needs Amazon Prime?   That’s what we call a “threefer”, a new friend, a book and meeting someone from our home town all wrapped up in one.

Anyway, it’s been fun being here and what a nice experience to prepare us to shove off and begin our run to Cuba tomorrow.    And speaking of Cuba, which readers of this blog know I do ad-nauseum, I have mentioned on the Net that we were are heading to Cuba a number of times and the amount of response has been amazing.  Some folks that have been there have offered to give us advice. Others wanted to learn more about the process of gaining approvals and a few were interested in buddy-boating with us.

Interestingly, just about everybody knows someone who’s going and only a handful seem to be doing so legally.  Most seem to just go and return, hoping to stay under the radar.  Having said that, I have also heard of a number of cruisers who have gotten in trouble although wrist slapping seems to be the punishment norm.  This is very different than in the past when the punishment was harsh and sometimes meant loosing your boat.

However, with this blog documenting our every move combined with my insatiable desire to stay in touch, I would not take the chance of running afoul of the law.   And, I am sure that they’d find out.

One way or the other, visiting Cuba is all the rage with just about everyone thinking about doing it so It will be interesting to see what the experience is like even if we are only a few pages ahead in the “book” from everyone else.  And, of course, that ignores the cruisers from other countries that have been visiting Cuba for years as it’s only the U.S. that has imposed sanctions for these many years.

In any event, the weather still looks good for a departure on Friday morning so stay tuned for more  developments of Bob and Brenda’s most excellent, Cuba adventure.

Details to follow.

 

It’s Tuesday afternoon here in Georgetown Great Exuma.  Brenda’s aboard working on a tapestry weaving project and I am in town getting some last minute chores done.   As an example of the complexity of managing our affairs from afar, I discovered that my ATM card expired last month so I can ‘t use it to get last minute funds or the run.  Fortunately, Brenda’s card is fine so I’ll come back to town tomorrow to get funds, fuel and whatever else we need.

I also had to anticipate any bills that need to be paid and funds to transfer to last us through early May when we re-enter U.S. Waters as we could very well not have access to much via the Internet while we are in Cuba.  I sure hope that I have thought of everything.  Fingers crossed.

Our plan is to leave for Cuba, after months of preparation, on Friday morning with the expectation that we will do a overnight to Great Inagua with an assumed arrival sometime on Saturday afternoon, where we will stop and rest.  After a good night sleep (hopefully) we will shove off on Sunday and head on to Santiago de Cuba for an arrival at some point on Monday afternoon.  The total distance for the run is about 350 miles.  The chart below shows the route with Great Inagua, the southern most island in the Bahamas and our stopping point for rest, at the lower right of the frame.    Our current location, Georgetown is where the “boat” is shown.   Of course, Santiago de Cuba is at the “end” of the course, where we will clear in to Cuba.  I spoke with Chris Parker, the weather router, earlier today and the route and timing we have chosen should take into account a forecast that suggests moderate conditions and good winds for the trip.

We will “fire off the SPOT” every four hours or so along the way so you will be able to track our progress on the “where in the world is Pandora” link on my home page.  You also can sign up to receive notices when I post by signing up on the home page.

I generally put up a short post each day when I am making passage by sending text to our son Christopher and then he puts it up.  We will see how it goes.

After we get to Cuba who knows what our coverage for posting will be but at the very least, I’ll be able to send text and perhaps a small photo to Christopher who will put it up.

After our visit to Santiago de Cuba we will continue along the south coast for about a month and then round the most western point of Cuba and head up to Marina Hemingway and Havana prior to heading back to Miami and the U.S in early May.

Well, it looks like we’re off to Cuba later this week.  Wish us fair winds and calm seas.