{"id":5469,"date":"2016-03-13T19:17:37","date_gmt":"2016-03-13T19:17:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=5469"},"modified":"2016-03-13T19:17:37","modified_gmt":"2016-03-13T19:17:37","slug":"chivirico-cuba-and-boat-repair-in-exotic-places","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=5469","title":{"rendered":"Chivirico Cuba and boat repair in exotic places."},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday we cleared out of the port of Santiago and headed west along the coast.\u00a0 It\u2019s now Sunday morning and we are anchored in Chivirico, a teeny, tiny little harbor, about 30 miles west of Santiago de Cuba.<\/p>\n

Before I get started with this post, perhaps a few more photos from our visit to Santiago de Cuba.\u00a0 First, a photo of Pandora in the marina there with the mountains in the distance.\u00a0\u00a0 What a view.\"OLYMPUSJust before we left Santiago a number of rowing shells from the local boat club rowed by.\u00a0 I have to say that I wasn\u00b4t epecting to see such a sight in a comunist country.\u00a0\u00a0 Fedel, row harder.\u00a0 You are out of sync…\"OLYMPUSThe sunset to the west each evening was spectacular.\u00a0 In the afternoons it blows like stink but the wind dies at sunset making for a beautiful, if hot, evening.\u00a0 We were able to run the AC in the front cabin but the electrical connection wasn\u00b4t strong enough to support the AC in the main salon or the battery charger.\u00a0 Glad we have the solar panels. \"OLYMPUSA few days ago I took the ferry from the marina to downtown Santiago.\u00a0\u00a0 You want third world, this was third world.\u00a0 Show me the life preservers.\u00a0 Ha!\"\"What a view from the boat as we approached the city from the water.\u00a0 \"OLYMPUSWhen we came into the harbor at Santiago to anchor in the quarantine area a week ago Brenda was at the helm as is customary for us as I handled the anchor. The woman that checked us in decided that Brenda, being at the helm, was the \u00a8Capitan\u00a8 and put her as such on the paperwork.\u00a0\u00a0 This means that each time we clear in or out of a port Brenda is \u201cEl Capitan\u201d from now on and has to sign any papers. We both got quite a kick out of that.\u00a0 Well, mostly me and the lady that checked us in, of course.<\/p>\n

Most cruising couples divide the work by putting the husband at the helm and wife on the bow. Not us and I guess that\u2019s unusual enough here in Cuba to raise eyebrows at customs. \u00a0 Andas a result, Capitan Brenda she is, and will remain, Capitan for the duration of our visit to Cuba.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an important distinction as you must clear in and out of each port every time you move. That\u2019s unless, of course, if the port is so small that it doesn\u2019t have a GuardaFrontera office.\u00a0 Such is the case at Chivirico, a village that is so small that it only fits about 4 boats.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t see the harbor from the ocean as it\u2019s behind a hill that is several hundred feet tall with a small hotel perched on the top. \u00a0 It was quite intimidating to make the approach as there aren\u2019t any markers save a white range marker on the beach just before you turn to go into the lagoon.<\/p>\n

The entrance is impossibly narrow, more of a cut in the coral marked by some metal stakes than a channel.\u00a0 I have to admit that I was holding my breath, for more than a few minutes,\u00a0 as we came closer to shore and entrance but the water was clear enough to easily see the shallows.<\/p>\n

After entering the channel, we promptly ran aground. However, the mud was so soft and deep that we were able to power our way through with little difficulty. At the most shallow point we were reading about 5\u2019 so that meant that we were plowing through about 12-18\u201d of soft mud with our 6\u20195\u201d keel. It was a bit unnerving as I really didn\u2019t want to find myself stranded just feet from coral and breakers.\u00a0\u00a0 Once inside, we weren\u2019t alone as there were three other boats anchored in the tiny harbor, two from Norway.<\/p>\n

One of the boats had three young people aboard who left Norway back in August and were headed to Panama and across the Pacific with a plan of being aboard together for about three years. Interestingly, they didn\u2019t have any sort of bimini to shade them in the cockpit so the three fair haired kids from the north were all nut brown. I expect that they will regret that later in life. Can you say sebharea karatossa or spell it?\u00a0\u00a0 Pretty sure I can\u00b4t.<\/p>\n

The wind became very light in the evening so Brenda and I sat up on deck to watch the local children jump into the water from a tree.\u00a0\"OLYMPUS A bit later they swam out to us, I expect with the hope of some sort of handout.\u00a0\u00a0 \"\"I was tempted but didn\u2019t want them with us for the duration of our visit.\u00a0 Chivirico is a tiny rural fishing village, much different than Santiago with all its noise and activity.\u00a0\u00a0 The locals make their living fishing out of little boats and in inner tubes that they float around with while casting lines.\u00a0\u00a0 The boats that they take out into the ocean are impossibly small with tiny inboard engines.<\/p>\n

They also set up fine nets hundreds of feet long across the inlet to the harbor in the evening to catch fish that tangle in the net as they move into the harbor to feed at dusk.\"OLYMPUS It was interesting to see the smaller fish jumping out of the water as larger ones below cornered them against the net. They sparkled as they jumped out of the water in the late afternoon light.\u00a0\u00a0 It was quite a sight.\"OLYMPUSThere are some very quaint buildings along the mangrove shoreline and even two thatched huts at a sort of park were the children were swimming. \u00a0\"OLYMPUSSunset, and I love sunsets in blog posts as you know, and this one was beautiful. I\u00b4d like to see Brenda weave this as a tapestry.\u00a0 It was a magical moment.<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

There isn\u2019t going to be much wind to speak of until Tuesday so we\u2019ll wait here and enjoy this little village.<\/p>\n

Oh yeah, remember the \u201cflood\u201d last fall where salt water got on some of the electronic components in the back of the boat? \u00a0That little mishap was what caused me abandon my trip to the Eastern Caribbean as various sensitive electronic components failed. Well, I thought that I had resolved all of the \u201cissues\u201d that resulted from that problem but it seems that experience has turned out to be \u201cthe gift that keeps on giving\u201d as a critical isolator on the SSB tuner was damaged too and I have not been able to reliably receive e-mail since arriving in Cuba.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s very frustrating and means that I am unable to send posts to our son Christopher when we are in more out-of-the-way areas, LIKE CUBA.\u00a0 I have tried to find a work-around but the problem persists. Perhaps I\u2019ll find a solution but for now I will only be able to reliably receive messages when I am able to visit one of the state run internet cafes.<\/p>\n

If you see this post, you will know that I was able to find a place with internet, the little state run hotel on the hill nearby.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s very distressing that we are unable to reliably communicate with folks in spite of our very careful preparation. And, one thing for sure is that we won\u2019t be finding a replacement part here in Cuba.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll continue to fiddle with things and, who knows, perhaps I\u2019ll get lucky and fix it.<\/p>\n

Before I sign off, one more thing. Yesterday when I was closing up the sail cover on the main, I noticed that some of the stitching had come apart which meant that I needed to re-stitch the entire zipper, all 30-40\u2019+ of it. It took about three hours to take off the cover, sew it and put it all back together again.\u00a0 You should try managing a foot pedel while sitting on a boat cushion.\u00a0\u00a0 Not the most ideal sewing position.\u00a0 However, the veiw was unparalled.\u00a0\u00a0 Brenda was a huge help feeding the 17\u00b4cover as I sewed.\"\" It was a good example of the cruising life of \u201cboat repair in exotic places\u201d. \u00a0Did I mention that I had a sewing machine on board? Good thing as it\u2019s the second time I have used it since leaving CT last October.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday we cleared out of the port of Santiago and headed west along the coast.\u00a0 It\u2019s now Sunday morning and we are anchored in Chivirico, a teeny, tiny little harbor, about 30 miles west of Santiago de Cuba. Before I get started with this post, perhaps a few more photos from our visit to Santiago […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5469"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5482,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5469\/revisions\/5482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}