{"id":5678,"date":"2016-04-27T17:58:37","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T17:58:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=5678"},"modified":"2016-04-27T18:54:18","modified_gmt":"2016-04-27T18:54:18","slug":"yes-thursdays-the-day-were-outa-cuba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=5678","title":{"rendered":"Yes, Thursday\u2019s the day.\u00a0 We\u2019re out\u2019a Cuba\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Wednesday morning here at Marina Hemingway and Brenda and I expect to leave for Florida on Thursday morning.\u00a0 We were going to clear in in Ft Lauderdale but I learned today that the anchorages in Ft. Lauderdale that we have been using for years have now been cut off due to heavy lobbying by some local residents.\u00a0 That\u2019s very unfortunate as there aren\u2019t any realistic alternatives there for cruisers unwilling or unable to pay high marina prices.\u00a0 Anyway, there is a reasonably priced city mooring field in Miami that we\u2019ll use as an alternative to Ft Lauderdale.<\/p>\n

Today we\u2019ll focus on getting Pandora ready for the run north and doing a bit of \u201changing out\u201d with some friends before we leave.\u00a0 Tonight we will be getting together for drinks and dinner to say \u201cadios\u201d.\u00a0 Several of them hope to make it to CT this summer to see us there.\u00a0 That would be fun.<\/p>\n

Yesterday morning I changed the oil in the engine, the second time since leaving Florida back in January and today perhaps I\u2019ll also spend some time polishing the stainless.\u00a0 And, let me tell you, there is a LOT of stainless on Pandora.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s not too hard to get it shiny again but the sheer volume keeps me busy for hours.\u00a0 And, to keep her looking her best I have to polish everything about once a month.\u00a0 However, I don\u2019t seem to get to it that often so now she\u2019s really in need of attention.\u00a0 I spent several hours polishing the other day and only got the radar arch and stainless in the cockpit done.\u00a0 There\u2019s still plenty to do.\u00a0 Of course, I\u2019ll have to make time to visit the pool to cool off, perhaps more than one.<\/p>\n

I had mentioned that there are some parts of the marina here that are better than others and I received a comment on that post looking for clarification.\u00a0 The marina is a series of \u201ccanals\u201d that parallel each other with concrete bulkheads on either side to tie up to in a \u201cparallel parking\u201d sort of way.\u00a0 There are four canals with #1 being very close to the the ocean.\u00a0 There is a hotel between canals #2 and #3 and that area also has some places to eat.\u00a0 That\u2019s the best part of the marina, with the nicest boats.\u00a0 Yes, being close to the pool is noisy but it\u2019s definitely the best part of the marina and also has access to WIFI, such as it is.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0However, we have been having trouble with the electrical service which has very high voltage of nearly 140v AC.\u00a0 That\u2019s too high for the tolerances on my system so we have had to go without AC.\u00a0 As it\u2019s not been too hot it\u2019s not been much of a problem.\u00a0 However, that limits our ability to cut out the music from the pool and hotel that keeps pounding pretty loud until 10:00 each night.\u00a0\u00a0 However, being able to leave Pandora and jump easily into the pool has been fun and worth the noise.<\/p>\n

Anyway, we also have to be sure that we have enough CUC to pay our bill.\u00a0 We did get some more money exchanged yesterday but may not have quite enough and may have to find a way to change a bit more. We had expected to head back to downtown Havana today but as we now plan to leave Thursday, instead of Friday, we have decided to hang around here for the day.\u00a0 We may be able to change a bit at the hotel or perhaps approach another cruiser who\u2019s not yet planning to leave and do it that way.<\/p>\n

One thing for sure, I don\u2019t want to leave Cuba with any extra CUC as there is no way to change it to U.S. once we leave here.<\/p>\n

Yesterday we headed downtown to Havana again and did some last minute touring of the city. It was fun and we still enjoyed the sights.<\/p>\n

I have mentioned the large amount of construction\/building repairs that\u2019s going on and everywhere you turn there is evidence of investment going on.\u00a0 Rumor has it that the Chinese are behind some of this and that doesn\u2019t surprise me, if that\u2019s the case.<\/p>\n

You can see the stunning \u201cafter\u201d along with some nearby \u201cbefore\u201d.\"OLYMPUSAnd, speaking of “before”, it’s doesn’t seem that long ago when the Soviet Union was such a big deal in Cuba. \u00a0This was their embassy, or at least the most visible part of the huge compound. \u00a0\"4-27-16aOf course, what\u2019s a post about Cuba without a few more cars.\u00a0 This is a really lovely convertible.\"OLYMPUSThere are plenty of these funny little taxis.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think that I\u2019d like to be on a busy roadway in one of these.\u00a0 The \u201cpilot\u201d wears a helmet but not the passengers.\u00a0 I wonder if they know something that their customers don\u2019t know?\u00a0 You think?\u00a0 Not the safest vehicles on the road.\"OLYMPUSIt was fun to see these women dressed in traditional holiday garb. \u00a0They pose for tourists in the most popular places. \u00a0It looks like they were taking a rest and talking to a window washer. \u00a0Or was he a mountain climber? \u00a0\"OLYMPUSWe have enjoyed visiting various bars in Havana.\u00a0 Here are a few \u201cshots\u201d, pun intended.\u00a0 No, we haven\u2019t had drinks in ALL of them.\u00a0 \"4-27-16a \"4-27-16aCan you say \u201cdos Mojitos\u201d?One cannot live on rum alone so we visited a pastry shop.\u00a0 It was jammed.\u00a0 Bread here is about $.40CUC per loaf.\u00a0 Very cheap.\u00a0 The sweets look better than they taste but are pretty good, never the less.\"4-27-16aBrenda enjoyed buying some perfume in this place.\u00a0 The shop was in an old building with some lovely stained glass and an impressive courtyard.\"4-27-16a\"4-27-16aWe also happened on a funny little gun museum.\u00a0 It was a single room and featured mostly shotguns from around the world.\u00a0 A very eclectic mix.\u00a0 They also had a rifle purportedly owned by Che, the revolutionary and one of Castro\u2019s buds.\u00a0 There are more photos of him around than of Fidel.\"4-27-16aWe never tired of the views down old streets.\"4-27-16aAlong the way we spied a local \u201cartist\u201d making things out of palm fronds.\u00a0 We were very impressed with his work.\u00a0 We have seen plenty of baskets in the Bahamas made from Palm fronds but nothing like this. Amazing work.\"4-27-16aIt’s remarkable what he was able to do with just a few fronds. \u00a0This was his “display”. \u00a0Amazing.\"4-27-16aWe loved it so much we got another after we had eaten dinner, just so we could watch him make it.\"4-27-16a\"4-27-16a\"4-27-16a\"4-27-16aThen he made \u00a0a grasshopper. \u00a0\"4-27-16aThe finished piece. \u00a0He won’t get rich on this at $3.00 CUC.\u00a0\"4-27-16aDinner was not as memorable as the location.\u00a0 It was in an old printing factory or at least decorated to look the part.\u00a0\"4-27-16a\"4-27-16aAll and all, a wonderful few days in Havana but we are ready to \u201cget out of Dodge\u201d and back to the good old U.S. of A.<\/p>\n

So, one more night in Havana and we are Out\u2019a here!<\/p>\n

Flash alert: \u00a0I found out that “the place” to change money here in Havana happens to be in the beauty parlor at the marina. \u00a0 The exchange rate is actually better than at the “official” places. \u00a0And the “exchange lady” was a lot better looking. And, I also got my hair cut. \u00a0Such is life in Cuba. \u00a0A remarkable place. \u00a0A remarkable place indeed.<\/p>\n

Next post?\u00a0 If it\u2019s from Cuba, instead of Florida, there will surely be a good story to tell.\u00a0 Let\u2019s hope not\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Wednesday morning here at Marina Hemingway and Brenda and I expect to leave for Florida on Thursday morning.\u00a0 We were going to clear in in Ft Lauderdale but I learned today that the anchorages in Ft. Lauderdale that we have been using for years have now been cut off due to heavy lobbying by […]<\/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-5678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5678","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=5678"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5709,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5678\/revisions\/5709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}