{"id":5711,"date":"2016-05-01T16:14:17","date_gmt":"2016-05-01T16:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=5711"},"modified":"2016-05-03T10:45:03","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T10:45:03","slug":"were-back-from-cuba-what-a-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=5711","title":{"rendered":"We\u2019re back from Cuba.\u00a0 What a trip!"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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. \u00a0 It seems that the Florida Legislator agrees with the property owners that they should control federal waters in their “back yard”. \u00a0 This is a very unfortunate state of affairs and I fear that this “contagion” may spread to other communities if this new law sticks. \u00a0I expect that we have not heard the last of this.<\/p>\n

Brenda flies out on Tuesday and Chris and Dave, my crew, arrive the next day for our trip north.\u00a0 I wish that I could say that they will arrive and we will shove of for the run the next day.\u00a0 However, as of now, it looks like we may run into a delay for a few days due to a big low that\u2019s expected to move off of the coast on Thursday.\u00a0 However, if the guys don\u2019t want to sit still and wait for fair winds, we can always head up on the \u201cinside\u201d via the Intra Coastal Waterway for a few days until the winds shift in our favor.\u00a0 \u00a0Our strong preference will be to head offshore and make the 1,100 mile run in a single jump which should take about a week.<\/p>\n

Anyway, stay tuned as the long term forecast becomes short term.\u00a0\u00a0 When you get down to it, here\u2019s nothing quite as accurate as a weather forecast for today. Just look out and see what the wind is doing \u201cright now\u201d.\u00a0 Beyond that, well, it\u2019s an educated guess at best.\u00a0 \u00a0I plan on talking to Chris Parker, the weather router, on Monday morning so, more to come\u2026<\/p>\n

Perhaps before I get into our departure from Cuba I\u2019ll show one more photo of Pandora in the marina.\u00a0 And, Brenda relaxing in the cockpit on our last day in Havana.\"OLYMPUSAnd, that night, we had a wonderful dinner with friends at a local spot a short walk from the Marina. \u00a0\"5-1-16aBrenda wrote about this spot<\/a>, I am sure. \u00a0Check it out but don’t get lost and forget to come back and read the rest of this post. \u00a0Right? \u00a0 It was fun to have a farewell dinner with our new Canadian friends.\"5-1-16a\u00a0Ok, now that that\u2019s out of the way\u2026<\/p>\n

We left Marina Hemingway on Thursday morning early, just as it was getting light and visited the Guarda Frontera to check out.\u00a0 Even though I had already \u201ccleared out\u201d the prior afternoon and paid my bill, they still wanted to go through the formalities, yet again.\u00a0 Have I mentioned that the Cuban government loves process?<\/p>\n

Anyway, we had to call the Frontera as we cast off of the dock and alert them that we were on our way.\u00a0\u00a0 And that was in addition to confirming, the day before, that we\u2019d be leaving at 06:00.\u00a0 We arrived at the customs dock as directed.\u00a0 They checked our passports and signed our \u201cdespacho\u201d for the last time, clearing us to leave Cuban waters.\u00a0 They had each of us sit in a chair to have our photo taken.\u00a0 I snapped this photo just before they waved \u201cphotos forbidden\u201d.\u00a0 Got the shot!\u00a0 The Frontera work 24\/7 so you can leave at any time, with permission and proper procedure followed, of course. \u00a0\u00a0With good weather in the forecast, it had been a very busy morning for them.\"5-1-16aPapers signed, they boarded Pandora, in stocking feet of course, to confirm that we were not harboring any additional \u201cstowaways\u201d.<\/p>\n

We passed by Havana as the sun rose over the city.\u00a0 A fitting moment to reflect on all that we had experienced during our two months in this fascinating country.\u00a0 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.\u00a0\u00a0 It is fitting that relations between our two countries are finally improving.\u00a0 However, it\u2019s very unfortunate that it has taken so long to make things right. \u00a0\u00a0\"OLYMPUSThe 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.\u00a0 The crew ,as is always the case, waved enthusiastically as we sailed by. \u00a0\"OLYMPUSAnd, 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.\"OLYMPUSThe Frontera were called out to check on a small sailboat that someone thought was having trouble.\u00a0 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.\"OLYMPUSSo, off we headed for the 250 mile run to Ft Lauderdale. \u00a0\u00a0About ten miles outside we were visited by a \u201cstowaway\u201d, we thought might be attempting to emigrate to the U.S..\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what type of egret this was but he stood nearly two feet tall.\u00a0 We have been often visited by birds in the past but never by one as regal as this.<\/p>\n

He circled Pandora for nearly an hour, trying to find a good spot to land and rest.\"OLYMPUSFirst he tried to perch on the lifelines, right outside of the cockpit, not 5 feet from us.\u00a0 Not too comfortable as Pandora pitched in the short steep chop.\"OLYMPUSThen, he tried clinging to the bouncing dink on the stern.\"OLYMPUSFinally, he settled down on the deck where he rested for the rest of the day.\"OLYMPUSWe did what we could to avoid frightening him away until we had to tack near dusk.\u00a0 The banging of sails as we came about, proved too much for him so he headed the 50 miles back to Cuban soil.\u00a0 So much for international travel.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 We could have gotten more current but I stayed near the edge of the \u201cstream\u201d to avoid the most confused seas caused by easterly winds against the current. \u00a0Brenda was feeling pretty \u201cgreen\u201d as Pandora pitched along in the short steep 5-7\u2019 chop.\u00a0 It was a bit of a wild ride with spray flying over the bow as we drove into the short seas.<\/p>\n

I had been wondering what clearing customs would be like after all of the complexities of gaining approval for visiting a \u201chostile state\u201d like Cuba and was prepared for officers to board us here in Ft Lauderdale.\u00a0 The whole process turned out to be a \u201cnon-event\u201d with the clearing done via phone with both the USCG and then customs.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

Expecting to be grilled and be forced to prove that we had indeed followed the \u201crules\u201d, I was ready.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u201cSo, what happened when you cleared in Bob?\u201d\u00a0 Not much.\u00a0 A simple \u201chow was Cuba?\u201d and \u201cwelcome home\u201d. \u00a0I followed with \u201cGreat, you should go\u201d.<\/p>\n

And yes, you should go.\u00a0 What an experience.\u00a0 What a great country.\u00a0 What terrific people.<\/p>\n

Don’t miss it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s 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 […]<\/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-5711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5711","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=5711"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5730,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5711\/revisions\/5730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}