Saturday 4/2 – Arrive Sarasota Yacht Club 1100. Stow gear. Fuel dock for top off. Rain and winds. Captain's meeting. Customs check in. Great Cuban food, hand rolled cigars and live music.
Sunday 4/3 - Depart slip around 1100. South on ICW to Venice Inlet. Too much risk going out Big Sarasota Pass due to tide and seas. Left Venice Inlet into Gulf 1345. Winds 4-5 NW. 1200 RPMs. SOG 5 kph. Seas light. Motor sailing. Waypoint bearing 186 to lighted tower just north of Dry Tortugas. 131 nm. 1500. On course. 192 mag. NW swells 4 feet with 5 second intervals. 2000 RPM. 1730 – Winds SSW, West seas 2-4. Occasional 6's. 2200. 82.6 nm to Light Tower waypoint. SOG 5 kph. COG 191. 26 nm NW of Sanibel.
WATCH SCHEDULE BY KAREN
We kept a "two on-four off" watch schedule during the day. Our night schedule was "three on-six off" as follows:
1900-2200 - Watch Team 1
2200-0100 - Watch Team 2
0100-0400 - Watch Team 3
0400-0700 - Watch Team 1
0700-1000 - Watch Team 2
We matched up each team's natural sleep/wake tendencies with the schedule. Seemed to work out pretty well for all.
WAYPOINT LIST TO MARINA HEMINGWAY
Venice to Lighted Tower 186 m 131nm
24 56.10N 82 44.57W
Lighted Tower to Dry Tortugas 168 m 10nm
24 43.51N 82 43.84W
Dry Tortugas to Rebecca Shoals 189 m 18nm
24 27.20N 82 46.88W
Rebecca Shoals to Marina Hemingway 171 m 48nm
Approach buoy
23 05.40N 82 30.60W
Monday 4/4 – 0735 Lat 25 29.647N 082 40.26 W 90nm due east of Cape Sable. 33nm from Light Tower. COG 190. SOG 5 kph. WNW winds 6. Seas 3-4, occasional 6's. Rocking and rolling. 1330 at Lighted Tower. Underway from Venice Inlet approximately 24 hours. SOG 5 kph. Winds 6. Seas confused, choppy, 4' swells, 2 sec intervals. 24 57. 524N 82 44.394W. 1440 Put three 5 gallon Jerry Cans of diesel into tank while underway. 111 nm to go to Marina Hemingway (approximate 22 hours).
Tuesday 4/5 0100-0400 Dodged numerous tankers. A little tense, but with AIS and Jane and Karen's diligence we made it through. AIS mandatory for this crossing. 1045 arrived at approach buoy to Marina Hemingway channel 23 05.400N 82 30.600 W. Underway from Venice Inlet for 45 hours. 1047 into channel. Entered well marked channel. Large black diamond day mark at end of channel. Went to port and tied up at a very long side-to dock with blue buildings.
Checking in with Guarda Frontera - 1050 tied up at Custom's Dock. 48 hours underway from SYC slip to Custom's Dock. 1110 Dr. Pedro took our temperatures. All within specs. Heard of another boat where one person was running a slight fever and they were told that they would have to stay in quarantine until fever dropped. They decided to head back. 1116 Guarda Frontera, 19-year-old Ernesto asked how many people onboard. Went back to office. Craig went to office with paperwork. Then, each person (two at a time) went into office to have passport stamped and photo taken.
Marina Hemingway - On to slip at Marina Hemingway (about five minutes) Side-to tie. Visited by two additional inspectors and we were free to leave the boat. Our slip was about one minute walk to the pool bar of the Hotel Acuario which is right on the property of the Marina Hemingway docks. Music was playing almost non-stop at the pool from afternoon until after dark. If you are staying at the hotel, all food and drink are included in the price. They give you a wrist band to denote that you are staying at the hotel. Initially, we stayed on the boat, we could still get drinks at the pool bar for 1 CUC tips. They did take US dollars before we exchanged our money into CUCs.
Dollar, CUC, CUP - CUC is the Cuban Convertible Peso. One CUC is equivalent to one US dollar. However, there is a hefty exchange and service charge so that we got 87 cents on the dollar. Some places will take US dollars, but primarily, for tourists, you will have to pay in CUCs. Locals primarily use the CUP (Cuban Peso) for their day-to-day purchases. 24 CUPs is equivalent to 1 CUC/1 US Dollar. So, 1 CUP is equal to around 4 cents. Credit cards issued by American banks are not accepted anywhere in Cuba.
Hotel Acuario - We eventually got a room at the Hotel Acuario for a few nights. Craig, reserved the rooms and pre-paid with credit card a few weeks prior through a third party reservation company while still in the US. We also stayed at a house on the property for one night as our rooms were not ready. The house we stayed in for one night was luxurious. Pool in the courtyard. Full kitchen. Beautiful! It was like something you would see in a Miami Vice episode. The hotel rooms were adequate and clean. Maid service every day. Air conditioning worked great. In-room mini fridge. TV with local and international channels. Bathrooms were clean. We had a hot water issue in our room (no hot water) that never got fixed. But, the other rooms were fine.
The all-inclusive food was served cafeteria style. There were flies around, so I avoided any of the open served food. There was an omelet station that was good. Service was slow. Things like napkins, cups, plates and some food items were frequently scarce until they were finally replenished. We did have a private lobster dinner one night. The lobster and service were very good. Wine, not so much good.
In general, the service at the hotel was mostly slow, inefficient and inconsistent. It seemed that many of the hotel workers appeared overwhelmed at the demands (that were normal based on US standards) placed on them. Some of the hotel employees spoke some English, but to get anything done a little quicker or more accurately, speaking Spanish helped greatly.
Mani/Pedi – Karen, Jane and Sharon scheduled mani/pedis at the hotel salon. Quality was low, and cleanliness was suspect (just rinsed out foot tub, did not clean it. Used same towel to dry each person's feet, etc.)
Hotel entertainment – On most nights there was some sort of live entertainment at the stage near poolside. One night it was a magician and acrobats. Then there were the scantily clad dancers interspersed with male and female torch singers. Then there was the aqua ballet that took place around and in the pool. All included in the price.
Wednesday 4/5 – Private tour of Havana. My friend, Arnold, in Tarpon Springs, gave me a contact for someone to drive us around in Havana. It was Demetrio Montalvo. If you've ever watched the Discovery Channel program, Cuban Chrome, Demetrio is one of the stars. He met us at the hotel in his 53 Olds (Korean Kea engine) and took us on a private tour of Havana. Because he may not be fully licensed yet to take tourists around, we were told that if we were stopped and questioned by the police, we were to say that Karen and I were the parents of the wife of Demetrio's brother's son who lives in the US. I wish that I had time to put together a more detailed back story, but, he told us this while we were well on our way to Havana.
Quinta Avenida - Our route from the marina to Havana took us down Quinta Avenida (5th Avenue). Many large homes are on this path. Many have been converted to embassies for foreign countries. Also on this street is the Cuban equivalent of Big Ben and a Coney Island-like park. This is also known as the Presidential Boulevard in that this is the street that Fidel used to travel from his Revolution Square offices to and from his home. Because of this, for security reasons, there are few, if any, stop lights, police at every intersection and a strictly enforced minimum speed limits (no less than 60K in the right lane and no less than 80K in the left). We were actually pulled over for going too slow (40K). Here's how we were “pulled over”. As we approached an intersection, a policewoman put out her hand. Demetrio immediately pulled over to the center island of the intersection where the policewoman was standing. She asked for paperwork and called someone on here cell phone. I frantically tried to remember who's parents of which one of Demetrio's relatives in the states we were supposed to be. We all stayed silent and look straight ahead, never making eye contact with the policewoman. She gave Demetrio's paperwork back and told him to drive faster the rest of the way to Havana.
We drove along the Malecon to the center of Old Havana. We visited Plaza Vieja, Plaza de la Catredal where we was the Cathedral of Saint Christopher; Plaza del San Francisco, where we saw the Basilica Menor de San Francisco de Asisi, and the famous bronze statue of The Gentleman from Paris, a rather eccentric character who wandered the streets of Havana in the Fifties; and the Plaza del Armas. We wandered the streets and went into some small t-shirt/souvenir shops. Because we were with Demetrio (the Discovery Channel star of Cuban Chrome) we were stopped frequently with people wanting to have their photo taken with him.
Almuerzo - For lunch, we went to a paladar (a privately owned restaurant) called the La Taberna de Pescador. It is a small restaurant of about a dozen tables located at Calle San Ignacio, No. 260 e/ Amargura y Lamparilla. Primarly seafood, two of us had the octopus and Karen had the ropa vieja. All of the food was very good and our server, Rolando, was great as well. On average, lunch dishes were around 11 CUCS. Good value for the quality.
La Plaza Vieja - There were street caricature artists who followed us around and did small (5X7) caricature drawings as we walked or sat at a cafe and had coffee. They did these without request and would then just try to hand them to us, or in the case of when we were at the cafe, simply put the drawings on the table. Of course, they were expecting some kind of gratuity. They weren't bad, but it became a little too much of in-your-face pushiness. A simple “No thank you.” or “Gracias, pero no quiero” seemed to work. Again, don't make eye contact or they'll glom onto you. A great cafe that we stopped at after lunch was the Cafe Escorial in La Plaza Vieja. Excellent coffee and pastries!
Melia Habana por Tobacco - On the way back to the marina, we stopped at the Melia Habana hotel, a five-star luxury hotel that is a joint venture between Spain and Cuba located at Ave. 3Era. E/ 76 Y 80 Miramar. We stopped here because I asked Demetrio that I wanted to buy Cuban cigars and did not want to have to worry about their authenticity. The cigar store in the hotel was very nice and I picked up some Romeo y Julieta short Churchills, and some Partagas puros.
Club Nautico Internacional Hemingway - Back to the marina. As part of the Sarasota Yacht Club Regatta to Cuba, we were invited to a reception at the Club Nautico Internacional Hemingway. There were apps and drinks and dancing and a rousing, passionate welcome speech by Commodore José Miguel Díaz Escrich. There was also a surprise announcement by Commodore Escrich that there would be an impromptu international regatta made up of Cuban, Spanish and American sailboats on Saturday.
Morro Castle Regatta - The race would start at the mouth of the Rio Almendaras and go the the red channel marker at the entrance of Havana Harbor, just west of El Morro Castle; a single, six-mile course. It was beam reach in 20 knots of wind all the way. We executed a perfect jibe around the red buoy! It was an exciting race! And of course, there was a post race reception at the Club Nautico Internacional Hemingway that night. Roasted whole pig, lobster, live music, inspiring speeches, presentation of awards; a great night!
Official Tour – We were toured around for three days with TCG Travel, a professional tour company. Our main tour guide was Alex. We traveled around in a very nice air-conditioned bus. Alex's presentations were about 50% historic and 50% pro-Revolution. All in all, very nice. At one point, one of our group asked Alex some very pointed political questions which Alex responded to in a fairly honest manner, while not showing any signs of distinct criticism of the government. Here are some tour high lights...
- Christ of Havana statue – 66 foot tall statue of Christ blessing the city. Incredible view of Havana from here. You can also see Che's house which is on the grounds of La Cabana Fortress.
- La Cabana Fortress – Built in 1744. Third largest in the Americas. Next to Morro Castle
- La Finca Vigia – Hemingway's home in Cuba from 1939 to 1960. He wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea there. Beautiful sprawling property. Things here are pretty much as he left them when he left the island for good in 1960 including his daily recording of his weight written on the wall of his bathroom next to his bathroom scale. His boat, Pilar, is kept here. His posthumously published book, Islands in the Stream, contains vivid descriptions of the house and his life in Cuba.
- Coctel Vigia (Guarapo) – There is a little drink stand near the entrance to Finca Vigia. The drink is called a Guarapo. It is made with juice from freshly pressed sugar cane, lemon, pineapple and Havana Club 7 Year. Very tasty and refreshing.
- Cojimar – The small fishing village where Hemingway kept his boat. This village and his captain was the background and inspiration for The Old Man and the Sea. A monument to Hemingway is here. A bust that was made by the local fisherman by melting down old boat engines when they heard of his death in the US. Nice paladar here. Would love to spend the day, but the tour moved us through pretty quickly.
- Hotel Ambos Mundos – Heminway stayed here before buying Finca Vigia.
- La Floridita – Hemingway's favorite bar in Havana. He came here to drink daiquiris. There is a life size bronze statue of Hemingway at the end of the bar where is always sat. His signature drink when he was here was called a Papa Doble which consisted of about four ounces of rum, fresh lime and grapefruit juice in a blender with shaved ice. I had one there. Of course took the obligatory photo with Hemingway's statue. However, as Yogi Berra said, “Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded.” Probably won't be back, especially on "turista" days.
-
Sloppy Joes – Beautiful old-school bar. Nothing like, and no
connection to the Sloppy Joe's in Key West. Kind of bar you can
stay for awhile. In it's day, it was frequented by the internationally famous and infamous.
- Hotel Nacional – The hotel was opened in 1930 and is of grand architecture of that era. In it's time, it hosted many guest of international renown including actors, sports stars, musicians and organized crime. Even now, many superstar guests have come here. It's definitely another place that I'd love to spend a day or two. It's amazing to be in the same place where so many of the famous, and infamous walked the halls, grounds, overlooked the ocean and had mojitos on the veranda.
- La Corona Cigar Factory – Government owned factory rolling cigars for some of the famous Cuban brands. No stranger to cigar factories, there was nothing new for me to see here. However, it was extremely impressive to see so many rollers at one time. Several rollers offered to cell a bundle of cigars on the side for 10 CUC. Great deal, but I was a little concerned about the security cameras all over the place. Unfortunately, photos were not allowed.
- El Laurel Restaurant - 5ta ave. #26002 e/260 y 262, Santa Fé Playa. A short walk from Marina Hemingway. Excellent food, service and a great view overlooking the water. Up to US standards. Will go back.
- La Fontana Bar and Grill - Ave. 3ra. A & 46, Miramar La Habana. Best food and service we experienced. Live music. Large restaurant. Definitely up to US standards.
- El Biki - Calle San Lazaro, San Lazaro y Infanta, Havana, Cuba – I don't know if it was because we had a “tour” fixed menu or not, but the food and service was below par. Would not return.
- Fusterlandia – Jose Fuster is a Cuban artist who works primarily in sculptured tile. His house is in Jaimanitas, a middle class seaside town just west of downtown Havana. When he started decorating his home with tile work, his neighbors asked if he would do the same for them. So, most of the neighborhood is decorated in his brightly colored tile work. At first glance, it seems a little hokey. Then you take a closer look. The main work in the pool area is The Caridad de Cobre, the Catholic Marian patroness of Cuba. Some of the hand painted messages on tiles that are part of steps include “Camina Suave” (Walk Softly), “La Alegria de Vivir” (The Joy of Living), “Soy un guajiro de costa” (I am a peasant from the coast), “Barriga llena, corazon contento” (Full belly, content heart). And when you put your hands on some of the millions of pieces of tile that Fuster personally placed to create these images, yeah, it definitely leaves the realm of “hokey” far behind.
- Kcho (Ca-cho) – A Cuban artist who is internationally renowned. He does sculptures with boat and bird themes. His medium seems to be primarily wood and metal.
Monday, 4/11 – Waiting on the weather. A good weather window seemed to be open on Tuesday, so we got the boat ready, fueled up, figured out what the checkout procedure was at the marina and at Cuban Customs and just hung by the pool and generally relaxed.
Tuesday 4/12 – Time to leave Cuba. Checked out a dockmaster's office (about a thirty minute walk from our slip). We were at the marina for seven days. Cost: 70 cents per foot, per day for slip fees. $75 per person for departure tax (paid at the dockmaster's office). $6 for water. $55 for electric. Ten percent gratuity. 1000 departure from slip. Thirty minutes at Customs. Each person had to go into the office and have their paper work reviewed and photo taken. Guarda Frontera checked the boat for possible stow aways. None found.
When we reached US waters we were buzzed several times by a USCG plane. We heard it hail one of the other boats in our regatta and asked pertinent information about their boat and course.
WAYPOINT LIST FROM MARINA HEMINGWAY TO KEY WEST/STOCK ISLAND
Approach Buoy to “KW” MoA 25 m 90.52nm
24 27.4N 81 48.1W
“KW” MoA to R”8” QR 358 m 3.49nm
24 27.5N 81.48.1W
R”8” QR to R”2” 4S 70 m 4.16nm
24 31.1N 81 48.2W
R”2” 4S to Slip at Stock Island 353 m 1.46nm
Marina
24 33.9N 81 44.1W
Light tanker traffic through the night. ENE winds 15-20. Great sailing for the first few hours. Seas 3-5 on our starboard forward quarter most of the trip. A bit rocking and rolling, but overall not too bad.
0230 Reached “KW”
0330 Turned easterly toward Stock Island Marina Channel.
All out crew effort with high intensity lights, charts and chart plotter to make our way up the Key West Channel and then down Hawk Channel to Stock Island in the dark.
Wednesday 4/13 0530 BACK IN THE US Tied up at fuel dock
Slept until 0800, checked in to the marina and moved to our assigned slip.
Free marina shuttle to Old Town. Did the Key West thing. Breakfast at Blue Heaven. Schooneritas at Schooner Wharf Bar. Lunch at Hogs Breath. Chill at the Hyatt lobby. Slice at Mr. Z's. Visit to the Key West Marine Hardware store. Duval stroll. Happy hour at the upper deck of Turtle Kraals with the crew of Serendipity. Great apps; Oysters on the half shell, Bucket of Bones (ribs) and conch fritters. Back to the boat and early to bed.
Thursday 4/14 – Walked to Dolphin Diner on Stock Island for a great breakfast.
ROUTE FROM STOCK ISLAND TO MARCO ISLAND
Hawk Channel to NW Channel
NW Channel to Marco R2 005m 80nm
Marco Channel to Marco Island Yacht Club
1400 Left Stock Island Marina
1600 NW Channel G1
Crossing from Key West to Marco was relatively calm. Low winds and seas all the way.
Friday 4/15 0723 Arrive at entry to Marco Channel
0830 Docked up at Marco Island Yacht Club
Walked to Hoot's for breakfast 563 E Elkcam Cir, Marco Island, FL. Showers, pool, nap. Went to Colors ceremony and associated happy hour at the Burgee Bar. Wonderful dinner at the yacht club.
Saturday 4/16 - Out of the slip around 0800. Into the Gulf and heading north around 0930
ROUTE FROM MARCO ISLAND TO PLACIDA, FL (A little north of Boca Grande)
Marco Ch. Entry to Sanibel 321 m 32 nm
26 23.3N 82 08.2W
Sanibel to Boca Grand Entry 330 m 19.55 nm
26 40.4N 82 19.1 W
Boca Grande Ch to ICW Follow Channel 4 nm
ICW to Palm Island Marina Follow Channel
1426 Arrive at Sanibel waypoint
Incredible sail all the way to Boca Grand. No motor assist. Winds out of the NNE in the high teens to low 20's. Seas around 2 feet. Saw speeds over ground of over 8 kph!
1726 Arrive at Boca Grand Channel entry
Things became much less comfortable at this point. Now heading directly in to 2-3 foot seas and high winds all the way up the channel.
1818 Finally out of the channel and turned the corner heading north. Still slogging as winds and seas screaming down Charlotte Harbor were hitting us directly on our beam.
1730 at Boca Grande Swing Bridge
Cape Haze anchorage was filled up. No room. Kept heading north on the ICW
2000 tried to anchor at Buccaneer Anchorage #1 26°51.106'N 082°17.849'W. Tried twice but could not get anchor to stick. Now past nautical twilight. Called after hours number for Palm Island Marina. Spoke with Tim who said to come in and take any open slip. Another full crew effort to head up the ICW in the dark
2107 Finally got in to Palm Island Marina and tied up at fuel dock. Continued heavy winds made docking a challenge. Another all out effort by captain and crew with some assistance from local captains Chuck and Dave and we were safe and secure for the night. Great dinner of ground beef, spaghetti sauce and a wonderful bottle of wine.
Sunday 4/17 -
ROUTE FROM PALM ISLAND MARINA TO SARASOTA YACHT CLUB
ICW north to SYC0746 Off the dock, down the channel and onto the ICW
1100 Venice Inlet
1345 Made the turn up SYC channel. Just in time to watch SYC boats head out for the Blessing of the Fleet. Or, they might have come out to greet us on our triumphant return.
1425 Back in home slip 15 days after initial departure
Overall – Great crew, food, beverages. Fun, fun time. Boat sailed and motored extremely well. Minor temporary glitches with auto pilot, fuel gauge and chart plotter. No run agrounds, no hits, no errors! More than tolerable sea conditions. Included some of the best sailing I've ever done while actually maintaining the desired course to our next destination. Put in about 664 miles including the Morro Castle Regatta. Fuel burn rate was less than 1 gallon per hour.
