Cruising with Amy

I have not written in a long while and it is getting harder and harder to catch up. I am writing this in Miami where I am moored on buoy Nr. 29 in the Coconut Grove Sailing Club.
The morning of my departure from Puerto de Vita all the officials were gathered in the office at 0630 in the morning gave me my despacho (each person had to put their signature) and bade me farewell. I was moved. At 0700 just as planned I left the dock and shortly after got confused in the channel again. I thought I had understood the buoys now but apparently I was wrong. With 20cm under the keel I searched for the deeper water, found it and made it safely out of the lagoon. I had to motor for a few hours because there was no wind and by 1000 it was boiling hot and I didn’t know where to go. In the cockpit the sun was unbearable and down below the heat and the noise from the engine was just as bad. By 1050 we were able to sail and that made a big difference. In the afternoon the wind turned and we had to beat into wind and waves. I noticed a lot of water in the bilge but this time had no intention of tasting it. The waves were uncomfortable and Amy was fighting to stay on course. The bilge was now full and I got a bit nervous and started searching. No sucees. I emptied the bilge and it soon filled up again. I emptied it again but this time it didn’t fill up again. Hmm. After awhile I found out that one of my jerrycans with the drinking water was leaking and it was now empty. Not good but at least the boat didn’t have a hole in it. I would still have enough drinking water to get me to Varadero.

Continue reading “Varadero”

I spent a few more days in Luperón to wait out the weather. Hubert had some things for which he needed some help and he invited me and his friend Franck for dinner at the El Bucanero. Afterwards we played a bit of pool which was real fun. Franck’s guitar didn’t need to be recorded but inspected. That had been a misunderstanding and after I had checked out the guitar he gave me three glasses of honey freshly made on his farm. I took a walk to the beach and went swimming and enjoyed myself but was also eager to leave. I still had a lot of miles ahead of me and there was still enough time (Zoe and I were supposed to meet in Varadero on April 12) but more adverse weather would quickly reduce this time to nothing. On Easter Sunday night the waves were finally small enough and from a direction where they wouldn’t break in the entrance to the reef and the Armada gave me permission to leave. Everything went smoothly and we sailed into a great sunset which was only the first of a series of unbelievable sunsets and sunrises.

Continue reading ““Bienvenido a Cuba, Amigo”, the trip to Cuba and Puerto de Vita”