We meet up with Pat and Addison Chan

These guys have put in monumental efforts over the last couple of years by educating people on the how's and whys of Cuba cruising. Their Facebook presence....Cuba Land and Sea is by far the best accessible information site on sailing to and traveling around Cuba.
We were lucky enough to meet up with them on the docks at Marina Hemingway and before we knew it, we were invited to join a small group to travel by car to Vinales which is a four hour ride west of the marina. This picturesque village has all the makings of Cuba at its finest. Great and inexpensive casa's for housing, restaurants that feature real Cuban sextet "son" music and tobacco at its best. Cigars in local lingo are "tabaco ".So even I had to indulge and yes.....get some hand rolled take homes.
Here are just some of the many many photos that we took while here with Addison, Pat, Terry, Carol John and Danny......

Addison also recently published through Waterways Guides, a Cruising Guide to Cuba.....a must have for anyone that is going to make this adventure come true...

Will head to Varadero today for Beach time

but first a few more pics.....

Havana

We made it! Slow but steady. 

Day 3 of 14! Lots of stories and you do have to see it and understand for youfself. You cant believe everthing you read in the media......

Race tracker

Here is a link to follow us to Cuba...

http://kws.kattack.com/GEPlayer/GMPosDisplay.aspx?FeedID=1519

Miami Yacht Club at anchor

Tonight we are anchored off the Miami Yacht Club....our final staging location for the next 4 days till we head off for Havana on Wednesday. We will pick up crew, final provisions and maybe a bit of seeing the sites.

A great day on the outside with an escort.....

We head out this morning motorsailing to Miami. Escorted by a huge pod of porpoises, it was a matter of who was going to tire first.....me from watching or them from playing......Bette and I watched for what seemed like 2 hours as we counted maybe.....24.  Lots of little ones and of course the mama's and papa's. I never get tired or bored watching these guys play. It seems like the more we hoot and holler, the more they play......

A short stay with our friends at Coral Ridge YC

We have been at the Coral Ridge YC here in Ft Lauderdale since Saturday. While here we have checked off a couple of things that needed to get done prior to going down to Miami on Friday. Minnie got a trip  to the vet for a wellness exam  before we head to Havana. Bette has been busy working on race meals. The winds have finally calmed down and its a perfect morning here in Sunrise Bay. The hospitality afforded us by the CRYC is wonderful. Dingy access, showers, trash and all within walking distance of the buses and Uber. All in all this is a great stop.

Minnie's point of view:

CRYC, photo below:

Cooking up meals for the overnight runs coming up between Miami and Havanna:

Minnie the cat

Conversation today: Minnie is getting more frail all the time. We think this will be her last sea-ward crossing to other lands. This trip to Cuba from Miami in March, will likely be her last sailing hurrah. She needs to retire from rocking and rolling pretty soon. Our sweet Minnie is just getting older.

Look who we found

Stopped in at a Fort Lauderdale staging ground, staging for a trip Outside down to Miami. We like Sunrise Bay next to Coral Ridge Yacht Club. SJORN, a Pearson 35, swung by while waiting for a bridge opening, hailed us cause they saw our homeport on the stern of Iemanja. Turns out it was Dave L and Pam from LCYC!They dropped an anchor and we got together for awhile catching up on everyone's news.

Here we are:

What a hoot that we met up with them!

Heading South

With a mixture of Intercoastal Waterway days, and a couple overnighters on the Outside, we keep heading south. The ICW does offer cool views of swing bridges, and bascules. Great when they open on request, and not so great when they have a schedule and you missed the opening by minutes.

Sometimes the wind and current are not forgiving and yesterday was like that, a long day of bascule bridges and Florida powerboat wakes. One such West Palm Beach bascule bridge had lots of armed Coast Guard boats. Yup, they ran right up next to us for a looky look and a short escort. Ernie didn't get to his camera fast enough for a picture, but at least we didn't ruffle any feathers taking photos of the monstrously big machine gun and operator.  There was a crowd by the roadside, some protestors, and some fans, and a freeze on the scheduled bridge opening. We were late to the bridge so the delay worked in our favor, even if it was a political motorcade we would have preferred to skip.

But nevertheless, I love the swings:

But even moreso, I love sailing on the Outside at night with sunsets and sunrises on open horizons:

And visiting some favorite stops along the way. Here's Ernie in front of St.Augustine FL's oldest house:

What a great day walk that was. Looks like he bought a few things too.

Solbian panels

Our Solbian solar panels clouded over and so through Bruce Schwab, Solbian shipped us new ones. I love company's that stand by their products. Solbian indicated that they had a bad batch and were happy to oblige us with replacements.

Here's Ernie on-board, sewing the new panels to the flexible poly underlayment that were then attached to the bimini with velcro:

Hoot hoot, new panels!