IMAGE - Cubans - poor, but happy, vibrant people

MONDAY 8 more motoring, motorsailing and sailing now going north east up and along the coast. Some afternoon squally and thunderstorms on the land - excellent view from the sea back to the mountains.
TUESDAY 9 - motoring, motorsailing and sailing along the coast toward Havana. Nice views from the sea back into land. Slow progress on engines and against current. We were not going to make it to Havana before dark so have to anchor off somewhere off the coast!! Not great but we have no other options. The commercial and military harbours on this north coast are NOGO areas for yachts. Afternoon sailing was tough in squalls and thunderstorms and tacking away from the shipping lanes. Anchored about 6.30pm with lighting all around us, and light rain. Thankfully a quiet night - with just a passing medium size local fishing boat coming by about 10pm before we went to bed - I bet they have never seen a yacht anchored here before!

WEDNESDAY 10- early start from anchorage to motor in no wind, with both engines for the last 20 miles to Marina Hemingway. This entrance is closed from sunset to sunrise - supposedly due to the offlying reefs, but it was well buoyed. We think it is because they don't want yachts moving around after office hours - as there are SO many different staff and departments required for arrivals and departures. Marina Hemingway is located 12km west of central Havana, and is the only location possible for yachts to stay whilst day to day visiting Havana.

As required we made VHF contact and were told to come in and proceed only as far as the arrivals dock - before the marina entrance. We had to dodge a few rowers before we could get on to the dock. There was no marina or officials to take our lines - but a soon as I was about to step onshore uniformed people appeared from everywhere - but did not touch the lines or assist with our docking.

Again - just like in Cienfuegos the 1st person to acknowledge us and come onboard was the doctor for our personal health inspection and clearance. The next person was a young lady from Customs & Immigration- without any request she steeped onboard and proceeded straight down into the boat.... no sitting in the cockpit for her. She got a bit lost once down the cockpit stairs and below due out our non-conventional layout - but soon found the aft area and made herself comfortable!! - I wasn't too sure about her... she just sat and looked about..... I thought that maybe she was looking about for something she could request as a 'present' but in the end this did not happen, but I did not engage in conversation with her. Soon her male colleague came and she handed her clipboard to him and he did all the necessary paperwork whilst she continued to sit and look about. I did notice that she had beautiful, long manicured and painted nails - just like most young women in the Caribbean - this was something I was not expecting. The young man spoke good English - the young lady did not speak. After all their questions were answered, and our papers collected they left the boat to go to their office.

Next onboard was the drugs and explosives dog and his handler. James went below with this man - apparently the dog had a quick nose about, and the guy wanted a 'gift'. He showed James a photo of his young children and asked for 'something' for them. James offered a few of the gift packs that we had prepared for just this type of situation... but the man said we could not be seen to take any parcels off the boat... obviously he wanted money he could slip into his pocket and this would not be seen! - he went away empty handed.

After a short wait - we were told all was OK, we were cleared in and could now proceed into the marina to canal No 2 opposite the Hotel - where the dockmaster would meet us. Marina Hemingway has 3 wide concrete canals, built around a complex of tourist accommodation and 1 large tourist hotel.

The uniformed dockmaster and 1 other marina man were indeed waiting for us to take our lines etc. Waiting with him were a few other men, not in uniform - we were introduced to 1 as the rubbish collector person - why?? and the other 2 men were officials from the Department of Agriculture. Whilst the marina man was sorting out the electricity and water connections with James, the 2 Agriculture men, briefcases and clipboards in hand came onboard with me to inspect our food stores. We had very little fresh goods left - just a few onions from my purchases in Nueva Gerona. They wanted to see my spices, etc and in the cupboard, one man saw my egg container - it had a Panama label on it, and no eggs - there was a bit of a discussion about the container - please, surely it cant be a problem... it wasn't! As they were signing off their clipboard one man announced to me that they were doing their job as required, and were paid a small salary - and could I give them both a 'gift'. I gave them both a parcel each - I have never seen a small parcel go so quickly into a briefcase - and then they headed off the boat. Next to take a seat in our cockpit was the friendly and chatty dockmaster. He said he wanted to fully explain all the services available, the marina charges and assure us that all the staff were there to make our stay enjoyable. (He and the other various dockmasters on duty came past every day, asked if we needed anything etc, etc - it turned out that they were working on the tip at our departure).

After all the officials and others finally left us alone we just sat back - Wow we had made it to Havana! We have not been in a marina with water and power since Trinidad in late June 2015 -1 year ago- welcome to our liveaboard life!!

It was hot and still in the marina - so we got out the cleaning gear and gave the whole boat a good soap and freshwater wash down - and a cooloff deck shower for ourselves. During the afternoon a few of the other sailors came past to say hello and a chat - everyone was friendly and had helpful info. There were a group of uniformed security staff wandering around the canals - all the VHF's - they had little huts to sit in, and would exchange positions every few hours throughout the day and night - a bit excessive we think.

On our way to find the shower block (great hot showers) we had a wander around the other canals to take a look at our new surroundings. We found a small supermarket - with not much in it, a Rum and Cigar shop, a post office shop, a few restaurants and the very grand Yacht Club. There were about 12 cruising yachts - mainly American and 1 Australian yacht. Most of the dock space in No1 dock was taken up with Cuban and American sports fishing boats. This marina and the Yacht Club host a huge Marlin Fishing Tournament in May each year - famously won by Fidel in 1960. The contest was setup by Ernest Hemingway in 1951 and has run every year since then. Marina Hemingway is Cuba's largest marina, and is government run. They advertise capacity of up to 400 vessels, in reality, there are closer to 100 slips that are usable - the others needing repair. Yes the large area was clean and tidy, the gardens and shady palm trees make it a welcoming environment. The whole complex was in general disrepair and obvious signs of no ongoing maintenance to the docks or services.
We were keen on a quiet and early night - thankfully the Hotel Acuario we were opposite was across the canal and set back from the road - so the bar noise and evening music entertainment was no bother to us.

THURSDAY 11- We were keen to try to James to a Cuban dentist today, to get his broken front tooth fixed. We needed to action this as soon as possible - if we needed more time for the dentist work to be completed we would possible have to extend our visa and stay longer in Havana.
We are Ocean Cruising Club (OCC) members, and our Port Officer for Cuba is here in Havana - he is the Commodore of the Yacht Club. We hoped that we could make contact with him today and get some advice and possible a referral to a dentist. The Yacht Club is in the marina complex - so it was just a short walk to make our way there about 10am- and spoke to the Barman requesting to meet with Mr Jose Escrich. The barman Jo explained that Mr Escrich very rarely came to the Yacht Club, and would not be able to assist us - and also he spoke very little English. But as it happens Jo himself has a bad tooth ache today and has an appointment with his dentist this afternoon! He called his dentist and asked if he could take James with him to his appointment - the lady dentist said OK - so we would come back to the Yacht Club at 3pm. Jo the barman was very helpful indeed and spoke good English.
We took a walk to the Hotel Acuario, within the Marina complex to take a look at their facilities - we needed internet access and also to get info and their complementary bus into Havana. Their internet was the same as everywhere else in Cuba, via one government Internet company on purchase of a prepaid scratch card - 5CUC for ½ hour.
At 3pm we with this Jo and went with him to his dentist in his car. The community dentist centre was in a small, dilapidated building in the nearby village of Santa Fe. During the drive Jo explained that the dental service we were going to was for Cuban nationals only - and that his dentist has a school friend who had agreed to see James as a favour to him. Firstly Jo went into the dental centre and asked us to wait in the car - after some time he asked us to come in - follow him and we went directly into a private room. The lovely lady dentist spoke no English - so Jo acted as the interpreter. She said that in theory the dental work required could be done, but the other staff involved would have to agree?? and that we should contact her again on Monday. Whilst Jo's tooth problem was being see to we were asked to again wait in his car - so that other patients and staff did not see us- all a bit clandestine indeed.

In the late afternoon and evening we met up with a few of the other sailors in the marina for a chat. The 3 young americans on Sea Wolf were good to chat with - they were on their 1st foreign adventure. They were busy getting the hull and deck of their boat detailed by some local Cubans. Our neighbour was a liveaboard Russian, in an old motor yacht - again he was getting work done. He had been here several months, and had a motor bike to travel in and out from Havana. We met 2 other men - all American, all singlehanders. Cuba was the 1st time they had sailing outside America - well is it only 90 miles from Key West, and so close we could clearly hear American radio stations. The Australian was also singlehanded - he had delivered the yacht here from Key West for his brother - they all agreed that this was the cheapest dock at 50cents per foot that they could stay at for some time - far cheaper than the Florida cays or mainland USA. They all though that Cuba was inexpensive and were tipping everyone for everything!!