My Upcoming Cruise to Cuba
My Upcoming Cruise to Cuba
To my friends, clients and colleagues,
Many of you have asked me to keep them updated on my upcoming cruise to Cuba so I am sending this “all hands” email. My family (Nico, 16; Andy, 14; Cuqui, ??) and I will be cruising to Cuba (legally) aboard our catamaran Thing 1 Thing 2. We are not going as tourists. We are going as journalists to write a series of articles for PassageMaker Magazine on Family Cruising in Cuba. For those of you who are not familiar with PassageMaker, it is a large-circulation magazine that caters to boaters that travel the world (or dream of traveling) on their boats, mostly trawlers and catamarans.
Our plan is to leave Key Biscayne on Monday, June 20 and arrive at Marina Hemingway in the outskirts of Havana by mid-day on the 21st. We will spend a few days in Havana getting acquainted with Cuba, converting Euros to pesos, testing our communications devices and otherwise getting ready for our cruise. We will then proceed west along the Cuban coast, anchoring at various spots along the way, laying off of both small towns and uninhabited islands. We will round the western tip of Cuba and, conditions permitting, do some diving in Maria la Gorda (Fat Mary in English), reportedly some of the best diving in the Americas. We will then re-trace our steps to Havana or Varadero and return to Key Biscayne.
Much has been written in cruising magazines about arriving at Marina Hemingway. Very little has been published on cruising Cuba. Our goal is to author an interesting and informative series of articles discussing the Cuban cruising experience, the places we go, the people we meet and the reality of Cuban life. We will also discuss the bureaucracy and red-tape involved in getting government permission to make a trip like this. We will share the articles and overall experience with anyone interested when we return.
If you would like to follow our trip, we will have a SPOT on board Thing 1 Thing 2. The SPOT will transmit our position via satellite as we move throughout Cuba. You can access our position by clicking HERE. We will activate the SPOT when we leave Key Biscayne on the afternoon of June 20. It will update in real time as we continue our journey.
I look forward to sharing our experience with you when we return. I also look forward to the day when other “US Persons” can cross the Florida Straits and cruise or otherwise visit Cuba without restriction.
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