Did I not say I was going to Cuba?! I did not know how or when, but when there is a will there is a way! Here I have been for 10 days, safe and sound. The internet here is rare slow and expensive, plus they have made it very difficult to upload anything (pics, video) to the net, so this are test only posts and will be till we leave Cuba...

The Trek across the Gulf

On March 10th (Happy Birthday Celo and Amy) we left left the Florida Keys from Bahia Honda where we had a day sail form Marathon and anchored the previous night. It had been a good sail but nothing could have prepared me for what was to come. It really is something out of this world to sail in open waters, otherwise known as the deep blue sea.

We set sail that day at about 9h30 and sailed really fast with a total avg of 5kt in 16hrs trip of 93nm. there were a pack of dolphins who swam by our side for a little while. The waves where decent but not huge, 4-7 feet every 4-8 secound, and wind was steady 10-15 knots.

Things started to go wrong when the handle of the winch to roll up the jib (front sail) fell into the Gulf Stream. We sailed a while longer and at 1h30 in the next morning realized we were only a few miles from Cube and needed to slow down. Patrick and myself wrestled the wind in order to take down the jib and stuff it into the main cabin. Soon after we found that both the engine and the generator were not working. By the time I could see the city lights of Varadero not so far away.

The Fact that we were this close to land in unknown waters without control of the boat did not sound like a good combo for me and I insisted we try to contact somebody on the VHF radio... After sometime of trying to figure out what was wrong with the engine and talking with some Cubans at the Marina Gaviota. We decided to drop anchor and sleep, it was then 4h30 and we were exhausted.

In the morning to tow service came around 11h. On our way to shore we had some time to relax and I reflected on the whole experience. When I'm on my bicycle I exercise steadily all day long and can make decisions as to where and when I go whenever I want to. Sailing on the other hand, often you have to work very hard and quick, then after you may sit and relax for a while, but always be ready to work very hard at any given moment. Because you are indeed in the hands of "Iemanja", the queen of the sea and it is not up to you most of the time.

We had a group of friendly officials waiting for our arrival at Marina Gaviota, where we stayed for 6 day to repair the damages on the sails, the engine's problem was that in Florida, the sold us diesel mixed with water... bad combo!


Varadero - La Habana

We survived another over-night sail from Varadero to Havana a few days ago. I say survived because we had some trouble, again, with the bilge (inner bottom of boat) soon after sunset, we saw there was a leak on the boat and had to manually bring buckets of water from under the washroom up to the desk and empty it into the sea.This was an other time that I had to work my hardest and fastest even if I felt sick to my stomach. Very unpleasant to be sweating through all your pores and adrenaline rushing through you veins while at the same time your head and stomach are spinning like and amusement park ride... What an experience, hopefully we will have more pleasant ones from now on...

Around 23:00 the night we managed to get a hold of the situation and sailed calmy into Marina Hemingway just after sunrise, which was gorgeous.

Yesterday I contacted Manuel, a friend of friends from Toronto, and biked to his home in Havana. It was another of these immediate affinity encounters of this journey. What a wonderful person with a great life vision. Great time in his studio, witnessed a great show of a folkloric group called "Misterio del Vodu de Haiti en Cuba"... It felt great to be alive!!

Thank Manuel for the bike tour of Habana..

gotta go run out of time...

sailing to bahia honda tomorrow


Enjoy the photos and videos on my flickr page (click here)

Boot Key Harbour

This is probably the last post in the US. We will become “waterborne” (airborne) tomorrow morning, when we depart from Peter’s dock. Since the winds are not favourable for us these days, we will likely through anchor for a night or two just out side of Boot Key Harbour, in Marathon. During the past few days there has been lots of progress as we managed to get most essentials good to go, like the generator, propane stove, and VHF radio antenna amongst others.

Happy family of sailors and world-citizens
Enjoy the photos and videos on my flickr page (click here)

This past Month, I have came to learn a lot about the boating life. Tonight as I was hanging out in the galley (kitchen), trying to keep up with my thoughts and emotions that were super fast, as I tried to imagine life in that boat on the deep blue sea, and the daily living with this wonderful family. I super psyched about this phase of the journey.

Pelican taking flight!


Iguana on a Boat!
Enjoy the photos and videos on my flickr page (click here)

Elaborating on how amazingly grateful I am to be involved in such an opportunity. For over 2 months, I had held the belief that I was going to find I boat who would take me to Cuba and Central America, and specifically that they would be a francophone family, although I got disillusioned time again, and started to expand my possibilities. The day that I met Pat, Mê, and Paciphaée, I did not know how to react to their casual acceptance of my proposal. A month later seeing and working with them everyday has been very gratifying and we seam to be enjoying each others company.

Silhouette of Boot Key Harbour
Enjoy the photos and videos on my flickr page (click here)

I hope that the next post will be from Cuba!!! Stay tuned!!!