Cruising Cuba

[starcrest]

they all want to come here....they are already here -----I was in miami for quite some time ----also its not  "Q-BAH"---EEEETZ   "KOOOOBAH"  as its properly pronounced.if you decide to go legally or otherwise you will be most likely intercepted by US homeland security vessels---and you may see those haitian "coastal freighters" as they are termed----rickety bhoaghtze seemingly top heavy burdened with about 500 bicycles -----"aquired" as they say from the streets of south florida----headed for haiti-----in return---you will see those same type of vessels ----maybe 40 feet long----with nearly 150 passengers on board----in all types of health conditions----pregnant women----starving children---young and old alike----yes thats rite peoples its like I said before---these things dont just happen on tv----if you see this ----they will hail you down and beg for food and water----keep your distance--also--should you go and get intercepted by US authorities on the way home,they may search you,and everyone on board with a PROCTOSCOPE--are you sure you want to subject yourself to this???

[Sonnie]

Hey Osprey what kind of boat is that? Care to tell us a little about the trip? I'm a Canadian and am thinking of either the Bahamas or Cuba next fall... And other Americans out there, I feel for ya! I can't imagine ANYONE, or any state, telling we where I can and can't go... It makes my furious just thinking about infringing on peoples right to travel like that... Anyways... here is a link to some pics of my little Bayfield sloop that will one day take me south! Looking forward to any accounts of cruising Cuba... At least we all are using aliases  ;)

Cheers,
Sonnie.

[Rico]

I have a few U.S. friends working in Mexico. They travel to Cuba regularly -just like everyone else in the rest of the world is freely able to do... You can actually see the city light's glow on a clear night from the Can Cun area.

They absolutely LOVE it. More than the resorts they like the cities (Old Havana) and the towns. They always speak about all the very nice people they meet...

I would not mind going there... It sounds great.

[AdriftAtSea]

Hey Osprey what kind of boat is that? Care to tell us a little about the trip? I'm a Canadian and am thinking of either the Bahamas or Cuba next fall... And other Americans out there, I feel for ya! I can't imagine ANYONE, or any state, telling we where I can and can't go... It makes my furious just thinking about infringing on peoples right to travel like that... Anyways... here is a link to some pics of my little Bayfield sloop that will one day take me south! Looking forward to any accounts of cruising Cuba... At least we all are using aliases  ;)

Cheers,
Sonnie.

Sonnie-

You seem to be missing a link... :(

[Sonnie]

Oooops... Here it is. It's a start and as you can see I'm no web guru but you get the idea. Check back in a few days and I should have the "After" pics posted... Like night and day!

http://www.sloopannamaria.blogspot.com/

Cheers,
Sonnie

PS - the dog on the bow is a 130# field lab, and makes the boat look smaller than it really is!

[Frank]

I 've sailed the B25 often and was in the Plant 3 times. Great little shallow draft cruiser. Good boat for Bahamas or the keys.Yours is a newer one with 3 ports per side. The 1st many years had 2.

[Solace]

A word of caution to other Canadians. Since the current US administration, sailing to Cuba through US waters is considered by the US as an illegal act.
I have read tales of the US charging Canadians, but am unsure how it turned out.

Apart from that many Canadians travel to Cuba annually. You may be restricted as to where you can travel within Cuba, but apart from that you are welcomed.

John

[gltea]

The fact that I am a Canadian citizen is ONE of the reasons it is legal for me to visit Cuba.  I have been there 5 times in the past 10 years.  I wanted to sail The Edge there so I crewed on a Beneteau 43 to get some first-hand knowledge before I took the leap.  About 4 years ago I sailed from Isla Juventud to Cienfuegos with a stop at Cayo Largo.  The 80+ yr old owner made a yearly  circuit from Rio Dulce, Mexico, Cuba, Caymans, Honduras and return.  He knew all of the little nooks and crannies and commercial fishermen along the route.  We traveled for days without seeing a soul.  I dived in virgin coral and walked deserted beaches.  The water was clear and what dreams are made of.

Getting to/from the sailboat was an adventure in itself.  Travel within the country is next to impossible.  After I disembarked in Cienfuegos, it took me almost 2 weeks to get transportation back to Canada.  I spent a week in Old Havana and made some wonderful friends who showed me places few tourists see.

I am going to return for another adventure.  I don't have any details yet as I have not heard from my favorite contact.  Castro is very ill and Batista loyalists are ready to reclaim Cuba. 

Though the boat I was on had Canadian registry, the Cubans treated American boats just as well.  The authorities were very friendly and welcoming.  Castro has conceded that he needs tourism.

[gltea]

While browsing around different cruising sites today, a thought came to mind...why not cruise again and help out as a friend on someone else's boat?!!
So, I posted on Cruisers Log and.....you never know.  I might have another tale to tell. 

My plan at this moment is to fly to Cuba, then do some cruising while I am there. 
Retirement is neat ;D

[CapnK]

WTG, Sarah! :) Grog! ;D

[gltea]

A concern was brought up on another site that I post on so I thought I would mention here, in case the thought had crossed your minds. ;). 

The concern was that I shouldn't post my intentions to go to Cuba.  It is perfectly legal for me to go to Cuba for many reasons.  As I mentioned previously, the fact that I am Canadian is one.

My wise, late father told me something when I was a child, looong before the internet was a gleam in someone's eye, which was "Don't write anything you don't want the whole world to read."   ;)

[Tim]

It is perfectly legal for me to go to Cuba for many reasons.  As I mentioned previously, the fact that I am Canadian is one.

AWW! you Canadians have all the fun ;)

I remember when this came up on the TSBB awhile back, and I guess even Americans can stop there, they just can't buy anything.

Maybe I would feel different if I lived in Florida where there are displaced Cubans, but I would jump at the chance and make no bones about doing it.

Tim

[Pappy Jack]

Tim,

IIRC, it is illegal to even plan to go to Cuba >:(. Thanks to "this administration" we Americans(lucky Canadians) can find ourselves on the wrong side of the law for talking or planing to go to Cuba. So, for the sake of yourself and all of those that love you...keep your mouth shut :-X!!! I hope that I'm wrong but if I'm not, I hope it will change soon. Maybe after November :o.

Fair winds,

Pappy Jack

[AdriftAtSea]

I believe Pappy Jack is correct about US-flagged boats and Cuba.  I have several friends, who are American citizens, who have visited Cuba for work, and the amount of paperwork they have to go through to get approval to go is ridiculous.  I don't believe a US boat that stopped in Cuba would have a lot of fun coming back into the US, since DHS would be all over them.

[gltea]

Capn K,

     From reading Pappy Jack's post, I don't want to possibly encourage people to discus Cuba.  I tried to delete this post but was informed that only you can do it.
In the best interest of the members, would you please delete this post. 

     

[Captain Smollett]

Capn K,

     From reading Pappy Jack's post, I don't want to possibly encourage people to discus Cuba.  I tried to delete this post but was informed that only you can do it.
In the best interest of the members, would you please delete this post. 

     

I would like to put my vote in for NOT deleting it.

There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with discussing Cuba.  There was another Cuba thread here a year or two ago, with a lot of good back-n-forth about what the laws actually are.  This topic gets hit on other boards as well with some regularity.

I think there is a lot of confusion about what the laws are.  We have a lot of folks (myself included) that don't really know or understand the legalities of traveling to Cuba.  If we don't have open discussions about this topic, how are we to learn sources of GOOD information?

Finally, it is through the reports of folks like you who CAN and DO travel there that spark the fire in Americans to pressure our government to change what many see as archaic and self-defeating travel laws regarding Cuba.

Long Live Free Speech, I Say!!   ;D

[CapnK]

Right now, I'll abstain from deleting it, for the reasons I'll list below. Pending other input, I'll reserve the option to do as Sarah asks. Let's see where this goes, in the meanwhile. :)

• I don't think there is anything in the law as regards discussing it which would prohibit us from doing so. See "First Amendment". :)


• That said, there's no need for our discussion to be, or become, political. What the current administration is doing with regards to Cuba Policy is simply an extension of the same policy of many years, and many different administrations (from *both sides* of the political fence) that came before. We can't lay the blame for this at the feet of the current administration, because it has always been a *Federal Government* policy, not the policy of a particular political party. Though I am sure that different parties might have tweaked it here and there, to suit their (voters) whims...


• IMO, that does not make it good policy, nor does precedent become a good reason for perpetuating it. Personally, I would love to visit Cuba, especially before the developers get there and turn it into "Disney South (now with Golf!)".


• So let's discuss it, as we can, and see if we can get some straight factual info out of the discussion. :)

How's that sound, everyone?

[Tim]

Capn K,

     From reading Pappy Jack's post, I don't want to possibly encourage people to discus Cuba.  I tried to delete this post but was informed that only you can do it.
In the best interest of the members, would you please delete this post. 

     

Since I was someone who suggested the desire to go to Cuba I am going to respond.

First off there is absolutely nothing wrong with talking about wanting to go to a country that is restricted by  The US government, the Constitution has not been disfigured to that point thankfully.

Second I have wanted to go to Cuba ever since I passed up an opportunity to do a licensed trip a number of years ago. Nothing Sarah said did anything but remind me of that.

Third and most important I think, (and this meant with absolutely no offense to Pappy Jack), I refuse to be told I should keep quiet when I KNOW I am doing nothing wrong.  :)

[CapnK]

Thought about this a bit more while I was doing some cleaning...

I think that the only way talking about Cuba could come back and bite an American would be if they were to say/write publicly something along the lines of:

"I was there X1, and did X2."

X1 being some time between now and a point in time in the past when the statute of limitations for admitting a crime would come into play. I know in some crimes that is 7 years, in others (like murder), that's never. I have no idea when that time would be WRT Cuba and/or other embargoed nations.

X2 would be some sort of thing which is considered a crime WRT the Federal Gov't Cuba Policy.

[Tim]

Thought about this a bit more while I was doing some cleaning...

I think that the only way talking about Cuba could come back and bite an American would be if they were to say/write publicly something along the lines of:

"I was there X1, and did X2."

X1 being some time between now and a point in time in the past when the statute of limitations for admitting a crime would come into play. I know in some crimes that is 7 years, in others (like murder), that's never. I have no idea when that time would be WRT Cuba and/or other embargoed nations.

X2 would be some sort of thing which is considered a crime WRT the Federal Gov't Cuba Policy.

So let me get this straight Capn, I shouldn't say I know some people that went to (you know where) in X1,
and while they were there they X2. :)

  OK I assure everyone if I go to (you know where) it will not be until X3 and I will not do anything ;)