After the departure of Florida-Havana crew, Jim and
Johnny, it was time to get out of Marina Hemingway and sail the rest of Cuba. The fridge is full of food that should last one
person for a couple of weeks till the next big port.
Luckily, the day Earthling left the dock, two other boats,
Lōkahi and Jubilee left on the same west bound heading. Earthling is planning to
go around the Western tip of Cuba (Cabo San Antonio) to Isla Juventud and further
to Cienfuegos. From Havana to Cabo San Antonio is around 170nm, and it would be
four day-trips! The first anchorage was Bahia Honda in a
well-protected quite anchorage in the middle of Mangroves. It’s common that
fishermen come by your boat and offer fresh Lobster in exchange for old
clothing or cans of soda etc! Very similar to the San Blas Islands in Panama!
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Local Cuban boat in Bahia Honda |
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Abondon Ships in Bahia Honda |
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These ships have been here for a long time |
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Watch towers through out the Cuban Coast |
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Most of the garbage is burned in Cuba and you might go trough their dust |
The following day Earthling sailed to the next anchorage in
Cayo Levisa. There were already 2 boats anchored there, Lōkahi and Coragem, and
Earthing and Jubilee are approaching the anchorage. What a wonderful feeling it
is that you are going somewhere you never have been to, but you already have friends there. Cayo Levisa
is a small Island with a resort and a beautiful long sandy beach. For the
couple of days there, all four boats were gathering together on the beach
or aboard the biggest boat “Lōkahi” for sunset drinks and dinner. In Cayo
Levisa, the fridge on Earthling started acting up, heating up and draining the
batteries faster that usual!
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Happy Cruising friends |
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Coragem at anchor in Cayo Levisa |
We sailed together to the next two anchorages Cayo
Jutias, and Cayo Buenavista.
The morning in Cayo Buenavista, the battery controller was
showing the red light, which means the batteries are below 50%. The
refrigerator drained the batteries, so it had to be disconnected. Earthling's boat buddy, “Coragem” raised their anchor and were ready to
leave, but I couldn’t start the engine! I had to wait for the sun and the wind to
charge the batteries. After a couple of hours and several tries, it didn’t seem
like there was enough juice to turn the engine around. So the anchor was
raised manually, the genoa furled out and Earthling navigated under sail toward
Marina Los Morros in Cabo San Antonio. You can sail this 40 miles distance inside
the reef on the Gulf of Guanahacabibes or out on the sea. It’s easier and
closer to be inside the reef and there are no real hazards and it can be very
pleasant if the wind is north of east. However, it can be very choppy if the wind is south of east, which was on this particular day! I felt more for my
Brazilian friends on "Coragem", (Courage in English) since they are new sailors and also have their 5-year old
son aboard. Talk about courage, they flew to Florida from Brazil and bought a sailboat and started cruising without any previous sailing experience!
Throughout the day I was hoping that the batteries would
charge to a point that the engine would start. That didn’t happen and Earthling
had to anchor under sail by Marina Los Morros!
Cabo San Antonio is the most Western tip of Cuba, only 130
miles by water to Isla Mujeres, Mexico. It is far away from anything in Cuba.
Within just a few hours at Los Morros, I found myself having
dinner and drinks aboard Kisma with new friends! Eventhough, I have problems with
the fridge and the engine but I’m happy to be surrounded by kind people! I’m
grateful to have a boat that takes me to so many places! There
are five boats here, American, Colombian, Dutch, Brazilian, Austrian, and the
Persian-Swedish-American Earthling! The whole world has come together at this
end of it!
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Everybody helped and towed Earthling to the dock to jump the engine with Jeff's boat |
During the few days at Los Morros, we came to the conclusion
that Earthling definitely needs new batteries and finding deep cycle batteries
in this part of Cuba is almost impossible! The closest town is 80km away and
there are more horses and carriages than cars. The local Cubans in Los Morros were very kind and helpful without any expectation, Norelvys drove me to the closest town to get help.
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Norelvys is going house to house to find a mechanic |
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Unique home made horse carriages |
In Cuba, you must check in
and out with the Guarda Frontera every anchorage/port you go to, and it is very strict and important to do
that! In Los Morros, you are not even allowed to leave the marina without a special permission! And I almost got in trouble with that!
Decision was made to jump start the engine and keep it on
& motor sail straight to Cienfuegos (2nd largest city in Cuba)
300 miles away and find batteries there. The Engine was jump-started on Sunday
morning and the five and only boats at Los Morros set sail, 4 of the boats
towards Isla Mujeres and Earthling around West End of Cuba towards Cienfuegos.
Once again it was hard to say goodbye to everyone and go a sea alone.
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Jeff and I before leaving Los Morros |
You might think I'm courageous, but I think Jeff is brave. He is from Netherland, he flew to the U.S and bought a sailboat without knowing
anything about sailing. Jeff started cruising a couple months ago solo! And he
has made his way all the way to Mexico now! He has stories to tell already!
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Marina Los Morros, yes those are wild pigs |
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The Coragem Crew |
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Fair Winds
Ciao Kisma |
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Till next time Coragem |
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See you in Hawaii Lōkahi |
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Solo sailor at sea |
The first day was wonderful with calm seas and moderate
wind. I was able to get some sleep at night, the autopilot was steering, the AIS
giving alarms when big ships around, and so forth. Exactly the way we prefer cruising!
The following morning, the wind started picking up and the seas become bigger. The boat is heeling over with the engine running, which is not a favorite approach. Out of sudden, the engine's heat alarm goes on, the motor is over-heating, no
water is coming out of the exhaust. After a few quick check ups, the engine had
to be shut down. Now, I’m in trouble again, but that’s fine, there are sails, you can
sail, that’s how Columbus found this world! However, navigating strictly by
sails in this area, close to shore, is a bit challenging. At night the wind dies and it’s a good
time to make way east by motor! Well there is no motor. The
weather predictions show there will be wind 10-15 miles off shore at night. So
it’s better to stay off shore at night.
With these dead batteries, you can’t run the electronics
either. The GPS froze at one point and it was better to keep it off! The
autopilot would hold sometimes during the day when the sun was up, but it would
start beeping indicating low battery level.
Sailing upwind with large waves can be fun when you surf up and down but you will get washed over, which happened many times. The bilge
was eventually filled up with water. The bilge pump started acting up and its
breaker kept switching off! Now there is no automatic bilge pump either. Good thing there is a
manual bilge pump and a small spare emergency electric pump that I got from Coragem, which worked
when connected directly to the batteries. And thank god for Navionics chartplotter app on the phone, which was more or less the only navigation.
Plan A was to keep motor on and sail to Cienfuegos, which is
out of the picture. Plan B is to sail to Isla Juventud or Cienfuegos and anchor
under sail and get help and plan C is to sail to Cayman Islands! During the
second day, attempts were made to sail to Isla Juventud, but the weather wasn’t
in my favor! One sailboat was in sight and contacted on VHF
radio without any response.
The 3rd morning, the distance to Grand Cayman’s
is the same as the distance to Cienfuegos. It’s possible to go to Grand Cayman on
one tack close haul and there will be wind and it’s possible to anchor under
sail. To Cienfuegos, Cuba, you must tack
back and forth and still go through a channel to get to the town. Also it’s not
only a battery issue, her engine is overheating, and bilge pump problems. Even
in the second biggest city in Cuba, things are not widely available especially when you are not fluent in Spanish! As much as
I would like to stay & cruise Cuba but it seemed wiser to keep course and alter
next port for safe harbor in Grand Caymans.
For most of the part I had to be behind whelm and steer. It was
possible to lock the wheel when the seas were calm, but then it was a good time
to get some power naps and eat! And a couple of times I had to “heave to” in order
to eat and sleep!
There were also beautiful moments, such as the full moon,
which was rising as the sun was setting and it kept the sea lit up throughout
the night. Or the little bird that came aboard to keep me company for a night!
But then on the 3rd night around 2:30, dark
clouds covered the moon and the ocean became dark, you could feel a cool
breeze, and seamen know that squall is coming! When a squall is approaching your
way, the things to do is to reduce sails, put your foul weather gear and
life jacket on, and close the companion way! Within a short time, the wind
picked up and changed direction, and the sea became a washing machine, and it
started pouring rain! On the main sail, one of the batten slide screws that
fits into rail on the mast came loose and soon there was a small tear in the
sail that was getting bigger! Mainsail had to come down fast. I don’t remember how
I took the mainsail down in those weather conditions, just did it! The tether
was kept on the whole time! Now I’m relying only on the head-sail and remaining distance to Cayman is
60nm. Moreover, when the mainsail came down, the boom dropped and ripped off the old canvas on the dodger.
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Sunrise after the squall |
In order to deal with challenges in chaotic
times, you should not be fearful or scared, but that's easier said than done. As a solo sailor you must always think a few steps ahead, plan A, B, C
and so forth. But when you already find yourself in plan C, then it gets scary
when you start thinking about plan D and E! You were hoping to not find
yourself in this situation at all, so it’s possible that it could get
worse! And then you think about all the true stories of people a drift a sea
for a long time! But most of those stories are in the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean! Where
would I drift from here if I lost my other and only sail? Probably Mexico, or Cuba or drift with
the Gulf Stream back to the US. How long would that take? And you want to stop
thinking these thoughts because your thoughts will create your reality! Ok, I just
have to do what I have to do now, and that’s all I can do and I am safe!
Later on during the same day as I’m pumping the bilge
manually, the pump makes a breaking sound, gets loose and stop pumping the water overboard! Everything is
in breaking mode! Now there is no manual bilge pump either!
In times like this, you'll find and get connected to the great
energy in the universe. If you are a non-believer then it would be more
difficult to cope in hard times. God is like the ocean and each of us is a drop
of that ocean! When you are alone for a longer time with no other soul around,
then you start missing everybody, your family, friends, significant ones, and
the loved ones that are no longer alive!
One of the purposes in life is to grow, hard times happened
in our lives to make us grow! The harder of a situation, the greater growth!
On Wednesday evening, I called in the Port Authority in
George Town, Grand Cayman and reported the arrival to the safe harbor. Earthling
made it under one sail to the port of George Town at 2100. A tow boat from the port security assisted and attach her to a mooring ball.
I am very grateful to be safe and healthy, thrilled to
have these kind of experiences, and pleased for this life! And thankful that I am capable of repairing all the damages myself!
Now the batteries are replaced, the overheating issue is resolved,
new bilge pump is installed, the mainsail is sewed, leaks are sealed, etc! And refrigerator is just a luxury that we take for granted, and we can live without it! The new crew Tadas is arriving soon and on the first weather
window Jamaica will be the next port of call!
Thanks for reading
Love from George Town, Grand Cayman