After two years - a new country to visit - Cuba
AJAYA'S CRUISE
Phil & Nikki Hoskins
Mon 18 Apr 2011 22:43
|
Puerto da Vita 'Marina' - 21:04.293N, 075:57.294W
After a bumpy overnight sail from Hog Cay in the Ragged
Islands, Bahamas we arrived in Puerto da Vita this morning, anchoring just
200 yards from the marina set into mangrove swamps so that the doctor could come
onboard. He arrived by small blue speedboat wearing a white doctors coat -
naturally, and pronounced us healthy and fit to enter Cuba so we were
allowed proceed to the marina where a host of other officials were queuing
to get onboard to fill out a plethora of forms. We had the Customs man,
immigration, the vet (don't ask) - another customs man with a sniffer dog which
the admiral took an immediate shine to (the dog that is, not the man). In
all, eight men and one dog cleared us in officially to this rather unique
country. And they were all totally charming and friendly whilst going about
their business. The dog was looking for narcotics of course which we don't
have any of (so the Admiral tells me) In fact after a while the Cocker Spaniel
became bored and walked off the boat without permission from its master.
Obvious caught a whiff of our holding tank!
Oh - and we caught a fish at last on the way in, a 2.5ft long
Mahi Mahi (Keith you'll be pleased to know it was on the electric reel and Geoff
- you were right - that home made 'killer lure' worked at last
although we had two small pink squid lures in tandem with it which the
Admiral thought was a ridiculous Heath Robinson lash-up until the line whizzed
off the reel at which time she went quiet and subsequently went about
picking out the best pieces for her sushi!
Tomorrow we need to get some Cuban currency (Convertibles) and
decide how we are going to get to see the Caribbean's largest island..
Unfortunately we are unable to post any pics yet as internet access is
rare in Cuba.
|