Anchored in front of Cabo de San Antonio (eng) 31.3.-2.4.2011
Andromeda
Michael
Sun 3 Apr 2011 23:07
Cabo de San Antonio, Cuba
31.3.-2.4. 2011
Short resume for the English only speakers: We left Isla Mujeres, Mexico on May 31st and arrived after 17 hours and 104nm at Los Morros in Cuba.
Wind and waves were strong to start with and we had a wonderful though bumpy sail with 7.5-9 knots.
This also attracted a herd of huge, dark beautiful dolphins! Never seen this kind, with a round nose. Amazing to see them jumping at the stern, with the setting sun behind them.
Fortunately, wind and wave calmed down for the night shifts so we had a rather smooth and unspectacular sail. There was quite some traffic and as our AIS wasn't working properly, I had to get Michael up once, but fortunately, everthing was fine and none of them ever came too near. We had dark night with a beautiful night sky with lots of stars, but no moon. Before dawn, the lights of Cabo de San Antonio Lighthouse appeared. Unfortunately, wind and of course our speed dropped dramatically, so we decided to motor the last hour (when speed dropped from 4 to even only 2.5 knots).
Check in was nice and kind of fun. As we were anchoring off the dock, we carried the officials by dinghy aboard. The doctor took our pulse and pressure and was happy to find us both healthy. Her comment on Michael: Skinny but very strong, with a heart like a horse - good to know!
Also gave us the hint to wrap up all the fruits 'n veggies before the Agriculture people come for inspection.
In total, there were 5 different officials aboard, all extremely relaxed and friendly.
Apart from a 3km hike to the next hotel, there is not much to do, so we decided to leave the next day. The evening, we got invited to dinner by a lovely German couple on another Catamaran, who have been doing charters for the last 10 years.
Checking out took a while, so we did not leave til early noon. But of the reason is also the 2 hours time change we were confronted with - 2 hours, though we had traveled only 104nm! Anyway, sailing around the cape, wind was growing stronger and stronger and the waves were getting bigger, plus wind direction changed, so Michael decided it'd be better to anchor in between. We dropped the anchor pretty much of the Lighthouse in beautiful warm blue water.
When Michael went for a dip in the dark, he was surrounded my tiny fluorescent things (we belive it's some kind of plancton).
Anyway, we had a quiet night and caught up on our sleep, ready to head off first thing the next morning!
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