What a sail! We waited and waited for wind, then set off anyway. Just a few hours later orange crackling lightning was filling the skies and squall after squall. So no wind, too much wind. Reefed we went into the Cuban countercurrent – only a 25% chance of it being there and it was. Now we are doing 2.7 - 3.5 knots but cannot put up any more sail. Finally we escape the counter current after a day and sail quite well. Then we get to pole out for downwind sailing or have to do a ridiculous course and the pole breaks. Murray breaks the 'never use a hammer to fix boat stuff' rule and we are sailing well and comfortably. Now we have a final day with a forecast for a southeasterly of 12 knots. We could do with light winds as we have to cross a reef or divert 8 miles to get round it.
Caroline was woken up when we were 3 miles off the reef. There was a 3 knot countercurrent and winds building up to 26knt. All this meant we were zig-zagging towards our destination at a very painful 3.5knts or less. We decided to go for it anyway and in mounting waves we watched the echo sounder as the depth below the keel reduced to 1.9m in rough conditions. We held our breath and relaxed when over the bar in what seemed like a very long 8 minutes or so. We managed to tie up in the marina just before the engine decided to give up.