Tuna drought over at last!
UHURU
Steve Powell
Wed 3 Mar 2010 23:26
At last, after what seems like months of catching Barracuda, Sail Fish and Botti’s famous White Marlin, all not great eating or too big to bring onboard, we finally caught a Tuna yesterday. On our way back to Falmouth Harbour, Antigua, from Green Island we caught a lovely little meaty 7-8 pounder. I have had 2 bottles of Saki in the fridge for months waiting for the right moment. Last night we sat down to a fantastic Tuna feast. Tuna sashimi, Tuna tartar, Tuna rolls and Japanese rich balls all washed down with generous helpings of chilled Saki.
+++BACK TO THE FUTURE or PAST+++
Well back to my ‘catch up saga’. After our very relaxing sojourn in the Dry Tortugas we headed directly south to Marina Hemmingway, Havana. The trip across was memorable by the fact that it was probably one of the most uncomfortable nights I’ve had onboard. We were crossing the Gulf stream north to south and it was running east and the wind was heading west so we had the worst kind of situation. A strong current (3-4 kts) on our starboard beam and wind and swell on our port beam. We were thrown all over the place. And despite the horrific sight of a boiling maelstrom between two breaking reefs they call the entrance to Marina Hemmingway, we were all very glad to get there. Once we negotiated the entrance we discovered the delights of Cuban bureaucracy!! It took us over three hours to check in. But it was all very friendly and as long as you remained calm and resigned to it, nothing went wrong. First we had the ‘Doctor’ to make sure we didn’t have any terrible diseases, Then we had the Dept of Agriculture to make sure we didn’t have any animals, then we had to list and declare all the food we had on board, then the drug dog and handler. All this first lot came with full masks and rubber gloves, we felt contaminated just from the look of them. Then came the ‘uniformed ones, customs, immigration, port security and finally the Marina officials. Every group inspected our passports and the boats papers, every group meticulously wrote down in triplicate (needless to say no carbon paper) all our details and filed them for future reference. It reminded me of the famous investigation intro ‘littering’ in Arlo Guthrie’s “Allis's Restaurant’, for those of you that remember that far back!
Once we got settled in the marina everything went well and we started to explore Havana.
Susie and Beans discover the delights of Havana, our own limo for the duration a old Russian Lada in pristine condition and a new boy friend to share.
Beans made a number of ‘new friends’ in Havana and Botti got into a lot of trouble with this beautiful young salsa dancer. Botti & Willie made it up later in a 1950’s Dodge ‘Yellow Cab’.
We did all of Hemingway's bars, Beans wowed them with her short figure hugging ‘yellow/ lime something’ dress and they sang to us a lot!!
We also did ‘countryside’ and tobacco farms.......... Just so you don’t think it was all bars and parties.
AS they say, all to soon it was time for the Morgies and Botti’s to head home and Lucie and Sophie to fly in for Christmas and New Year. Once again the Morgies and Botti’s were great value and we had a great time with them, despite a “challenging” sail to get there. Thanks guys.
+++LIVE UPDATE+++
Meanwhile back in Antigua, Oli’s moaning about the speed, or lack of it, with our internet hook up. I did point out that only a few years ago we wouldn’t have had any communications on a boat. Lucky boy, as he maintains his Facebook profile despite cruising around the Caribbean! Buzz has been a brick as he is on “holiday’ and we have been busy working on the boat for the last few days. But he has kept himself busy reading Baby book, Kristie is due in 8 weeks time and very generously allowed him out for one last fling!
Proof positive, Kristie, he’s taking it all very seriously.
I only have one other picture to show you. It was moon rise over Falmouth Harbour last night.
All the lights from the Super Yachts and a full moon. Sensational........
Luv to all, more to come
Steve