The Cuban Adventures Part 2: Cruising the south coast…from Santiago De Cuba to Cienfuegos..fishing villages, mangroves and deserted islands

We slowly headed west from Santiago de Cuba and stopped in little fishing villages and mangrove-lined anchorages on the way. Chivirico (pictured above) is a protected mangrove lagoon complete with jellyfish and a cosy little fishing community. We are technically not supposed to land in Cuba except for at designated marinas, but we like the cultural exchange that villages like Chivirico have to offer, so we flaunted the rules more than once…You are also supposed to have your dinghy up by 6pm each night- I guess that’s a method of controlling foreigner’s movements and to avoid Cubans making a run for Miami. There are no restrictions on land-based travel for foreigners.

We tied our dinghy to a private, concrete jetty and asked permission to take the shortcut through a family’s property to the village. The local kids happily took our dinghy painter and secured it for us… We wished we had purchased 20 soccer balls in Columbia to give to the Cuban youths who spend their days kicking deflated, dilapidated basketballs and even shriveled coconuts…

We found a local bar/restaurant on the beach, had a late lunch and sat back to witness the Saturday afternoon fiesta…It seemed that the whole village was hanging out under the trees by the sea. The beer and rum was flowing. A couple of old men sat turning a roasting pig on a hand spit…there was community spirit in the air.

Youth drove their cars down onto the grassy beachfront and, although there was a little drunken testosterone about, it mingled with mums and dads, babies, young children, aunts, uncles and grandparents- the whole village it seemed was here- chatting, drinking and celebrating the weekend.

Although we got some strange looks when we first arrived (we were way off the tourist/backpacker route,) after a while the Cubans with some English skills came up to say hello and a toothy old man offered to sell us some local honey and avocados. We accepted and he took off up the nearest hill to his home apologising that he didn’t own a bicycle and may take 20 minutes to run to his home and back. We happily waited for him whilst chatting in our improving Spanish to the local school teacher. Our honey and avocados arrived and our school teacher friend gave us a tour of the village and found us a state run internet office where we happily spent an hour reading emails and facebook  

As we said our goodbyes the villagers were busy stacking up a massive wall of speakers for the Saturday night fiesta.. it seemed the afternoon was just a warm up!

Above: The local Guarda (coastguard) came aboard to check our papers at various stops. Here is one such official being rowed back to land by a local fisherman.

Below right: we caught our first fish in Cuba! A Mahi Mahi that we enjoyed as sashimi for lunch, ceviche (served with massive Cuban Plantain chips) for dinner and pan-fried in butter for a meal the following day! yum! 

Above: eggshell mosaics for boat school art lessons

Below: in rural Cuba, horse and cart is the main form of transport.

The people of Cuba are extraordinarily open and friendly. As we sailed out of Santiago De Cuba, we passed two young guys in their fishing boat. We are used to fishermen approaching us to sell us their catches but these guys just held up their fish with massive ear to ear grins- it was a simple and almost child-like gesture that said “hey dudes! check out what we caught!” I gave them the thumbs up and Russ a big ‘woo hoo!’ and their delight was palatable. I remember this interaction simply because it hit me how typical and very Cuban this type of exchange is.

A lady with sparkly eyes immediately gave us change when we went to overpay her for our laundry in a tiny, poverty-ridden fishing village.

Then there was the elderly lady who beckoned us into her home as we walked passed on the street- we assumed she has something to sell us but no, she just wanted to show the children her rabbits because she thought they would enjoy that. Then she offered us coffee and wanted to know all our names and where we are from Her name was Laverna and she was lovely.

A man offered for Jaiya to sit up on his horse when she showed an interest as we wandered past his little house.

And this man sitting in his rocking chair, rigorously shook our hands when we asked if we could photograph him… he had that ‘if I died today I would be happy with the life I have led’ look of contentment on his face….

At any given village there was always a host of people who were happy to spend their morning/afternoon/day taking us around to buy veggies, take pictures and visit a state communication centre that, if we were luckily, had internet… No payment was ever required but we were often asked for spare fishing hooks, clothes or sunglasses (the locals can’t buy them even if they do have the cash- the stores offer woefully little due to the U.S embargo)We were only asked for a ‘gift’ of cash once (by an official during the check-in process) otherwise Cubans were nothing but generous.

We stayed a few nights in Maria Del Portia (above)- a mangrove lined bay with another fishing village at it’s fringes. On the other side of the bay was a resort that promised wifi so we took our dinghy over with a waterproof bag packed full of devices. We had lunch and the kids and I were just settling down for an afternoon in the virtual world when Russ came sprinting up to us in panic “run for the dinghy! Now!”- apparently Tika had dragged anchor! We bolted. Fast. Didn’t even pay for lunch. And the dinghy ride across the bay was a heart-thumping, white knuckled affair as we really didn’t know what we would find- Tika dashed up against the mangroves or the fisherman’s dock, or worse, drifting out to sea…

A fisherman had seen her moving and swam out to her and had hold of a rope that he had attached to a tree. Apart from a bent stanchion from where the line was attached and a cracked laptop screen from the frenzied dinghy ride, we had no damage. We were very lucky. And very appreciative of the fisherman who had also got word to the resort to send us back! We had given the anchor a good tug when we first dropped, and had been there for two days with no problem, but obviously, with the wind (that had come in hard in a tropical squall and changed direction) the holding in the bay had not been good after-all. Scary.

Below: we hung our new Columbian hammock up between our hulls for some chill-time in Cuba…

Below: South East Cuba is full of mangrove waterways to explore…

Above: We found a floating hotel but they refused to serve us a mojito! (guests only..)

As we left Maria Del Portia for an overnight passage west, we were hit by another tropical squall that saw the wind speed jump from 8 knots to 35 knots in the space of a few minutes! Jeeeez!! We dropped our main and were sailing with just a small amount of jib up for quite some time. We got pelted by rain and Tika was surrounded by angry looking seas, clouds and lightning that kept us on our toes most of the night- aghhh!! We are starting to learn that weather forecasts don’t predict tropical, localised squalls and we are starting to look at the clouds as well as the wind predictions from weather apps…We are kinda used to rough passages by now but it would be nice to have a smooth one!

We were pleased to arrive at the ‘Jardines De La Reina’ islands the following day…

Below: we were late arriving into one of our anchorages in the Jardines De La Reina.. it was hard to spot the reef and shipwreck on the way in (we had spotlights out!) but the sunset/moon rise was gorgeous…

Below left: one of the very few fishing boats we saw on the South East coast of Cuba. Below right: Kai’s ingenious solution to onion-eyes while prepping for dinner- goggles!

We lost our mojo a little in these islands. In the weeks it took us to cruise them, at times the weather was cool and windy and most of the beaches were more mangroves than white sandy expanses and they were so infested with ‘no-see-um’ bugs (sand-flies) that beach walks/runs/fun was impossible (we kept trying, but most of the time, even armed with bug spray and long shirts- we literally couldn’t get out of the dinghy without being severely attacked).

The water was brackish in places, and with the promise of crocodiles so close to the mangroves, was a little uninviting… We got into some windsurfing and paddle boarding but otherwise we all got a touch of cabin fever…. After 3 hours of school, we really need to get off Tika and run/swim/snorkel/exercise for a few hours…without that outlet, school drags on, Tika becomes a touch claustrophobic and we all get on each others nerves!

For a while the isolation and rugged beauty of the south-east islands of Cuba were enjoyable (other than a few local fishing boats and our visits to rural villages, we didn’t see another soul) and we did enjoy patches of aqua water, a few beautiful day-sails in glassy flat water, lobsters purchased from the fishermen for $2 each and the usual palm tree lined Caribbean islands- so we’re not complaining!……We hunkered down in our own little world, cooked some good meals and played lots of card games. By the time we did approach Cienfuegos, where we knew we would find clear water, sandy white beaches, charter boats, resorts, hotels (with the ever elusive wifi) and fresh vegetables- we were ready!!

 

Next post: Cienfuegos-

This entry was posted in The Sail.