Impressions of Cuba’s south coast up to Cienfuegos

On By syaltimateIn Atlantic, Caribbean, Cuba, Media Blog, SouthCoast of Cuba

Chirivico

heading to Chirivico the coast was impressive
my happy Capitano
ain´t it beautiful?
one of the younger guys went up the palm tree to get us coconuts, Adrian and Phil on the left with local kids
our illegal stroll through Chirivico, Adrian and Norbert
we were passing a small park with this state of a man hunting a fish bare handed
the tribe following the road
I often felt moved back 70 years in history
Lada (Russian car) meets old-timer
walking through the neighbourhood , there were a few high rise buildings
the back country looked stunning
this rooster was claiming his territory – at least that was what I understood
a school which was supported by the UNESCO as it looked like
I just like that shot
the view from the anchorage
Phil getting ready to climb up our mast
in the evening we had a come together on Altimate, another south african boat had arrived; we had met them before and they were saying hello

Christmas in Pilon

still on the way to Marea where we weren’t allow to stay
I know boring – just another amazing sunset at Marea
merry Christmas – El Capitano definitely needs sunglasses, he looks a bit strict, doesn’t he?
Guardia Frontera at Paseafique when unfortunately the unexpected kick out of Marea bay started
Pilon with its tablecloth like clouds covering the hills and the very visible chimney of the former cane sugar refining
Phil and Lesley arriving for Christmas
Phil and Lesley in their Christmas outfit
the aperitif ready to get served as soon as Lesley opened the bottle
presents!!!
more presents
Adrian got a beautiful hat
Lesley got a book from an amazing author which Adrian and Marianna had met somewhere
very emotional words
Marianna is such a good painter, I loved the look of X-mas Altimate

Ashore at Pilon

our three boats in the back, we just arrived ashore, glad that we were allowed to use the docks for the fisher boats
art in front of the old sugar mill
peaceful grazing horses
the guy who was guiding us around was working in this bakery, they were making ” chicharron de Espuma”, a very crispy thin dough here filled with guava marmelade
a cuban kitchen
was this the entrance to a bunker?
the creativity of Cubans is always amazing, here someone had built a child seat to his super modern bicycle
Pilon was not very crowed
what was that?
a telephone booth, haven’t seen those for years
and Phil was visibly surprised that it was still working
a big shoe shop! as we had not taken our hats we bought some for only 200 pesos – not even 60 cents
pretty little girl, I was not sure wether she was wearing lipstick or not
amazing how many horse carriages were still used for any kind of transportation
our guide was trying to find veggies for us
while waiting for the guide to come back from his mountain tour where he plucked lettuce for us, I saw this guy selling herbs in a German tricot
more waiting, that used to be the waiting park for the day labourer for the sugar cane refinery
that was the park – I do not know the name
some sailors passing by

Cabo Cruz

going further west the landscape changed, the hills were lower and dryer
here at Cabo Cruz we had a stop for the night
guardia frontal came by all the way from ashore to check our despacho; the not official was putting a rope around the disk to be able to pull the engine to life
we caught a few fishes on our way, unfortunately a lot barracudas which we had to release to avoid getting ciguatera
but those two beauties we decided to eat
rarely we saw fisher, these two were out quite far from shore
on our way to Cayo Blanco we had a cute visitor

Cayo Blanco

Cayo Blanco, a small island which reminded us very much of the San Blas islands
this ship looked as if it was just left there
a raptor had occupied the back of the boat, he had built a fairly big nest
Altimate and Anthem
who´s legs were these?
Marianna and me at the beach while the boys were working
we found a strange looking jelly fish

El Capitanos birthday

Or some pics from the engine desaster

the clocked tube
cleaning the hose
here we were still hoping all would be repaired within the next hour
Norbert was hailing Adrian and asking many questions regarding the repair
disassembling the heat exchanger
before all the annoying incidents happened I had at least managed to bake the dough for a “Tarte au citron”,
finally the heat exchanger was dismantled,
greens which were supposed to be spinach, we ate it anyway, but didn´t taste like spinach at all
after a relaxing day El Capitano enjoyed the sunset
off we were the next morning

Cayo Cuervo

Here we met the Australian tribe again including Sven on Kwilena

we girls had a little excursion, Marianna was very concentrated
we all gathered together at the beach and made a bonfire
Sven and Norbert
Lesley on the left, Marianna and Phil on the right
that was a crazy sunset
not the best pic but the only one from Svens Cat
a stroll at the island
it does look so much like the San Blas islands
in the end we were all alone for a couple of days in that anchorage

Heading to Cienfuegos with a stop at Playa Arimaro

We had much more wind than forecasted when leaving Cayo Cuervo, which let us sail almost completely to Cienfuegos. We anchored just outside of the cut which meanders into the huge bay of Cienfuegos.

pretty early we caught this big beauty
a lot of wind with a strong sea – I know it always looks like it was flat
the anchorage just before Cienfuegos
early we left and headed to the cut
we were surprised to see a diving boat
the lighthouse at the entrance of the Cienfuegos cut
inside the sea gate
the big Cienfuegos bay
just outside the sea gate but inside the bay we passed this island ” Cayos Carenas”
huge container ships were in the roads in the big bay of Cienfuegos

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