April 04 – April 27, 2025; 18371 nm and 2229 days after departure from La Rochelle

This time we headed to the most western tip of Cuba to Cabo San Antonia. At the east side of that Cabo was a very small marina named “Los Morros”. Actually it was just one concrete dock and a couple of office houses at the very remote western end of Cuba. The marina was only there it seemed, to make it possible for boats to check in and out internationally to shorten the trip to Mexico or Florida.
Like for us it was only a 24 hours trip coming from Isla Mujeres. We were spoiled with a pleasant sail with nice winds and comfortable waves. Two nautical miles before entering the marina we stroke the sails and switched on the engine. Somehow the engine sounded weird which we luckily realised immediately. A short check showed that no water was leaving the exhaust pipe. Damn it! Not good! We had to switch off the engine. What to do? Fortunately we were already in very shallow water and just dropped the anchor to find out what was going on. My head was already imagining: What if the engine wouldn’t work anymore? We couldn’t stay where we were as a nasty cold front was about to come. Not good to be in open water (it was shallow but we were completely exposed) with no protection whatsoever and winds forecasted up to 30knots. On top of that as we all now, Cuba was not a good place to find spares or even get just towed… Well, hell just my concerned thoughts while El Capitano was figuring out what was going on. Lucky for us, Norbert had found the reason for the issue pretty fast. The intake for the cooling seawater was sucking faulty air. Therefore no water was cooling the engine and the warm air of course couldn’t do the cooling job. After a bit of swearing and more sweating El Capitano was able to tighten the intake and the water was cooling the engine again. That was an unexpected unpleasant excitement which nobody really needed! But sailing is fun ain’t it? Finally only about an hour later than expected we arrived at the marina dock at Los Morros the 7th of April around 2 pm.

As always in Cuba the welcome was delightful and most friendly. The marina staff helped us docking Altimate and told us that the officials would come to check us in sometime in the late afternoon. I don’t know from where they had to come but they only came for us! Meanwhile, safely docked, we tidied up Altimate had a late lunch and took a needed and I think well deserved nap. Not long after we had arrived a fisher boat (s.a.) docked in front of us. They just needed water but the poor guys didn’t have a water hose to fill up the tank. That’s why they asked us if we could help them out. We deep dived into our locker and shared our hose. I was just imagining how they would have filled up the tank without us being there by chance. Filling it up with one bucket after the other, probably possessing only one single bucket? However, I’m sure it would have taken muuuuch longer. A bit later one of the fishermen came over to trade 4 big lobster for a bottle of whiskey. Well, we didn’t have any whiskey but could make them happy with an almost full bottle of tequila. Boy they were so excited! It was hilarious and cute to see the young fisher happily jumping around like little kids in front of a Christmas tree. They left in such a good mood that they had almost forgotten their poor dog ashore! So everyone was happy. We, ’cause we had dinner for a couple of days, the boys for getting a little tipsy and the dog for not being forgotten.
Later that evening the officials arrived. Very respectful, friendly and fast we got internationally checked in. Within half an hour all was done and we enjoyed a calm night of good sleep. Early next morning we left to hide from the northerly wind which was coming. El Capitano had found a safe and beautiful place completely surrounded by mangroves only 8 nm away. It was called Cayos de la Jena.

Here we stayed two nights to let the strong winds pass by. Our plan to stop at some anchorages at Isla Juventad and other places before heading back to Cienfuegos was disrupted by the northerly winds. With the latter it was not possible to anchor safe at those places, but it was a great wind to sail directly to Cienfuegos. As we didn’t have endless time in Cuba due to upcoming hurricane season we had to make up our minds. Either wait and visit the other anchorages (and probably only have a few days in the city) or take advantage of the perfect wind to take us to Cienfuegos. We went for the latter and leveraged the northerly wind. After all we rather wanted to spent some more time in Cienfuegos to see our friends. After my workout session with Ann (yes I’m still doing workout and I’m very proud!) we left the remote anchorage and started the 300nm trip. Two and a half days later we again moored at the bay of Cienfuegos. The trip was easy and fast unfortunately without a single fish bite. Only a little swallow visited us for the night. It found a bunk in our salon and left quietly at sunrise leaving some little poohs as a thank you gift. The marina staff happily welcomed us back and after a little chit chat we enjoyed a cool beer at the beach bar with no name which was right next to the marina. Before, most of the time the bar was empty and if at all only a few locals came to enjoy the view. This time there were many people, families with kids having fun and enjoying the water. It was nice to see so many people enjoying their time. It took us a while until we figured out what was going on. Cienfuegos was crowded with people, not tourists well, maybe local tourists. Every shop, bar, restaurant which used to be closed before was now suddenly (re-)open. Even the famous “Coppelia” ice cream parlour which we had thought was closed for ever, was open. Cienfuegos appeared different. Much more alive. Nice! The reason was that the kids had a week’s holiday. And it seemed that the government had made sure that as much entertainment as possible was available. There was so much going on, a sailing competition, different running competitions including food and beverage courts, small playground fairs for kids and probably much more. People strolling along the Malecon each day and at any time of the day. A crowded busy and fun city.

All in all we only stayed just over two weeks. The time was again flying. We met Joanna and Elvis for errands and chats. Once again I had a lovely nice girly day with Marilu (Ann-Sophie was already back in Sweden) and of course we went to Piña Colada a couple of times to listen to our favourite band Bouquet. In between our play time we got Altimate ready for the upcoming longer trip to Panamá. Despite our original plan to directly sail to Panamá we had changed our minds and decided to make a stop over at Gran Cayman to shorten the trip a bit.
I’m not sure if I had mentioned that before but somehow I have the urge to write about the following because its so Cuba. Like bringing a container or plastic bags to put cheese or meat when buying groceries I always made sure to take what I had called a “toilet bag” whenever we left Altimate. As a lot of items were either difficult, way too expensive or not at all available to get, so was toilet paper in Cuba. Therefore almost all toilets didn’t have toilet paper let alone soap. In fact a lot of them didn’t even have toilet seats or water to splash. Even in fancy buildings like the Cienfuegos Club, where the bathrooms were very pretty and modern…yet no water, no paper, no soap. Sometimes, like in Piña Colada bar when there was live music, there was a toilet lady. She not only made sure that the toilet was reasonable clean she also offered the women two or if you were lucky, three toilet paper sheets. So most women naturally brought their own toilet “tools” when going out to feel a bit more comfortable when the urge to use the bathroom occurred. Just a normal procedure in Cuba. Though coming from Mexico I hadn’t thought about it immediately but was reminded as soon as I needed a toilet. Just a tad too late… Anette once brought me a tissue package as a gift. I thought it was hilarious but in fact a great thoughtful gift in Cuba! Funny how important little things can get when they are not available. But enough toilet talk! Sorry! But that’s Cuba- for my defence.

Our last week was packed with fun things. Jim had organised a little surprise party for his wife Della. He had invited her friends to come and meet her at Club Cienfuegos. That was a nice catch up where we had a lot of fun until late. The next day was my girly day and on Friday we all met again at Piña Colada. On Saturday we went for the last time to the farmers market to get some fresh food. Joanna and Elvis were so kind to take us as we weren’t able to see us much before because they had gotten the flu and didn’t wanted to infect us. So we only had the short market morning together and already had to say goodbye. And this time it was a real farewell as we didn’t know if we would come back one day. Always sad! In the evening the farewell went on. Bouquet was playing at a new (for us at least) location, at the bar “Los Balcones”. A cool location in downtown Cienfuegos. It was a great evening with Jim joining the band for a couple of songs and us listening and singing along (when we knew the lyrics). Such a great last night!!! Nevertheless at one point the party was over and we had to leave and say goodbye. Jim and Della only for a few month, it was as well their last evening, for us definitely for a longer time. Thank you Cuba, Cienfuegos and especially all the nice people we were allowed to meet. So far it was one of our favourite places.
The next day we checked out and left Cuba heading to Cayman Islands.