Enjoying Cuba

Bahia Honda

My journey: After ten days of waiting for a weather window, I check out of Marina Hemingway. One aduana (customs) official takes an inordinate amount of time checking out the forward berth. Finally, he lets me know that he would like to have one of the many hats that I have aboard for just this purpose. He wants a white Seattle SuperSonics hat. Throughout my journey other Cubans will ask for batteries, light bulbs, electrical connectors, hand tools, fishing line and hooks, and, of course, cerveza, (beer) . My old, rusty mountain bike was openly lusted after whenever I brought it out.

This settled, I'm cleared to leave. My next stop is Bahia Honda, a pocket bay with several all-weather anchorages, about 40 miles to the west. I approach this bay with the utmost caution as the charts show some prominent reefs adjacent to the entrance. As it turns out, the reefs are well marked and the late afternoon entry is straight forward.

Following the expected procedure, once inside the reef I steer the Sirius II toward the Guarda Post, easy to locate as it is directly across the channel from a very prominent ship's graveyard with ships of various sizes rusting away.

The water shoals up rapidly as I approach the Guarda Post, a rickety old building and pier. I anchor in about seven feet of water 100 yards away from the pier. At dusk the Guarda arrives in a row boat to check me in. This is my only stop in Cuba where I was not boarded by at least one other representative of customs, immigration, medico, agriculture or a port official.

Actually, there are areas in Cuba so remote that not even the Guarda bothers to check. Once I anchored in the Canal de Rosario, south of Cuba, to ride out a storm, not far from a Guarda boat, which, ostensibly, was at anchor for the same reason. Two days later we both left, without ever acknowledging the other's presence.

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Marina Hemingway	Maria la Gorda