30/11/2016 : A change of plans, Cuba is off!

We're both feeling pretty disappointed at the moment having just taken the decision not to go to Cuba.  The recent death of Castro has the country operating an official 9 days of mourning with everything closed : No restaurants, bars or public buildings open in the lead up to his funeral on Sunday.  We finally managed to find that the marina we would have had to enter through is open, after a frustrating day making calls and talking to people, but that was about the only thing.  Our only weather window to cross the Straits of Florida was tonight.  So of our week in Cuba, it would have been closed for 4 of the 7 days.  Add to that the cost of entry and marina fees (over £650), then we decided it just wasn't worth it this time on every level.  So, despite getting Canadian dollars sorted and buying a lot of things to take as gifts for the Cubans, we'll head to the Bahamas instead, probably sailing straight there leaving tomorrow morning.  C'est la vie ...... with a little bit more time to wait for another weather window it might just have happened but not this time.  So we're sad but pragmatic ....

28/11/2016 : Chillin' in Key West

We're having a lazy few days here enjoying the sunshine and atmosphere, and lunching out each day given we don't expect to have much opportunity to do that in Cuba, and the Bahamas come to that, although to a lesser extent.  Yesterday we visited Ernest Hemingway's home (he was here with his second wife in the 1930s), something we didn't do on our last visit.  This trip has a big Hemingway connection however given he moved from Key West to live with his third wife in Havana and the marina we will be staying in over there is named after him no less.  Hemingway was a big presence in Cuba and lived there for 20 years before returning to the US and taking his life just before his 63rd birthday.

As for his time in Key West, he wrote about 70% of his novels here in a relatively short but obviously creative period.  His property was built by a shipping magnate in the 1850s and still had an outdoor cookhouse when the Hemingways bought it in 1931.  He converted the top floor of the neighbouring coach house into a studio and ran a cast iron walkway from the verandah outside the master bedroom of the main house directly to it using the cookhouse roof as support, so he didn't have to go outside and across the garden when his creative juices were flowing.

Hemingway was a bit of a one with women and had numerous affairs.  When he was involved with the woman who was to become his third wife, his then wife decided to install a swimming pool in the garden of the family home in Key West.  Not only did she site it on Hemingway's favoured boxing ring, but she spent $20,000 on it, a lot of money back in 1937!

Hemingway's home, like many in Key West, has metal roof tiles.  Following a fire back in the late 1800s it was decreed that all new and replacement rooves had to be made from metal .... won't burn and more resistant to hurricanes. This ruling still seems to be in place today.

It's looking like Wednesday evening is our weather window for crossing the Straits of Florida to Cuba so tomorrow and Wednesday will have to be about stocking up with provisions, including gas and fuel, laundry and being officially cleared out of the US so we have the right paperwork for entry into Cuba.  We've been told to take Canadian dollars (as opposed to US dollars) with us so today we went off to the Bank of America to exchange some, only to be told they wouldn't do it for us unless we had an account.  Fortunately we'd been chatting to a chap in the queue who has an account and so he ordered the Canadian dollars for us through his account.  Very good of him .... we could have been money laundering for all he knew .... but the kindness of strangers we meet along the way adds so much to our experience.

We probably won't be able to post anything to the blog whilst we're in Cuba but we'll takes lots of photos and will update it once we arrive in the Bahamas.

27/11/2016 : Key West, Florida

We were lucky enough to be able to sail all the way from No Name Harbor to Key West without having to resort to motor-sailing!  Two whole days of wind and from the right direction too ..... doesn't happen that often.  That said the forecasters got it wrong again: Sunday's forecast was for 15 knots and we actually had over 25 gusting 33, a good job we know what we're doing.

Key West is as colourful, vibrant and trashy as we remember it but charming to boot.  So many different nationalities strolling along Duval Street, marvelling at the bizarre and beautiful all rolled into one.  Every other building is a bar or restaurant .... no need to go thirsty here!

Because we arrived on the Thanksgiving weekend there are a number of events taking place and so we wandered along to the international sand sculpture festival. What those artists can do with sand is incredible.

The weather is beautiful, if a little windy in the exposed anchorage, but the sunsets are stunning.  We'll stay here a few more days waiting for a good weather window to cross to Havana, Cuba.  I'm excited about seeing Cuba if a little apprehensive about the officialdom we might meet .... health inspection, sniffer dogs etc etc, all part of the clearing in process and to a level we've never experienced before.  But a lot of sailors are visiting now so I'm hoping the process is not too problematic.  We'be booked a couple of private tours in a 1950s car, one around Havana and the other to Vinales.  Cuba is a big island and to see it probably would take several months, something we haven't got this time, so it will just be a taster and if we like it we might visit again in the future.

Off ashore now ......

22/11/2016 No Name Harbour, Biscayne Bay

We can't believe how Spanish it is here in the Miami area, from conversation to music to looks.  English definitely seems to be a second language!  That said it's a fun and friendly place to be and naturally very beautiful with manatees swimming around the boat and Pelicans flying above it .... not that I trust them when they're on a bombing mission..... the bimini bears testament to the accuracy of their bombs.  Say no more.

Now we're the proud owner of the new and improved dinghy and outboard, we're using them to explore our surroundings so today saw us flying across Biscayne Bay at around 12 knots to visit Coconut Grove, a suburb of Miami.  $400 on clothes later we beat a retreat.  The return trip was a bit more bouncy as the wind had built up, the swell also, but we made it back with no problem.

We spent yesterday evening in the company of a nice British couple, also anchored in No Name Harbor, and enjoyed several G&Ts before they fell back into their dinghy and made their way home.  A fun night all round.  This morning it was down to earth with a bump for Paul changing the impeller on the generator .... never a dull moment!

One more day here and we'll start the 200 mile sail to Key West.  We'll break it twice (too many lobster pots around to sail after dark) and then Cuba beckons.

20/11/16 : No Name Harbour, Key Biscayne

After our maintenance day in West Palm Beach, we enjoyed a fun couple of days dining on the waterfront, exploring Peanut Island, visiting a farmer's market and even going to the movies.  The payback was getting up at 1am this morning to sail down to Key Biscayne, just south of Miami, so we would arrive at high water .... objective achieved and we're now at anchor on a wonderfully warm and sunny day, relaxing in the cockpit surrounded by other boats, many of which we're hoping are day trippers from Miami and that things will quieten down a bit this evening.  We must be getting old!

The sail down wasn't too bad at all but we lost the wind after Fort Lauderdale and had to resort to motor-sailing.  And we had a 1.5knot current against us most of the way which slowed us down considerably.  The forecast front that we hoped would generate some winds never materialised .... another triumph for weather forecasting! We're beginning to question why we bother checking!

So now we'll have a few days here exploring the Key and Biscayne Bay, something open to us now we've got the "new improved dinghy and outboard".  Let's hope there are no speed cops around!