The start of our adventure on a cold, dark Winnipeg morning in January.

A journey of a thousand miles starts with getting to the the airport on time... \240We left Winnipeg last Thursday morning at 5 am with all our bags and boxes for our 3 month sailing adventure in the Caribbean. Miraculously it all arrived in Cayman. Well done Westjet!

It's been a week since we got to the Island and we've been busy getting the boat ready. Lots of cleaning, packing, fixing and enhancing to make sure we have what we need both for our safety and comfort for the coming months. We're also slowly adjusting to living together in a small space - less than 300 sq ft - in our 32 ft Pearson. It is a constant lesson in patience, tolerance and acceptance of each other's idiosyncrasies. Thank goodness that we can be outside most of the time and that we've brought our \240inflatable kayak so we have an escape pod.

Despite all the work this week we also took some time to have some fun.... We raced on Sunday in the first race of the sailing season, and despite coming in dead last, we had fun and learned that we have some work to do on our sailing skills! Jesse visited the second largest skate board park in the world - The Black Pearl - and we \240also hung out on the beach and soaked in the sun. It was a good week!

Jesse scrubbing the boat down.

They say don’t cry over spilled milk.... but is it ok to cry over spilled stew?

Cooking tasty and healthy creations for family and friends is one of my favourite things to do in the whole world. In particular, I love cooking on the boat. Since we’ve been here I have enjoyed whipping up some fine meals for the boys - if I have to say so myself! Unlike our other boat though in Gimli which has a well functioning propane stove, this galley is equipped with a two burner alcohol stove. It has the allusion of being gimballed but instead it’s just simply unstable. In addition, the pot that Julian scavenged from somewhere is way oversized for the stove which makes cooking especially perilous.

Sooo ... as a result, I’ve been nagging everyone to “be careful” everytime they walked by the stove. The consensus by the boys has been that I’m paranoid and they proceeded to ignore me. Stephen coming to my rescue decided to adjust the pot slightly to demonstrate how tippy it can be... \240 succeeded beyond expectations. The pot full with curried pork stew spilled backwards in slow motion - thank God not forward - all over the microwave and the floor.

You could hear the yellow liquid dripping before Stephen and Julian jumped to attention and started cleaning up. Not having the luxury to go another room I retired to the v-birth and managed to constrain myself from saying "I told you so". Needless to say we had a late dinner that night.

Since then we’ve purchased a pressure cooker with a locking lid and Stephen has plans to further secure the stove to make it more stable. I think my point has been made. :)

Another successful project completed!

Sailed to Camana Bay today to catch the local farmers market for fresh veggies and homemade scotch bonnett pepper sauce.

The priority for today was getting Julian’s Jeep running again. The starter went, the transmission fluid is leaking, the signal clutch fell off.... just to name a few things. He’s trying to sell it but it’s falling apart... we need it to run for at least one more week but not sure if it’s going to make it. :)

Preparations are continuing for our departure from Cayman tentatively planned for this Saturday, February 17th - weather permitting. The winds have shifted more easterly which is favourable, but expected to be strong over the next couple of days - over 40 km/hr or 20 knots with 6-8 ft. swells - not our idea of fun. We are hoping for lighter winds of ~15 knots for our overnight passage to Cayo Largo, Cuba.

Stephen has been busy with what seems like never ending projects... re-fibreglassing broken storage containers, re-plumbing the foot pump - which allows us to rinse dishes with sea water to conserve our fresh water supplies - and re-wireing corroded electrical outlets. Is there’s anything this man can’t do? :)

Good friends are real blessings in our life... certainly Stephen and I consider ourselves really blessed in that regard.

Athough Julian is working until the 15th his friends organized a going away party for him last Monday night at ‘Callico Jacks’ on the beach - Julian’s favourite hang out on the Island. It was a lot of fun but also a little sad as we watched him say goodbye to so many wonderful friends he’s made over last few years on the Island. These kids become really close, more like family without having their real families close by.... it’s a good thing that true friends are never apart, maybe in distance but never in heart.

Nothing on a boat is simple, and yet everything is so much, much more simple... I’ve read that on a boating website the other day and it really stuck with me.

As we’re less than 24 hours before departure we’re madly trying to get everything done on our list and we’re finding that everything is taking way longer and is more complicated than it ought to be. Take for example Stephen wanting to quickly remove four screws from one of the stanchions so that the gelcoat underneath can be repaired - a job that should have taken minutes - ended up taking a couple of hours because those suckers refused to budge. Or having to send Jesse up the mast to replace one of the broken flag halyards because there was no other means of reaching it, or, running around the island trying to find a plumbing part that easily could be found at Home Depot in Winnipeg to no success. Stephen being Stephen will improvise by making something himself but it will take some time. :)

But no matter how frustrating things can get or how much more challenging it is to fix things onboard, you realize that you’re still living on a boat in the Caribbean and that livin is easy!

Listening to a cheesy band at Hemingway beach resort. I don’t know... it looks like the boys are into it. :)

Our last evening on the island at Calico Jacks watching the sunset. All systems are go for a departure tomorrow.

And we’re off! After weeks of preparations and days of waiting for a weather window we’re finally ready to sail away from the safe shores of Cayman and head north to Cuba.

The forecast is for 10 - 15 knots wind from the east with only around 1 meter high waves which should make for a smooth crossing. There’s a chance of thunder showers.... but there’s always a chance of showers in the tropics so we’re not letting that stop us.

Our first port of call will be Cayo Largo, on the south shore of Cuba. The distance is 134 nautical miles straight north from Cayman and it should take us approximately 26 hours to sail there. We’re planning to cast off around noon today and hope to arrive by mid-afternoon tomorrow.

Although Stephen and I have done a fair amount of sailing on Lake Winnipeg this will be our first ocean crossing, and our first overnight sail. Stephen assures me everything will be fine – we’re ready – but I have to admit that I’m feeling a mix of emotions from excited to anxious. What if I get seasick? That’s a long time to be on a boat before I can step foot on land again. We do have meds on board but it totally knocks me out and I’m scared that I’ll sleep through it all – Melissa style! :) The boys are simply thrilled that we’re finally on our way and are looking forward to the passage.

Our plan for the next several weeks is to cruise along the southern shore of Cuba towards the westernmost tip of the island, through the Archipelago de los Colorados – a chain of ‘isles and cays’ along the northwestern cost with our ultimate destination being Havana. See map below.

I’ll do my best to post pics and stories along the way but once we reach Cuba our ability to communicate will be limited. We will not have cell coverage due to it being too cost prohibitive, and we suspect that we’ll have none or very limited Wifi access until we reach Havana. We plan to stay in touch by using SPOT to send out our GPS location so family and friends can follow our adventures and be reassured that we’re safe.

Wish us fair winds and watch for our SPOT messages!

We made it to Cayo Largo! A little worse for ware and exhausted but we survived the passage in one piece.

The forecast was fairly accurate to start – thunder showers and about 15 knots of wind from the east as we set out, but became less so as the day progressed. We faced 6-8 feet swells and gusts close to 20 knots for most of the day. Mercifully the wind died down shortly after sunset and we had a relatively smooth sail overnight. The wind picked up again in the morning as we got closer to Cuba which was welcomed, if only because it got us to our destination a little earlier.

Oh the people you will meet….

What an unexpected international hub Cayo Largo turned out to be. Currently we’re surrounded by people from - Germany, France, Russia, Sweden, Dawson City, and Montreal.

Most of the boats are these huge mega yachts, mostly catamarans chartered either out of Havana or Varadero. The boats usually have a group of 6-10 people on them and sometimes they come with a captain, but most often they are bare boat charters. Bare boat charter meaning that people are responsible for their own provisions – which mostly consists of booze from what we can see - and also for their own piloting and docking of the boat. Watching them dock is pretty entertaining! Less so on the other hand is their attitude to tying up their boats. They think nothing of untying our docking lines, or limiting access to our boat with their lines with absolute disregard for us or anyone else…. Even after asking them to move it. :)

We didn’t leave Cayo Largo on Saturday as planned because:

1. We needed fuel and we could only buy it between 7:30 and 8 in the morning and could only pay with cash.

2. The bank didn’t open until 8.

3. We couldn’t clear customs until we paid for our docking fees, which we couldn’t do until we got cash and got fuel, and because...

4. Julian met a lovely French girl from Montreal and she wasn’t leaving until Sunday.

We finally left Cayo Largo around noon on Sunday under clear skies and a gentle breeze from the north east. We stayed inside the reef close to the shore and had a wonderful lazy sail towards our anchorage. Stephen and I were just commenting that asides from the crystal clear aqua blue water it looked like we could be sailing the eastern shores of Lake Winnipeg watching the sand dunes of Grand Beach roll by. Of course that was before a pod of six dolphins decided to drop by for a quick visit. It took us completely by surprise because for hours we didn’t see anything more than an occasional star fish on the ocean floor. It was Jesse who spotted them first and yelled that he can see fins. We all jumped to attention to see what’s happening and were not disappointed. The dolphins swam up to the boat and danced around the bow for a couple of minutes before they swam off. Although Stephen and I have seen dolphins before off the coast of Florida we have never seen them so close and in such clear water. It was a pretty awesome sight!

Our first night at anchor at Canal de Rosario. It was wonderful to be finally swinging free on the hook without the confines of being tied to a dock. There was a brisk breeze all night which kept the cabin quite comfortable and cool. There’s nothing like sleeping with the hatch wide open above your head seeing all the stars and being gently rocked to sleep.

The next day it took us 9 hours of mostly motor sailing to get to Pasa Del Quitasol an anchorage just off the island Isla Dela Juventud - Isle of Youth. Sounds like a great place!

When we arrived we were pleasantly surprised by a chain of mountainous islands and a beautiful bright orange sunset. There seems to be several large fires burning on shore.... We’re not sure what it is but it probably has contributed to the lovely orange sunset.

Just in case I have falsely painted a too romantic picture of cruising... today the day started with Stephen trying to get a weather forecast on the shortwave radio but he couldn’t get a signal. He then decided that we should just pull anchor and deal with what ever wind God sends our way and proceeded to start the engine, which of course didn’t start. He checked the batteries and found that they were both dead because we forgot to switch it over to the house battery last night. Not panicking he then decided to start the generator - which ran just fine yesterday - to find that it also didn’t start. This was all before breakfast at 9 in the morning.

There were several options to consider - first, put up the sails and try not to run aground in the shallows. Second, wait for the batteries to recharge for a couple of hours from the solar panels because the wind generator wasn’t charging due to very little wind. Third, try to troubleshoot the generator to see if it can be restarted. \240Stephen and Julian decided on option three since we couldn’t go anywhere until the batteries recharged anyway.

Option three meant that they had to take everything out of the starboard locker to get at the generator - not a minor undertaking! Taking a closer look they determined that there was air in the injectors and that they’ll need to bleed them - from what I’m told that’s a very convoluted process on this generator. Having determined the problem now they needed to find the manual and the ‘‘crank’ for bleeding the system. Murphy’s law would dictate that the ‘crank’ was buried in the hardest get to locker under the freezer.

It was like walking back in time when we landed on the beach of Hotel Colony on the west coast of Isla de la Juventud. We sailed around to the west coast of the island in search of fuel and water hoping that we’ll be able to find both at Marina Siguanea. While there we were hoping to check out Hotel Colony which we read about in our guide books as a place that welcomes sailors, but it looked completely deserted when we sailed by earlier in the afternoon so we assumed it was closed.

The fuel pumps were locked when we arrived at the marina around 4 in the afternoon and we were told that we have to come back the next day. The marina once was a major port of entry with a military instillation but today it mostly just provides fuel for diving boats. While there we started talking with some of the divers (from Calgary of all places) and they told us they were staying at Hotel Colony and there’s a bus that could take us there should we want to go. We jumped on the offer and next thing you know we have walked into the seventies and we’re sipping the best mojitos on the island.

The place was surreal – well maintained but faded – frozen in time from its former glory. The place was originally built as a luxury hotel by the Americans prior to the revolution and refurbished sometime in the seventies and hasn’t been touched since. Normal occupancy of the hotel in its hay day would have been upwards of 300 but today there were only 12 registered guests – staff easily outnumbering guests two to one!

After three days on the hook it was too tempting to pass up... so we decided to splurge for a night ($70 US) and take advantage of having some space from each other and hot showers!

Today we decided to take the bus to Nuevo Gerona, the capital city of Isla de la Juventud - about 45 km from the marina. We were told we shouldn’t go to the town by boat because pleasure crafts were not allowed to tie up at the main dock so we sailed on by.... but I’m so glad we didn’t skip it altogether.

The place was much bigger than we expected and more ‘metropolitan’ - full of life and vibrancy - with a lingering colonial beauty. Calle 39 the street in the heart of the city was closed to traffic similar to a pedestrian mall - without actual stuff to buy. There were bars and restaurants where we actually got a half decent meal, a bakery where we picked up some fresh bread, a bank where we could exchange our money for CUCs - Cuban Convertable Currency - and of course most importantly we replenished our dwindling rum supply!

Working on the boat once again...

It took 4 hours of motor sailing to arrive at Cayos de San Felipe National Park yesterday around 2 in the afternoon. \240It’s a chain of islands and cays that runs from east to west... The south shore is miles and miles of white sandy beaches but open to the Caribbean Sea, while the northern side is more shallow and protected but it’s lined with mangroves. We anchored on the north side on the account of southernly winds the last few days. There are tons of little cays connecting the south and north side and although not passable by our boat it’s been a great place to kayak and explore.

We found wifi and much needed respite at Maria La Gorda. Maria La Gorda is a world class dive resort tucked into the SE corner of the Bahia De Corrientes along the southwest tip of Cuba. We arrived yesterday after a rough couple of days….

It started with Jesse hitting the wall two days ago at Cayos San Felipe about his inability to sleep on the crappy cushion of the port settee and wanting to get the f$&@k off the boat! This was the third day at anchor and we’ve all been cranky because we haven’t been sleeping well as it’s been hot and sticky with very little wind overnight. Julian graciously agreed to switch births with him for a night… so we decided to pull anchor and move on to our next destination.

As emotions were rising so were the seas. By early afternoon as we sailed past the relatively protected waters of San Felipe the waves were six feet and the sea spray so high that everything got soaking wet, \240including us. Wet and hungry we arrived at Cortes, our planned anchorage, only to find that we couldn’t get in the sheltered lagoon as we’d planned without running aground—which we did three times before admitting defeat.

Not having reliable weather forecast and not knowing exactly which way the wind was going to blow overnight we had no choice but to move on. Stephen located a river entrance about an hour north along the coast so off we went in search of a safe harbour.

By the time we arrived and dropped anchor the sun was setting but we could see a small village along the shore which looked deserted as we saw no lights in the windows. While I was making supper and the boys were listening to the Jets game we noticed lights moving up and down the shore pointing at the boat—thinking it was probably curious locals—we didn’t think much of it. As the night progressed lights increased in intensity and next thing you know we had flood lights pointing at us and and we were being hailed on the radio by the local guarda. Between our broken Spanish and their broken English we determined that they wanted to know where we came from, what was our nationality, and most importantly when are we leaving. \240We told them at 8 tomorrow morning, —not sure why, because we’ve never have left that early from anywhere—thinking that was that. While still sleeping the following morning the “capitan of Norahimar” was being hailed on the radio around 7:45 am asking are we leaving yet? Having got the distinct impression that we weren’t welcomed, we pulled anchor and sailed on!

After ten hours of high seas we arrived at Maria La Gorda exhausted… only to find that the normally calm bay front of the resort was totally exposed to the increasing north winds causing abnormally high swells. \240We tied up to a mooring ball but we were being tossed around like crazy. It was my turn to have a meltdown. Refusing to stay on the boat, I sent the boys to shore with the dingy to book us in to the resort. :)

I can’t tell you how grateful I’ve been for \240the ability to watch our boat bounce around in the water from the relative safety of the shore for the last few days!!!

The strong northerly winds have passed and the seas have calmed down so we are looking to leave Maria La Gorda tomorrow - assuming that we get our “dispatcho” from the harbour master. We got reprimanded for not properly checking in on Tuesday night. We radiod in when arrived but there was no response, so we tied up to a mooring ball and came to shore with the dingy. \240We got a call from the front desk the following morning that the harbour master was looking for us and he wasn’t happy. Stephen tried to explain situation but he took our passports away and wrote us up in an official report that we all needed to sign. We’re waiting to hear if we have to pay a fine before we can leave. Crazy place!

This morning we took a taxi to the nearest town about an hour away to buy fuel and try to find some more provisions. \240Sometimes we forget how blessed we’re in Canada to have such abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables. We asked the cab driver to take us to a store where we can buy bread, eggs and vegetables. He told us there simply isn’t a store like that - period.

I did manage to find a street vendor who had onions, cucumbers and sweet potatoes and the resort agreed to sell us some bread and eggs tomorrow.

With our fuel, water and food supplies replenished — thanks to Lee a member of the British Foreign Service — and with dispatcho in hand we’re leaving Maria La Gorda today and heading to Cabo San Antonio at the westernmost tip of Cuba ~ 30 Nm from here. Once there, we will be pretty much halfway to Havana. According to Stephen, an optimistic estimate will have us in Havana in six days, but more realistically it will take us 8-10 days – weather permitting.

There will be two phases to the trip — the first will be relatively easy as we’ll be staying inside the reef so we will be in sheltered waters. The second on the other hand, will require us to go outside the reef on open water and go up wind against prevailing winds from NE, which will be much more tumultuous — but hopefully not that long.

We’re all anxious to get to Havana though so we’re ready for this next leg of our journey!

We may not be able to find wifi again until Havana. Keep watching for our SPOT messages to track our progress towards Havana.

*** Melissa — we love you and miss you very much!!!! We’ll stay in touch by sat phone.

Found surprisingly nice facilities at Cabo San Antonio including wifi! We’re planning to move on this afternoon to Cayos Bonavista, but before we do Julian insisted that we scrub the deck down and do a major cleaning of the cabin... it was Julian’s turn to have a melt down! Lol

The boys are slowly driving me mad! And as Stephen likes to say—for some of us it’s not that long of a drive.

We’re heading north to Cayo Jutias today ~ 40 Nm or 8 hour sail from Cabo San Antonio. The wind is light and variable and it’s so hot that you can’t step on deck barefoot without burning your feet. I’ve been busy this morning organizing the galley, getting lunch ready and making uborka saláta — Hungarian cucumber salad — from the cucumbers I’ve picked up in town the other day. While the boys lounged and played video games.....

For lunch I’ve made scrambled eggs with turkey koulbasa. The boys commented on how good tasting the koulbasa was and wouldn’t it be great if we could have grandma’s perogies to go with it! Next thing you know they’re on my case and hounding me to make perogies for supper. It hit a nerve and boom - I’ve lost it... First of all, I don’t know how to make perogies, I only made perogies once in my life with Lilian, my mother-in-law. Second, I hated it! Now it’s not that I don’t like perogies, because I do, but it was slow and tedious work and it’s simply not my idea of a good time anytime, much less on a hot boat. I have a good mind to feed the boys to the ‘jutias’ - the very large rodents the cay is named after. :)

There’s is a certain rhythm to cruising, it repeats itself like a favourite melody that you can’t get out of your head.

It depends on where we are, and where we’re headed, but most days unfold in a similar fashion..... We usually get up sometime between 8 - 8:30 and enjoy a cup of coffee in the cockpit, while thinking about the day ahead. I intentionally said thinking about the day, because Stephen is not a talker in the morning, so there’s no point in trying. We typically get under way sometime around 9ish heading to our new destination. The rest of the day is very much dependent on the wind.... what direction it’s blowing, and how strong it’s blowing.

For example, if there’s no wind like there’s right now, we’re motoring with the autopilot on and trying to stay cool. Currently we’re outside of the reef, sailing in the Golf of Mexico. The depth has dropped below a thousand feet and the water colour has changed to a beautiful deep cobalt blue. There’s not a stitch of wind, not even a ripple, and yet we’re clipping along at 7 knots due to the strong current in the Golf.

We arrived at Cayo Levisa pretty exhausted from the heat around 4:30 yesterday afternoon. After a calm day the wind finally piped up just as we were getting ready to drop anchor in a beautiful little bay surrounded by a range of mountains to one side, and a chain of islands to the other.

The islands are covered with mangroves on its south side, and with a lovely white sandi beach on its northern shore. We took the Zode in to shore to check in with the local garda, and while there, we were pleasantly surprised to find a very nice resort on the other side of the mangroves.

Yesterday was a hot one! Over 32C in the shade, and not very much wind. Spent the day on the beach, and most of it in the water trying to stay cool.

The ‘northers’ have arrived yesterday and it’s halting our progress towards Havana. The winds have piped up to 20 kts, and the temperature has dropped about 10 degrees. It’s frustrating because we’re only 60 Nm out from Havana — so close, and yet so far!

The high winds are expected to last for at least another 5 days, which means we’re stuck in Cayo Levisa probably until Tuesday. We can’t stay on the boat for 5 days without driving each other crazy.... So we’ve decided to go on a road trip to the interior. We will be taking the ferry to mainland, and a taxi to a town called Vinalis tomorrow.

But before we could go anywhere we needed to get more money... but getting money in Cuba is not as simple as going to the nearest ATM. It’s having to find a town with a bank, arrange transportation to get there, and then having the time and patience to stand in line for a teller, who will typically take 15-20 minutes to complete the transaction. Almost a full day’s undertaking!

As a result, we took a cab to a town called La Palma yesterday afternoon about 30 km up the coast. The ride there took us through the mountains, and beautiful lush country side of tobacco and banana plantations.

Vinales is a pretty little colonial town located in a fertile, lush valley surrounded by sheer limestone cliffs. The place is known for its caves— El Caevo del Indio (the cave of the Indian), rock climbing and tobacco plantations — we’re planning to go on a tour tomorrow.

Vinales is an interesting little town. Pretty sure that outside of Havana this place might be the second most visited tourist attraction in Cuba — based on all the Europian tourists walking around. Practically every house has a room to rent called ‘Casa Particulair’. Most of the houses look very similar......Small, single story, bright colour brick buildings, with rocking chairs on the front porch. The rocking chairs come in all different shape and sizes, some of them are fairly plane, while others intricately carved, but all of them are quite beautiful.

Last night we stayed in Casa Antonio with a multigenerational family - great-grandma, grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, kids including a newborn baby... $25 CUCs per night.

Today we visited the caves and explored the town.... all very cool, although a little too busy for Stephen’s liking with the Carnival. Stephen and I are ready to head back to the boat in Cayo Lavisa, but Julian and Jesse are staying one extra night so they can go rock climbing tomorrow. Not going to lie... we’re looking forward to having some time to ourselves! I’m sure the feeling is mutual! :)

Stephen and I had a wonderfully lazy day yesterday enjoying being by ourselves. We puttered on the boat and listened to our own music for a change...... Stephen topped up our diesel tanks in anticipation of finally be able to leave tomorrow, and I’ve tidied up the boat — aired out our bedding and tried in vain to get rid of all the feathers in the v-birth from Julian’s cheap comforter. It feels like we’re sleeping in a chicken coop for heavens sake!

Although I refused to make perogies, I did attempt making my own tortilla shells from scratch. Knowing the boys will be starving when they got back from Vinales, I made an early dinner of chicken fajitas. \240While I was making the tortillas, Stephen yelled at me from the deck - “Hurry up and give me the boat keys! \240I need to start the engine. The ferry is about to crash in to us!” I popped my head up to see what’s going on, \240and sure enough the ferry was slowly drifting towards the boat. I guess it had engine troubles, and while attempting a rescue operation, they didn’t realize how dangerously close they got to us. They did manage to avoid hitting us — so no harm was done — but never a dull moment!

The wind is blowing so strong (steady 25 kts with gusts up to 35 (+50-60 km/hr) that our wind turbine keeps cutting out to protect itself from over spinning! Lol

We have been in Cayo Lavisa for eight days now waiting for the wind to subside, and starting to go a little stir crazy. Yesterday we spent the afternoon being sandblasted on the beach because we couldn’t find a sheltered spot anywhere. And that’s not from a lack of trying.... we walked to the east end of the beach through a mile of petrified forest of mangroves, and while we didn’t find shelter, we did find a small beach bar - and really, isn’t that the same thing?!

For the first time on our trip I was scared. \240We left Cayo Lavisa yesterday later than planned because the Guarda Frontera (coast guard) wasn’t there to give us our despacho until 10:30, so by the time we got back to our boat, and pulled anchor it was close to midday.

The strong winds which had been blowing from the northeast for days on end subsided somewhat, so we decided to press on towards Havana. Our destination was Bahia Honda, a well protected bay about 20 Nm east from Cayo Lavisa. On a good day, a 4 to 5 hour sail.

We were not having a good day! The initial few hours were not too bad despite the wind being right on our nose. We were fairly close to shore in relatively shallow water, and the wind was only blowing about 15 kts. However, as we sailed further offshore the depth dropped to several thousand feet and the swells began to build.... Six feet, eight feet, 10 feet, 12 feet, 15 feet... at the same time the wind was also picking up to about 20 kts, with gusts close to 30 kts. Waves started breaking above the swells from all different directions causing confused seas and a very, very uncomfortable white knuckle ride!

The boat did an amazing job surfing up and down the massive swells — it felt like we were scaling up a 10 story apartment building and then being dropped down on the other side — but with the wind blowing right from the direction we were trying to go, we had very little forward traction — we were being stopped in our tracks. Needless to say, the sail took us way longer than expected. It was close to sunset before we dropped anchor again in a small protected anchorage called Ensenada Ste. Teresa — very befitting name since I was praying to Saint Teresa (and every other saint I could think of) to keep us safe!

Slipped in to Havana under the cloak of darkness at 4:30am yesterday morning.

It’s been twenty seven days since we left Cayo Largo and we had all been desperate to finally get here.... Our delay certainly hasn’t been from lack of trying.

Having come a mere 37 Nm away from Havana, we were getting increasingly frustrated that we couldn’t push all the way through. We first tried leaving Bahia Honda yesterday afternoon, but we didn’t get more than a couple of miles out to sea before we turned around. The winds were just too strong and the swells too high to continue.

We decided to try again in the evening when the trade winds typically (but not always) die down. We pulled anchor and departed from Bahia Honda at 10:30pm and tied up at Marina Hemingway at 4:30 in the morning. Although the swells were still fairly significant, the nearly full moon was a wonderful companion, illuminating our way all the way here.

Enjoyed a wonderful day wondering around Havana.

We spent the last couple of days laying low at Marina Hemingway. We explored the vast facilities, (even though the marina is recognized as Cuba’s leading nautical facility, like the rest of the country, it’s a little dilapidated - disappointing as I had the place romanticized in my mind) sampled some of the restaurants, did laundry, and visited with some of the interesting people on the dock.

It continues to amaze me how many young people, including young families with kids in toe, are living the boating life. As for us, we put the boys up at the local hotel for a couple of nights just to get some breathing room.... I felt a little guilty as a 28ft Pearson (same boat as ours, but 4ft smaller) sailed in yesterday with a 5 year old and a six-month old on board. Oh well, those kids don’t take up as much room. :)

Tomorrow we’re heading back to Havana and spending the day touring around the city before we say adios to Cuba.

Based on current weather forecast we’re planning to make the big hop over to Key West on Saturday. The wind supposed to shift to the south at 10 kts, though not ideal for sailing as the wind will be directly behind us, it should be a little smoother ride. The distance between Havana and Key West is exactly 90 Nm, and if all goes well, it should take us about 16-19 hours to get there.

Adios Havana... Hello Key West! It’s official—we got our despacho—all systems go for our departure tomorrow from Cuba. Our plan is to cross the Straits of Florida mostly during the day on account of fairly busy commercial traffic in the Straits, so we’re planning to leave relatively early in the morning. Stephen estimates that the passage could take anywhere from 14 to 19 hours, depending on wind conditions, which we expect very little of — and the strength of the current in the Straits, which could give us a much needed lift.

We’re looking forward to having regular cell and wifi coverage in the US (Julian is looking forward to having McDonald’s, Jesse is looking forward to skateboarding). Clearing into Havana even our satellite phone was disabled so our ability to stay in touch has been severely limited. We did find out though that our daughter Melissa has been successful in landing a co-op job (at Nutri Pea in Portage la Prarie) in order to complete her school requirements, and graduate in the fall. Congratulations Melissa!!! We’re very proud of you.

Oh it’s good to be back on the main continent... \240I’m not complaining, because we truly loved Cuba, but it’s sure nice to have such luxuries as hot and cold running water, toilet seat and toilet paper in the bathroom, and newfangeld flushing toilets—not to mention the availability of food! The contrast between the ‘country of scarcity’, and the ‘land of plenty’ is dramatic.

The sail across Florida Straits was a smooth ride.... light winds from the south with little swell in the seas despite the strong current in the Gulf Stream. And asides from Stephen having to change corse three times to avoid colliding with a cruise ship or a cargo ship— it was a good passage! (We saw more commercial traffic in the Florida Straits in one day, than we did in six weeks around Cuba.)

The sail from Havana to Key West took 16 hours in total — 14 hours from ‘marker to marker’, one hour to get up the channel, and another hour of desperately trying to figure out where to dock. Eventually we just gave up and dropped anchor at 4 in the morning out of sheer exhaustion.

We got woken up a couple of hours later by the sound of a horn from a Disney Cruise ship anchoring less than a hundred yards from us, and by the rolling seas from the wake of all the boats gunning it up and down the busy channel on a Sunday morning. Who knew we anchored on the edge of the Key West channel!? Lol

We pulled anchor in short order and found a slip in Key West Bight Marina just across the channel. At $3 foot, it’s not cheap, but well worth it! You can’t put a price on a good night’s sleep.

Go Jets Go!!! We raced to get to Marathon in time for the start of the Jets game. It’s been a point of contention between Stephen and Julian the last few days.... Julian’s preference is to create our itinerary around the Jets playoff schedule, while Stephen has been holding steady on his belief that the schedule gets determined by the weather. If the wind is favourable — we go!

It just so happened that today we had 10-15 kts from the north—great wind for sailing east—so true to his word, we left Key West around 11 this morning for Marathon.

On our way out of the channel this morning we run into Dave and Jessica, who just arrived from Havana. This is the same young couple from Ottawa who we first met at Cabo San Antonio about a month ago. We met up with them again in Marina Hemingway, but they stayed a couple of extra days as they had some work done on their boat. We exchanged contacts, and said our goodbyes thinking we will never see them again. Isn’t it amazing that in this huge wide world and vast ocean we would run into the same people three times!?

It was wonderful to be able to unfurl the sails and actually sail to our destination today instead of motoring into choppy seas. We arrived in Marathon at 6:30 this evening, just in the nick of time to tie up, hook up to power so we can catch the game on our sling box! :) Go Jets Go!!

Our hearts and prayers are with the families of Humboldt Broncos tonight. Just found out about the athletic therapist Dayna Brons who succumbed to her injuries.

We’ll go under that bridge when we get to it.... Well, we were literally at the foot of the Seven Mile bridge, and we had a decision to make. We could either stay on the Atlantic side, where the water is deeper but more exposed to the strengthening east trade winds, or we could go under the bridge and cross over to the Florida Bay side, where it’s more sheltered, but pretty shallow.

The decision was dependent on whether we had enough water all along the way up the coast to Miami, and whether we would have enough clearance for us to go under the bridge at Biscayne Bay. After much deliberation Stephen has decided to go under the Seven Mile bridge and cross over to the bayside. You think with only drawing 4.5 ft it wouldn’t be a big a deal, but apparently it is because Stephen bought towing insurance before the sun set today.

We didn’t leave Marathon until 1 pm this afternoon, much later than planned because Julian didn’t get back from Key West until 12:30 today — long story, but it has something to do with him missing the last bus last night on the account of the Jets game. :)

The wind was 15-20 kts from southeast this afternoon which made for a lovely sail to Caloosa Cove, a beautiful little bay a couple miles southwest of Islamodora.

Yesterday we experienced our first big thunderstorm, and our first big fight—not bad on both accounts, considering we’ve been living on the boat close to three months.

Both storms have been brewing for a while.... Since we left Marathon it’s been sweltering with a sticky heaviness in the air. On the other front, tensions have been rising since we got to Florida. Julian’s been frustrated that he doesn’t have sufficient input (aka control) over our schedule—where we’re going, and how long we’re staying at a particular place before we move on. We’re frustrated by his attitude, which is nothing new, however harder to take under these circumstances.

Knowing that a storm was brewing, we sailed only a short distance to Islamodora, and found shelter in Plantation Harbour. We managed to get back from dinner just before the skies opened up and it started raining cats and dogs. With thunder and lightning all around us— including tornado warnings—we were thankful to be safely tied to a dock instead of being at anchor.

While the storm was raging outside, the mood inside the cabin was somber after watching the Jets game .... Conversation turned to where we’re headed this week, which revealed a fairly aggressive schedule towards Fort Pierce by the end of April, our final deeestination—based on recommendations from our fellow sailors in Gimli.

That didn’t sit well with Julian as he was hoping for a lot more relaxed pace, and the ability to spend several days in Miami. Next thing you know we were engaged in a heated argument—opinions were strong, tempers flared. Ultimately, it was made clear to Julian that there’s only one captain on board, and that it wasn’t him. And if he wanted to hang around Florida longer, he was welcome to get off the boat, and do it on his own time and dime.

Well he’s still on the boat this morning and with cooler temperatures today, hoping that cooler heads will prevail as we’re slowly motor through the Keys towards Miami.

My oh my we made it Miami!

What a crazy couple of days in Miami!! From outstanding to outrageous we’ve seen it all...

We are staying at a marina smack dab in the city centre at Bayside Marketplace, a very busy open air shopping centre full of restaurants, bars and shops. The marina is operated by the city so it’s a little shabby, but quite reasonable at $3/ft for downtown Miami. The harbour is a hive of activity— it’s a hub for all boat tour operators in the city, as a result there’s constant boat traffic up and down the channel all day long. We’re also in-line with the east runway so about every three minutes a plane goes over our head. There’s also a draw bridge just across the channel with both car and train traffic. Add in a few helicopters and the loud music from the party boats and you have yourself a ‘Piccadillly Circus’! A real contrast from the uninhabited tranquil bays in Cuba.

We spent the last couple of days exploring the city. The boys chose the hop-on hop-off bus option, while Stephen and I opted for the Miami Trolley, once the local transit bus we were taking collided with a car. The trolleys tuned out to be pretty entertaining... although it’s main purpose is to transport tourists around the city, because they’re free of charge, it also attracts some pretty colourful characters. We checked out South Beach and gawked at pretty girls in bikinis, walked down Ocean drive and admired the fancy cars—Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys —all vying for $45 overnight parking spots; and did some window shopping at Lincoln Road mall.

Today Stephen and I went for lunch at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel at Brickell Key, 30 minuets walk from the marina. It’s a beautiful hotel right on the water where Melissa and I stayed a few years back, when she joined me on one of my business trips.

Tomorrow we’re sailing on to Fort Lauderdale, but not before we say goodbye to Jesse as he’s disembarking from this ship at 4 am in the morning and is heading home to Winnipeg.

Our slip in Las Olas Marina, Fort Lauderdale. Right downtown, a block away from the beach $1.50/ft.

Our first rainy day.... slightly cooler with an on-and-off drizzle, and with occasional thunder showers rolling by. We’re continuing our journey north to West Palms Beach on the ICW — ~36 Nm from Fort Lauderdale.

Our day started with probably the ugliest departure from a dock on this entire trip... We nearly hit the boat next to us while Julian just about fell in the water trying to keep our bow from blowing away. It’s a good thing that our slip was right under the bridge otherwise we might have missed the scheduled opening of the drawbridge at 10:15.

It took us 9 hours of motoring to get to our destination today because of all the drawbridges we had to get through—18 in total. We all had our moments of frustration this past few months, with most of us taking turns having a melt down about one thing or another, all the while Stephen held steady, keeping his composure and not letting things get to him. Who knew that it was ultimately the drawbridge operators that would get the better of him!

Most of the drawbridges open on a set schedule, usually every half-hour; while some of them operate on demand. Those you can call on channel 9 on your VHF radio and they open it when you get there - it works great! Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work so well with the ones that are on a set schedule. It’s hard to predict when you’ll get to the bridge, and if you’re even a few minutes late the bridge closes, and you end up having to wait 30 minutes before you can go through - very frustrating especially if you’re trying to keep to a schedule. It’s even more frustrating when after waiting 30 minutes the operator doesn’t open the bridge because “you were waiting too far from the bridge, so I wasn’t clear of your intentions” so we had to wait another half hour before we could go through—Stephen was livid! It’s a bit of power game, because many operators were quite reasonable, but there’s always a few who takes their job a little too “seriously”!

On our way to Palms Beach I was astonished by the number of insanely beautiful, to obscenely ostentatious mansions along the Waterway-the full 36 miles! If there were any questions about where the money is — it’s no longer a mystery!

Talking about money, we arrived yesterday at Palms Beach Yacht Club and Marina at \240sunset. Stephen called ahead to find out if they had room, they said they had one slip left and at $2.19/ft it sounded reasonable, so we booked it. Well did you ever have a feeling that you’re a little under dressed for a party? We’re the only sail boat in the marina, and the only boat by far that’s not worth several million dollars! Lol As it turns out, the Palms Beach Yacht Club and Marina is the oldest and most posh clubs in Florida. The washrooms have hand towels with Club’s logo printed on them—we’re a long way from Hemingway Marina in Havana!

It turns out that people were right — you can’t out run a tornado!! We tried, but eventually we gave up, dropped anchor in the middle of ICW and prayed to God that we get through it—which we did, but it was pretty scary!

We cast off at 10:45 from West Palms Beach Marina today. Our departure wasn’t the most elegant because Stephen was tackling both tide, current, and wind backing out of the slip, but we didn’t hit any multimillion dollar boats on our way out, so we considered our departure a success!!!

We knew that the forecast was calling for thunderstorms throughout the day, but it wasn’t until early afternoon that we had our first tornado warning. The squalls started popping up all around us and tornado warnings were issued for county’s in our vicinity - just as we entered Jupiter Inlet.

As we started going up the channel we noticed the clouds getting darker and lightning increasing ahead of us, so we decided to turn around and wait for the system to pass front of us. While that worked for the system ahead, we didn’t count on another one rolling in behind it from the west... and this one looked like it was going to be a direct hit. There was no where to run or hide, so Stephen decided to drop the anchor right in the middle of the channel, and hoped that it was going to keep us safe.

Initially the storm felt nothing more like a bad squall. The wind picked up and the temperature dropped all within seconds, as it started to rain. And then it hit us a like a freight train.... a wall of wind (Stephen estimates that it was 60-80 knots) pushed us down to our side in a millisecond, as we were sideways to the wind due to the strong current in the channel. As the wind howled and whirled all around us we got violently pushed on to our other side... \240and then it started to hail. Stephen was getting concerned that our wind generator was going to break apart, and that our dodger was going to get ripped off... but most importantly, that our anchor wouldn’t hold and we would get pushed aground, or worse, into a jetty or other boats. Once we could see something again we did notice that we dragged about 20 ft, \240but in the end, the anchor did hold and it stopped us from being thrown on to shore!

Although it lasted for only about 20 minutes, it felt like two hours. As the storm moved on, we quickly pulled anchor and high tailed it out of there as there was an other cell forming right behind it. We did manage to get ahead of it and get to our destination before it started to rain again. Not an experience we care to repeat anytime soon, but feeling grateful that we’re safe!

Today marks 3 months since we’ve been on the boat. We come over a 1,000 miles and we’ve been in over 40 different anchorages or harbours.

We made it to Fort Pierce today, pulled all the sails off so we can haul the boat out of the water tomorrow.

We booked our flights and heading home on Saturday. I’m ready!

Nibbling on alegator bits and watching the Jets game in Orlando, at Fish on Fire Smokehouse and Grill, with musical guest Accidentally On Purpose— bunch of old guys with mean guitars. Lol Tomorrow we’re heading home!

After three months of traveling we’ve come to the end of our journey. We’re taking a direct flight from Orlando, and with any luck, we will be home by early afternoon. Can’t wait to see our daughter Melissa, family and friends!!! Julian left earlier this morning for Toronto, to visit with some friends and to check out some schools before he heads back home to Winnipeg.

It has been an incredible adventure to sail from the Cayman Islands all the way to the east coast of Florida. We traveled over 1,000 Nm, stopped close to 40 different anchorages/harbours, and visited over a dozen cities and towns along the way. We met many interesting people from across the world, sampled an amazing variety of different foods and we have taken thousands of photos of our travels.... It hasn’t always been easy, fun or comfortable but it was never boring! During our journey we’ve lost so many things.... winch handle, fishing rod, cell phone, id, credit card, reading glasses, just to name a few—but we gained so many experiences and memories which we will cherish for the rest of our life!

Living with our adult sons in such close proximity was challenging at times—and not something that we care to repeat any time soon— but it was also special to be sharing such memorable and unique experience with them. For my part, I have learned that holding my tongue and not saying anything can be one of the hardest things to do! :)

I’m excited to be going home after months of living on board... I’m looking forward to having regular access to a washing machine and dryer—will see how long that lasts—cooking in my kitchen, sleeping in our bed, planting flowers, and having some space! I have the same experience each year coming home after our summer cruise, our 12,000 sq/ft home feels like a mansion. It’s all in your perspective baby!

It’s now time to go home... \240do our taxes and start preparing for our summer sailing season!!!

Thanks everyone for following our travel journal and sharing in our adventures. Until next year — over and out!