This is the fourth part of our Cuban Adventures that I wrote down and am submitting to a sailing magazine to see if they will publish it. Fingers crossed!
The port captain stamped us out of this harbor and said goodbye telling us we could sail anywhere we wanted to go, so off we went. Our first stop was an uneventful overnight at Marea del Portillo before continuing on to Cabo Cruz. This is the cape that marks the beginning of a huge protected bay along the entire southern coast. We dinghied ashore and walked through town while trying to arrange a ride to the nearby World Heritage Site of Desembarco del Granma National Park. Turns out when we were told we could go anywhere that was wrong, because within 30 minutes a jeep full of army guys showed up and were angry we were there. They checked our papers and then forcibly escorted us all the way back to Guiding Light and told us to leave at first light. Whoa!!! Communist bureaucracy strikes again.
We did as we were told and sailed the next day to the beginning of De los Jardines de la Rena (Queen’s Garden). This 100 mile long chain of islands was one of things I was most looking forward to on our Cuban cruise. It is filled with sandy beaches and amazing reefs to snorkel. The problem was that we were told we were not allowed to stay at the several we chose to stop at for the night. It was disappointing that we only got to sleep and not enjoy any of the islands in this amazing island chain. I guess the port captain was wrong when he said we could go anywhere we wanted. Communist bureaucracy 4 – Guiding Light 0!
Story continues tomorrow!
