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| Basket full of fruit and veggies. |
On 12 May 2012 at
5h30 we weighed anchor at Cienfuegos and headed west to Cayo Guano del Este and
onto Cayo Largo.
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| Only in Cuba they find the time to string onions and garlic this way and still sell it for next to nothing. |
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| Leaving Cienfuegos at sunrise. |
We had a good sail to anchor in front of the rocket like lighthouse at Cayo Guano del Este (N 21 39,90 W 81 02,48) at 14h45.
We stayed two nights and explored the reefs thoroughly. We found more than 100 conch trapped in a crater with an overhang and rescued all. Sure a lot of them will accidentally fall in again. We took a few for payment!
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| small island Cayo Guano del Este. |
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| Restaurant at the marina. |
Next stop was Marina Marlin at Cayo Largo. Cayo Largo is
a tourist hotspot with airport for international flights. The attractions are
snow white beaches, crystal clear waters and a lot of nice beach bars.
We had to tie up alongside the dock to do paperwork. We
met Pirri the marina manager, very friendly guy and were also in the war in
Angola the same place and time that I was. We joked a lot about how lucky it is
that we never met face to face!
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| Very friendly cocktail bar. |
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| Songerie on anchor at Playa Sirena. |
That night we anchored at Playa Sirena (N21 36,79 W81 34,26), beautiful white beach and nice protected anchorage.
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| Rum punch & MonteCristo no 5. |
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| George Michael ? |
A few days after arriving in the area, Phil Chapman,
sailor friend and our weather man warned us that a big storm is heading our
way. We asked around and nobody knew about this, not even the port captain. We
trusted Phil and moved back to Playa Sirena anchorage and let out more anchor
chain. As Phil predicted the barometer started dropping and the first night and
day we had lots of rain and average 30-35 knots wind. The next night from 8
till 8 was blowing real hard, 40-45 knots with gusts to 52 Knots. At 8 O’clock the
morning the barometer started rising and we could breathe again.
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| Everyone needs to dry out after a storm! |
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| 6kg Black Grouper with Ti-Bag and the reef in the back ground. |
At one of the first anchorages we met Jean-Pierre and Brigitte
on Catamaran “Ti-Bag”. Jean-Pierre is an absolute spearfishing fanatic and good
diving partner for me. For the next two weeks we spend more time in the water
than out!
We had a wonderful time with lots of good fish, lobster
and conch, the only problem was not enough mouths to eat the abundance the sea
was offering us. We did a lot of preserving, even lobster tails in bottles!We spend together with Ti-Bag and another French catamaran” Caravel” the next two weeks at various anchorages:
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| Jean-Pierre with his Black Grouper. |
Cayo Hijo de Ballenatos(N21 35,14 W81 35,64): Only 2.5 miles from Playa Sirena, close to a pair of small rocky islands, 4 meter deep bottom sand/grass and good protection in moderate easterlies. Excellent diving, lot of fish, big big fish and conch, but few Lobster.
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| 8kg Dog snapper & 7kg Yellow fin Grouper. |
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| Yellow fin Grouper, Hog fish and small snapper on the seat. |
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| Delicious Hog Fish. |
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| Conch fried in garlic butter served with freshly baked bread fingers. |
Reef @ Estopia:(N 21 33,81 W 81 45,78) 11 miles west from Cayo Largo, behind a reef, no islands, 3 meter deep in sand, moderate protection. There is some fish, lobster and conch.
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| Big Catch! |
Cayo Rosario west reef:(N 21 35,80 W 81 57,08) 25 miles west of Cayo Largo, behind a reef, 5 meter
deep in sand, moderate protection. Some good fish, lots of conch and few
lobster.
Cayo Rosario east reef:(N 21 35,83 W 81 55,66) 3 meter
deep in sand, better protected. Excellent diving, big fish, lots of lobster and
some conch.
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| Lobster catch at Rosario. |
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| Dog Snapper and Yellow fin Grouper at Rosario. |
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| Perfect Paella with fresh conch, fish & lobster! |
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| End result with a Chilian Pinot Noir! |
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| Lobster catch with Jean-Pierre at Rosario. |
Ensenada Media Luna:(N 21 38,11 W 81 54,64) Some 6 miles
north of Rosario, 2 meter deep in sand, excellent protection in
east/southerlies but zillions of mosquitoes!
We could stay forever but time was running out for a safe
passage to Honduras so we watched the weather and on the 2nd of July
we left Cayo Largo for Honduras bay Islands 390 mile to the southwest.
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| Christelle kept herself busy while Jaco was under water. |
We had a wonderful time in Cuba and will be back
