Jesse and Amanda’s Trip to Cuba!

Our friends flew to Varadero to spend a week on the boat with us! We were very excited to have them join us on our journey.

The first night we enjoyed “Boat Tacos” and cocktails on the boat! We stayed up until the wee hours of the morning catching up! A german fella from a huge 50ft catamaran beside us invited us over for some drinks, they were the “shit”! Lol (inside joke with Jesse and Amanda).

The next day we got up and made a delicious breakfast on the boat with fresh local pineapple, scrambled eggs and fried potatoes. We headed to the beach for the day and hung out playing fetch with Bella and spike-ball... It was a close game but in the end the boys took the win by 1 point! After the beach, we headed to Santa Marta for dinner which was this really authentically Cuban small town. For dinner we had many dishes and drinks that the owner personally recommended and the meal turned out to be amazing! After dinner we took an old 1955 dodge car back to Varadero for our salsa lessons that we had booked for the evening! We had a few pre “liquid courage” drinks and headed in. WOW ... could the Cubans ever move! There was 3 professional couples there that were incredible dancers. They took some time to show us some basic moves but we quickly realized the rest of the group was far move advanced and likely more sober!!! We came out of the class at least knowing basic salsa dancing and each said we would love to take more lessons some day! We strolled down the road to one of the many 24hr bars in Varadero and watched a live band play music! We found out thatJesse and Amanda’s have never been to the Caribbean before so we were glad we were able to enjoy a first full day in Cuba that was authentic to this beautiful country!

The following day we set sail to the furthest east peninsula of Varadero! The sail was very eventful as we had good winds and some choppy seas! Our new sailing friends did very well! In fact, as we were tacking over the captain announced that there was a shark at the front of the boat! We all dropped our lines to see what looked like an 8ft hammerhead shark!!!! Very cool! We arrived to marina Gavitoa just as the sun was setting with a total sail time of 7 hours! It was difficult to see once we we made our way through the channel but our captain and crew worked together as a team to safely dock! We relaxed and took in some sun! In the evening we went to a Mexican restaurant and had some tasty dishes!

The next morning we discovered a beautiful rooftop pool overlooking the ocean that was included in our marina fees. The pool had a bar and a chef on site and it seemed like for a while, we were the only ones there! That night the group thought it would be fun to have a “homemade pasta” night! As the dough was rolled out, we made a homemade sauce! We all agreed it was one of the best meals we had! What a day!

By the weekend, we wanted a change of pace so we decided to head out to Cayo Blanco to anchor out. Once we arrived, the tourist catamarans were all heading back so it was just us on the entire island as well as a chef and a few cooks! We enjoyed some appetizers beachside and had a lobster dinner a seafood stir fry for dinner that they prepared for us! Our new friends gave us a bag of Cuban coffee and a giant jar of olives to take home! By the time dinner was finished we went back to the beach where our dingy was parked... except... it was not there! The dingy was gone!!! It appeared while we were eating dinner that the tide came in and washed it out to the north Atlantic! With it was our of our life jackets and a spotlight! Steve headed out on paddle boats to look for it while the crew and Bella cruised the coastline. After about an hour of looking, we realized that we wouldn’t find it tonight. Our Cuban friend contacted the coast guard and assured us it would be found. They gave us a ride back to our boat and we settled in for a restless night hoping we would hear an update on the VHF that it was found. No such luck! We headed back to the marina first thing in the morning and scanned all the small islands and open water to see if we could see it drifting. While doing that, a pod (5 or 6) dolphins came beside the boat and were swimming with us for a while.. a sign of good luck??? Once getting back to the marina they told us that it was found on another island and we needed to go get it. What a relief!! We headed back out toward the island. Unfortunately we were not able to get the boat close enough as it was too shallow so we decided that we would get it as close as possible and then Steve would jump off and swim to the island. After a tiring swim, he was met by a man that lived on the island for a month at a time. He said he swam out in the morning to get our dingy when he saw it drift by. We graciously gave him a bottle of rum and some cash for his efforts and started to make our way back with the dingy in tow!

The same chef on the island where we had the lobster dinner invited us to dinner with his family at his home in a nearby town! We thought it would be an unforgettable cultural experience so we booked a taxi left! The taxi ride was about 30min and we were met in town by the chef on his motorcycle and a horse carriage to escort us to the house. We headed down gravel roads that seem to go on forever and arrived at a quaint house. We were greeted by his wife who welcomed us in. We shared an endless amount of red wine and exchanged stories of our families and culture. The dinner was sooo good full of beans and rice, roasted pork tenderloin and perfectly seasoned tomatoes. We ended the meal with Cuban coffee! When the night ended we exchanged some gifts, contacts and said our goodbyes. Once back at the marina, we went to a nearby all inclusive resort that had a outdoor disco! We followed the lights and ordered up some fresh mojitos! I thinks they thought we staying at the hotel so the drinks just kept on coming, for free! This was a great way to celebrate their last night with us!

The last day we relaxed by the pool as Jesse and Amanda had to fly back home in the afternoon. We created many awesome memories with them and we were so glad they could join us on this incredible journey!