Cuba part 4

                                Oct 3 1940hrs
    We’ve arrived and anchored at Cayo Ingles. We plan to stay here for a few days.
    Danny has gone back to Isla. The rest of his visit was very nice although the weather didn’t cooperate for doing any snorkeling. Our time at Cayo Blanco was very relaxing.
    After we dropped Danny off in Casilda to catch the bus back to Havana, we headed for Cayos Machos de Furera, which is one we hadn’t been to before. It has a grounds keeper who indicated where we should anchor and then rowed out in his kayak to greet us. (I think he gets lonely in the off seasons with no tourists). He visited on Second Star for a bit and we told him we launch Hook and come in to see him later in the afternoon. The island has a little house/shack for the care takers who have a 15 day rotation on the Cayo. There was a palapa with tables and benches for the tourists, but the most interesting thing was the iguanas and large rodents (I think he called them Jutoba or something like that) that all came to eat fresh coconut pieces out of our hands. They were quite aggressive and almost intimidating. But it was very neat to be able to have that experience.
    That night, when the wind shifted and increased, we had dragging issues again. So we had to decided whether to try to reset the anchor there, in the middle off the night, in a bottom we’d already had trouble with or just head down here; a 10 hour run that we were going to start first thing in the morning. We decided on the latter and set out at 0230. The good part of that is we were here with the anchor down before 1300. We had lunch and a good long nap. And we should be able to get a good night sleep. This is a very protected anchorage with a good bottom. This is one of the places we came lat time. The snorkeling is awesome here. I’m looking forward to be here for a bit.

                                Oct 5 1700hrs
    We went for a walk on the beach this afternoon. In this beautiful, pristine place, where barely any people come, the beach has a very disturbing amount of trash. Mostly plastic bottles and a surprising number of shoes (mostly flip-flops and sneakers). I guess they’ve blown off boats and docks and washed up here. On a brighter note, there was a family (family=2 bigger and 1 smaller) of rays feeding right at the shore line. It was fun to watch them working the sand and the small one was really cute.

                                Oct 6 2020hrs
    Today was awesome. The way cruising should be. We did chores in the morning, just boat projects. We had lunch, had an afternoon nap and then went to see if we could get some more lobsters. Last time we were here our fisherman friends showed Johne where they harvest the lobsters so we were pretty confident that we would be able to get some. The first couple of places we tried the “lids” were steel and too heavy to lift without better leverage then we had. So we decided to just go out to the reef for a snorkel. Last Feb we snorkeled four spots along this reef, all different from each other, and all fabulous. Well, this was no exception. The reef is so healthy, the colors are so vibrant, the fish so abundant and the variety of both fish and coral is amazing. The conditions were also extraordinary. The water was so clear, great visibility, almost no current and no at all cold (even to me).  On the way back to Second Star we saw more “lobster lids” so we decided to try again. Johne went in to check and gave me the thumbs up. This was the kind he could lift and one of them had two lobsters under it. So I went in to help. He was going to lift the lid and all I had to do was hold it while he grabbed the lobsters. Well, easier said than done. He lifted the lid, but past vertical so it wanted to go the other way. While I was trying to get it to go back where it was  supposed to be he chased the lobsters out. Then he came to help me get the lid back in place. I followed one lobster while he tried to catch the other. I have to say, I’ve never seen a lobster swim, in an unconfined area, while feeling threatened. They move fast! The first one evaded Johne and went back under the lid. In the meantime the other one was just sitting in the grass trying to look inconspicuous. I show Johne where it was and he tried to sneak up on it from behind, but it was also way too fast, so we came home with big smiles but no lobsters.
    The evening has topped it off with fruit and cheese on the aft deck, a lovely rain storm passing though (which freshened things up nicely) and a great sunset.
    Occasionally “living the dream” has some nightmare-ish qualities, but we are living the dream, and it’s great!

                                Oct 7 2000hrs
    Today we dove with tanks. I was a bit frustrated at first because it took me a bit to realize there was air leaking into my BCD and I couldn’t figure out why when we first went in I wasn’t having a hard time getting down and after a little while I was popping up to the surface and couldn’t seam to get myself back down. When I figured it out the dive suddenly got much better. We went to a cut where we could swim through to the outside of the reef. The visibility wasn’t quite as great as yesterday but if it hadn’t been for yesterdays experience I would have said great visibility. I can’t begin to list all the beautiful fish and coral we saw. I took my new underwater camera but I’m just starting to learn  how it works so I didn’t get many good pictures. But it was another great day.

                                Oct 8 0800hrs
    We hadn’t seen another person for four day which was lovely. But last night two small fishing boats pulled into the lagoon where we’re anchored. (ah oh, people, run and put on cloths.) The R/O has been working so well (knock wood) that we have an abundance of fresh water. So Johne went over to ask if they needed/wanted any and just to say hi. These were, maybe, 26ft boats with hard tops but no enclosures. One had three guys the other four. They said they were okay then but would appreciate some water when they get back from fishing today. We’re happy to share for nothing, but I suspect we’ll have fresh fish tonight.
                                    0945hrs
    Sure enough, five live lobsters were just delivered to our aft deck. One of the tails weighed in at 210zs. They’ve invited us to come over for dinner tonight.

                                Oct 10 0715hrs
    We have now given the fisherman water twice, beer, vodka and coke, and Capt Johne gave their Capt his old fins since he just got two new pairs and they were admiring the ones he’d been diving with. So far they’ve brought us 16 lobster tails and a very tasty little grouper. They said they’d bring more tonight. We didn’t end up going for dinner. They get back in from fishing to late. But they stop by here, on their way in, to get the water, give us the fresh catch and visit.
    Diving yesterday was fabulous. We took the tanks again and went to the outside. None of it is deep, we didn’t go below 20ft. There are plenty of sand areas that you can just stop and kneel in and watch what my brother calls “reef TV” It’s so incredible, if you stay still, what happens around you. I got some better pictures but the camera just doesn’t do justice to what we see.
                                    1835hrs
    Well, diving today was good but not the best. There was a bit of surge and not as good clarity. (Okay, I’m spoiled.) Although I did see an octopus hiding in a rocky area. If it hadn’t moved just when I was looking I never would have seen it. Their camouflage is amazing. It looked just like the rocks around it.
    Well, gotta go make some fresh grouper for dinner. Yup, spoiled, that‘s me.

                                Oct 11 1540hrs
    No good diving today. We went out but with the wind up to 15-20 knots, and the visibility down to about 30ft, and lots more jellies out, and a thunder cloud building…we decided to call it a day. We were going to come back and scrub the bottom of Second Star but the current was strong enough that we just cleaned the dive gear, had showers and have moved on to cocktail hour (it’s 5:00 somewhere, right?)
    The fishing boats have headed back to town. We’ll be heading out in the morning. We’re going to Cienfuegos and from there we will watch for the best weather to head down to the Caymans; the next stop on our ongoing adventure…