The anchorage at Cayo Largo was very protected. Not that we needed any protection as the winds have been very light now for weeks. This weather pattern seems set in the area for a while. We got really lovely settled weather last spring too and ended up hanging out in the Bahamas outer islands and the Abacos. With all this ‘settled’ weather we can choose to visit anchorages that are much more exposed as the seas will be gentle as well. This is why we chose our next anchorage at the much more exposed South West side of Cayo Rosiaro, in amongst the reefs. But I am getting ahead of myself. I promised to tell you, last time, more about Cayo Largo.
Well, Cayo Largo is entirely geared to the tourist trade. They are not really set up for the cruising vessel yet, but they are trying. The anchorage is still a nice place to visit and the Marina is the most modern and friendly in Cuba. There is little other things to visit on the island. The anchorage is set in clean water right off an immense white sandy beach. If you were adventurous enough, this beach runs completely around the south end of the island and then turns up the east side where all the hotel complexes are. We ran into a couple who told us it was about a 3 hour walk. There are ‘beach complexes’ along the way. Most are just a spread of umbrellas, sun loungers and a small bar, but there is a big complex closer to the anchorage. You can access this complex from both the anchorage (lagoon side) and sea side, as it crosses over the peninsula. Paid for by the hotels this complex is a beach area covered in beautiful coconut trees, palm shades and loads of sun loungers. The sea side offers volley ball and seas sports, while the lagoon side offers a restaurant and bar and a dolphinarium. Aunty Helen would love to pay the 90 CUC/person to swim with and pet the two dolphins penned in at the end of the lagoon here. A rickety train brings hotel guest here for free in the morning and brings them back in the afternoon. You can jump on with them, but if you are ‘going against the flow’ and want to get to the hotel complexes in the morning the train driver will ask for about 2 CUC. Taxis are 5 CUC and a lot more comfortable.
If you want to visit the hotel complexes we would recommend the Hotel de Sol, one of the largest. You can get there from the beach complex or the Marina. It is a shorter trip from the Marina on a road, rather then the sandy rough beach path, and about the same cost. The buses picking up divers in the morning will ask about 2 CUC and again taxis are about 5 CUC. As long as you are polite the hotel does not bother you if you use the facilities. If you would like to use the internet it costs 4 CUC/hour, but the office issuing codes does not open until 10am. It is not broadband speed, so do not expect to be able to get much more than messages, and is terrible by noon when the guests start coming back for lunch. And yes, if you jump in the buffet queue no one will question you!
The Marina does try to be accommodations to cruisers. It is a ‘bit stuffy’ in the protected mangroves here, but with electrics you can run your air conditioner at night when the mosquitoes hit at dusk. The diver tours run out of here, there are a few touristy shops that also sell rum and cigars and a mini-market that sells cheese, butter, eggs, soft drinks, alcohol and some cans of beans, fruit and veg. It seems aimed at the charter boats as the canned food are in huge cans that cost a fortune. You really do want to have stocked up on most goods before coming to Cuba and fresh things in Cienfuegos. I have heard that if you ask the staff they can get you a few fresh things. Apparently they are pinched from hotel stocks.
The little bar/restaurant at the Marina is nice. There is shade and usually an afternoon breeze. There menu is fine for bar snacks, 1 CUC for french fries, but not adventurous. Local beer is 1 CUC, but they sometimes run out?? They do not mind if you run across the road and buy local beer at the tourist shop (1 CUC) and drink it there when they have only the more expensive imported beers left. The dock masters here are as helpful as you will you will find in all of Cuba. At a salary of 9 CUC/month, they hope to make a ‘lasting positive impression’, if you know what I mean? They gave us the good advice to check out of Cuba here as long as we do not return to the mainland.
We were fortunate enough to meet other cruisers heading the same way we are or who have done the same route south before. I know it sounds strange, but we really had not done any detailed research yet on where to stop along the way in Mexico and Belize. We have a terrible habit of doing all the research just before we get there, as there never seems to be enough time. With one of my humans ‘taking it easy’ after being sick, I set her the task to start the work. Chatting with other cruisers about the trip helped the humans collect more information and a few navigational aids. The coast of Mexico is a lot more interesting then we had thought initially. There are some lovely island off the coast and also one of only 4 atolls in the Northern Hemisphere. Belize has the other three. There is also an anchorage right off the main town of Cancun. This may be the first and last place the humans can pick up any repair supplies for the boat and a replacement camera. There is also easy access from some of the anchorages to the mainland Mayan ruins. Your not going to believe it, but there is actually an anchorage right at the ruins at Tulum. How cool is that. There is also an amazing amount of things to see and do along the coast of Belize. Not only is the entire coast line protected by a barrier reef, but as I said before, there are 3 giant atolls. All of which would be a sin not to visit along the way.
So much to see and not enough time to see it all. June is the ‘official’ start of the hurricane season. Where did the time go? So we thought it best to ‘get a move on’ West along the Cuba south coast. But first we had to check out of Cayo Largo. The officials in Cay Largo may be very ‘laid back’ but they still have to follow Cuban protocol. And one thing they always want to do is inspect the boat before you go. You have to give them 24 hours notice that you are leaving and they insist that you come into the Marina to have the boat ‘checked for stowaways’. The Marina does not charge for this, but my humans hate mooring our ‘beast’ of a boat in Marinas. Thankfully the channel into the Marina is dredged to 3.5-4m and the slips are easy to access. We had health, immigration and customs aboard. I have gotten used to these visitors and did not even bark at them. Immigration did all the paperwork, customs had a quick peek around all the humans junk and the health inspector just wanted to check my paperwork and to insure that all the vegetables were from Cuba. The humans had thought they had got away without crashing into anything in the Marina, and were puttering out of the channel, when they got a call from immigration that they needed to come back in. They had forgotten to take our Visas from our passports. Fenders and warps were set back up, but luckily they met them half way back into the Marina in a skiff to take the paperwork.
Finally we were moving West again. It was nice to get out of the Cayo Largo as the winds had been getting lighter and lighter at night. With the light winds came the mosquitoes, even in the anchorage. We motored out of the channel leading out of Cayo Largo projective reef and headed out into the Caribbean Sea. We had a gentle Southerly land breeze to sail by, but the settled conditions for weeks meant the sea swell was very slight. Running parallel to the reefs that protect the cays of the Archipelago los Cararreos we hoped the fishing would be good along the drop off here. We have caught little more than Barracuda on the fishing lines. It may have been a slow sail, in the light winds, but it did give us the time to spot birds feeding off the sea surface. This usually means that predatory fish, like mahi mahi or tuna, are driving up and feeding off schools of smaller fish. If you can sail through these ‘feeding frenzies’ you can often hook a fish. So when we saw the birds circling and diving when headed towards them.
The first ‘frenzy’ looked really big, with terns and even boobies diving into the medley. We furled in the head sail and motored through the bubbling water several times wondering why we were not getting a bite. Then, on the last run, something huge and dark was rising to the surface just in front of the boat. It’s huge spotted lips of it’s gaping mouth broke the surface on the port side of the boat as we barely missed hitting it. A whale shark!
We left the ‘monster’ to feed in peace and headed back on course to Cayo Rosario. It was not long until we saw another ‘feeding frenzy’ to head for. This time we were lucky and caught our first Spanish Mackerel. This fish is very similar to Tuna, but without the iridescent colouring, and a lot less fight for the size. The flesh is also much lighter and the flavour gentler. We had it BBQ for dinner. We did not have any more luck on the remainder of the trip, but we were confident that the rarely visited anchorage at Cayo Rosario would offer good foraging.
Not many people visit the anchorage on the South Western face of Cayo Rosario. The main reason is that the weather needs to be settled as only a shallow ring reef protects it from the full force of the Caribbean Sea. With the predominate winds this time of year from the South East, you are anchoring on a lee shore. Not a place to be in strong winds. The entrance into the reef is not buoyed and with poor charts and navigational aids (we have found Navionics the best and Garmin useless) it is a difficult entrance. We used the Way Points of several cruising guides to assist us, but I would not risk the entrance in anything but the most settled conditions. Luckily that is what we had and had no problem finding the reef break and entering into the sand and grass bottomed lagoon. We anchored between the palm fringed beach of the Cay and the breakers of the protective reef in 3m of water.
With most of the day gone the humans were anxious to squeeze in a quick snorkelling survey of the reef. The reef was very nice on the inside of lagoon, a little shallow and flat on the outside, but nice sea fans and a chance to see open sea visitors and turtles. The deeper pinnacles of coral that lined the reef break offered the greatest size and variety of sea life. The humans tracked a big snapper to a rock shelf, missed him but he drove out a giant lobster from the hiding spot that they could not resist capturing. Dinner became surf and turf (Spanish Mackerel and Tuna are the closest fish to steak).
With the humans foraging done I was finally shuttled to may favorite part of any anchorage, the beach. The best beaches on Cayo Rosario are on the south coast, with the nicest parts right at the anchorage. A long stretch of white sand runs up to a short iguana infested sand stone cliff backed by palm trees. Besides iguanas you will find lots of evidence of jutia, in the form of poo pellets, a few coconut tree clusters and lots and lots of flotsam. This is a windward beach.
With a beach, a reef and lots of foraging opportunities we are all happy with the choice of anchorage. There is even a break from the mosquitoes that plagued us in Cayo Largo when the winds died. I am going to let the humans catch some more fish and lobster off the reef today, but we need to get moving on. We are already ‘officially’ signed out of Cuba, but most of all, the sailing season is coming to a close to soon to see everything we would like. Lobster season does end in a week, so I can not deny them the last chance to stock the freezer. The Cays of the Archipielago los Canarreos are renowned for the best lobstering in all of Cuba.
I keep you abreast of my efforts to get these humans moving. They are never going to make it to the Rio Dulce in Guatemala before hurricane season starts at this rate!
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Photos, charts and information once we got WiFi. Use link below:
Review of Southern Cuba Part 2 -including the pictures you missed
