Cuba in the Near Future?

[OldDan1943]

Some time in the future I would like to go to Belize. I haven't really looked at the maps, but I thought I could stop off in Cuba. Could you stop there just to rest and not leave the boat. ie. anchored waiting for weather? I bet not, once inside there 3 mile limit. Any thoughts.

LOL, I can see the USCG making notes.

 

[HopCar]

LOL, I can see the USCG making notes.

They don’t care if some idiot wants to go to Cuba. They’re too busy trying to save the boat loads of Cubans trying to get to the US. Takes real desperation to go to sea in a boat like this.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. HC. It's the only way they can get to the US. The others Panamanians Hondurans El Salvadorians, Mexicans etc can WALK. I don't think the Cubans are any more "desperate".

 

[OldDan1943]

They don’t care if some idiot wants to go to Cuba. They’re too busy trying to save the boat loads of Cubans trying to get to the US. Takes real desperation to go to sea in a boat like this.

You should post that pic on the "interesting boat" forum

 

[HopCar]

They keep trying even though the Coast Guard takes them back.

I remember one time so many empty rafts were drifting past Miami that people were going out to fish for dolphin around the rafts. (Dolphin Fish, not Flipper)

I think the sail boat is full of Haitians. We get a lot of them too.

I’m really glad I was born here.

 

[LovetoBoat]

Greetings,
Mr. HC. It's the only way they can get to the US. The others Panamanians Hondurans El Salvadorians, Mexicans etc can WALK. I don't think the Cubans are any more "desperate".

On my way back to NJ from Key West in April 2021 - we stopped 5 miles from Miami - we could see the skyline. 2 Cubans - one son about 25 yo and his mother on a Styrofoam raft with make shift paddles. I figure they were in the raft (if you can call it that for 5 days) the day before we left there was a storm - 4 to 6 foot waves.

We stopped and called USCG - we threw them water bottles but did not let them on the boat. At the time I had no idea what the maritime laws were and did not want any responsibility for putting them on the soil.
In the mean time the 12 to 15 sport fishing boats all within a 1/4 mile of where we were - completing ignoring the situation.
I can only assume it is like seeing squirrels on the road up here in NJ - I ignore them. But I could not morally ignore the sight of people in a pathetic raft waving us down...

So I am not so sure it is not desperate - it was the first time out and we found some desperate Cubans...

 

[OldDan1943]

They had PFDs? If not, you are supposed to provide them.
Aren't you suppose to call the USCG and circle the raft until they arrive or give you instructions?

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. LtB. As I noted (post #93) the ONLY "desperate" people you will see afloat on whatever "vessel" will be those who do NOT have the option of walking.

 

[HopCar]

This one showed up today. It appears to be made of blocks of styrofoam. We know the people on it were picked up because USCG is spray painted on the bow. The photo is from a video posted on Facebook.

 

[Group9]

Greetings,
Mr. LtB. As I noted (post #93) the ONLY "desperate" people you will see afloat on whatever "vessel" will be those who do NOT have the option of walking.

Well, last time I checked, most of those other governments don’t shoot at you when you try to leave. The Cuban government will.

I think a lot of “Tourists” to Cuba, like to minimize the conditions the people who live there suffer under. I’ve been there five times, as part of my job. I really don’t want to go there as a tourist, but I guess I can understand people wanting to see it for themselves ( or at least as much of it as the Cuban government allows them to see).

It is one screwed up country.

 

[LovetoBoat]

They had PFDs? If not, you are supposed to provide them.
Aren't you suppose to call the USCG and circle the raft until they arrive or give you instructions?

If you want we can spend a full page and a half on what went on - I tried to give the readers digest as most people would call it drivel...


No, I did not give them PFDs - if they had capsized I would have allowed them onboard. Because I was about 5 miles south of Miami that is the Key West sector per USCG which was dispatched on Channel 16 but I sure was not going to wait for that to happen - so when FWC showed up - we left...

 

[Shrew]

well where is the transit freighter then? There are plenty of boats in the islands and they got there somehow

The sailboats get there on their own hull. Passage making trawlers do as well. Costal Cruisers get shipped down. You'll see many boats, both shrinkwrapped and not, on the dock at places like St. Thomas after a delivery company unloads them.

Taking a coastal cruiser like a GB to the Bahamas is no problem. To the Carribean is doable, but you have to pick your weather window.

Summer is calm, but has hurricanes.
Winter is hurricane free, but has constant (Winter Winds). Plus prevailing wind is frequently out the north, going against the prevailing currents.

 

[friz]

Some time in the future I would like to go to Belize. I haven't really looked at the maps, but I thought I could stop off in Cuba. Could you stop there just to rest and not leave the boat. ie. anchored waiting for weather? I bet not, once inside there 3 mile limit. Any thoughts.

Yes, here is a thought, don't (Cuba). It is another impoverished communist slave state. Please do not visit or leave dollar one there. Find an alternative route.

 

[psneeld]

Another thread headed for politics......

 

[OldDan1943]

Another thread headed for politics......

Let's face it, life is full of politics. To ignore politics is a political decision.

 

[psneeld]

Let's face it, life is full of politics. To ignore politics is a political decision.

Boating forum...I know you have trouble realizing that...but some of us have self control as too many here do not.


Bye.....

 

[OldDan1943]

Boating forum...I know you have trouble realizing that...but some of us have self control as too many here do not.


Bye.....

Boating becomes political when we talk about unidentified buoys, need for more pump outs, dockage and facilities.
I do know what and why you are saying it. When we get into a cyclical discussion, political or not, I leave.

 

[Larry M]

How about going back to our regularly scheduled program?

Thanks!