USA => Cuba, and Weather

[sunsettrader]

We are British but keep our boat in Florida. Does anyone know if we can leave Florida and go straight over to Cuba? Will there be problems and can we come back from Cuba to Florida.
One other question - can anyone recommend a site for up to date weather in Cuba?
Look forward to hearing from you.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, sunsettrader.

[Jimbo485]

The last time we sailed to Cuba, we just left Key West and headed south. UK registered boat with an Aussie / Chilean couple. Sailed back to the US a year later on the same boat and sold it. Should not be any problem for you if you have the same situation. We have another boat now, also UK registered and will go back to Cuba later this year, once the cyclones calm down.

[sailing_saint]

We are looking to do the same thing, we will either leave from Florida or Mexico (Cancun). What visa's do you need and how did you get them.

Out Boat is a UK registered boat but is also registered in Texas as we have been here more than 3 months they insisted on us doing that. Have either of you had to register your boat in Florida?

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, sailing_saint.

[Jimbo485]

We never registered a boat in the US. We were never there more than a couple of months. For our last visit to Cuba, we organized visas beforehand, but this time it is apparently not necessary because they will issue us visas on arrival.

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by sunsettrader

We are British but keep our boat in Florida. Does anyone know if we can leave Florida and go straight over to Cuba? Will there be problems and can we come back from Cuba to Florida.
One other question - can anyone recommend a site for up to date weather in Cuba? Look forward to hearing from you.

As others have said, so long as your boat is not-USA documented, and everybody onboard is not a USA citizen or legal resident alien, you should be able to sail directly with no problems.
- - Having a State registration is simply a matter of having the boat in the particular State (say Florida or Texas) continuously for more than XX days (90 days in Florida). So that should not be a problem.

- - For weather see: Radiofax Charts - New Orleans
These are the daily weather fax charts showing winds and waves forecasts for 24 hours to 72 hours.
- - You will most probably be within range to receive the NOAA weather on your VHF radio Wx channels if you have a good VHF onboard.