During
winter 2015-2016 I sailed around Cuba anticlockwise from the Eastern end , North coast to Havana, round the western tip, south coast till Cienfuego.
The Norther coast was very disappointing: Although we had duly cleared
customs, got tourist visas, were given a cruising
permit and were told we could go everywhere:" Todo los caios, ensenadas, praias, puertos, pueblos etc...; man non zona militares ", in practice the paranoid Guarda Fronteras denied us the right to put a foot on land everywhere except in Marina Hemingway where we did visit Havana.
Typical scenario: We landed on the beach near a pueblo, say to buy bread and vegetables , Guarda fronteras would immediatly appear, seized our cruising
permit and passeport and hold us up for 1 hour or more till some
remote chief ordered us to go away. If we wanted to buy bread and vegetable , we should go to the next marina (There are 3 such marina on the North coast , the next one could be 6 sailing days away)
in the absence of Guarda Fronteras, the fishermen and the civilians we met were extremely nice and volunteered to trade or even offer us lobsters.
We rounded the western tip of Cuba and moored in
Bahia del Corientes, at Maria la Gorda, a dive resort. This is an unsheltered
mooring exposed to North Easters. We had no intention to stay , but the Guarda Fronteras, who are incompetent mariners, seized our cruising permit till we would depart. So we crossed the bay to moor for the night in the lee of the western shore.The second day the sea was breaking heavily at Maria La Gorda making landing impossible . We could only retrieve our document and leave on the third day.
Thereafter , on the South coast, the Guarda Fronteras were sensible.
In Nueva Gerona, North of Isla de La Juventud, we stayed at the Ferry's
dock were friends who flew in from Havana could join us or depart. We visited Nueva Gerona. When we departed after 48 hours, the Guarda duly searched our boat for hidden passengers.
We sailed and befriended fishermen in every island, fished and caught or bartered as may lobsters as we could eat all the way to Cien Fuego .
As we had exhausted our 2 month cruising permit, we sailed on to Belize