Lat: 17 24.138′ N

Long:83 56.648′ W

As we stated in the last blog, we were anxious to discover what was around the corner of Cuba…well, it didn’t take us long to find out. Within a few hours of posting our last blog, we found ourselves in seas that were at least 8 to 10 feet and winds strong enough to break the anemometer (we are guessing they were gusting to 40 knots)! Tiffany wasn’t feeling all that great from the start, and this didn’t help a bit. Dallas had been doing well up to this point but started “seal-talking” (getting sick) over the stern at the end of his watch after rounding the tip of Cuba on Friday night. That left Wes and I taking turns at the helm for the next 30 hours (3 hours on, 3 hours off) in the face of the ever-present, contrary, Gulf Stream current into which we were sailing close-hauled to maintain our course (i.e., the most uncomfortable point of sail that pounds into the wind). To make matters worse, there was some confusion regarding who had closed what hatches down below, and thus, the conditions of the berths were not so pleasant what with the musty smell of salt water, moist mattresses, and in our case, miscellaneous items from the countertop strewn out all over the floor from the motion of the boat. Despite my several attempts to clean up the mess in our berth, I could not get past the inertia created from the constant pitching of the boat to make it livable. This meant that those who were seasick or taking a break from being on watch had to attempt to get some rest on the settees in the main salon amidst constant pounding of the bridge-deck! Given the sorry state of the interior as well as the crew, we decided to change our course a bit and head to Swan Island, our Plan B. 

Big waves in the stream north of Cuba

The systems of the boat fared quite well in the rough conditions. We were especially impressed with the way in which Pura Vida glided up and down the 10 foot swells—definitely a sea-worthy vessel. We have one major casualty to report, however, that has the potential to be serious. We tried to use the port engine when coming around the cape of Cuba during a lull in the wind and had to turn it off when the low-oil-pressure alarm sounded. We’ll see…

Wes helped me to stay on track during my watches, which were surprisingly tolerable thanks to the auto-pilot and Dallas’ IPOD. In fact, it was indescribably enjoyable to see the boat capably rise over a 10 foot wave while singing along to classics by the Beatles, Indigo Girls, etc. Some tunes sound better than ever out there in the midst of the controlled chaos of the sea.

Needless to say, we were all pretty relieved to finally make landfall at Swan Island today. Swan Island belongs to Honduras and is tiny (i.e., 20 km circumference). Google it if you have a chance, as it has an interesting history. Nowadays, it is simply guarded by 7 youthful members of the Honduran navy, all of whom greeted us at the dock with M-16 style assault rifles. They were mostly friendly, however, and helped us to tie off the boat before proceeding with their program of questioning. The young officer in charge boarded the boat for a lengthy search for weapons, and once convinced that we were not there for a hostile takeover, accepted our offer to have a drink of lemonade and invited Dallas and I ashore to complete necessary paperwork. They seem to be inhabiting the remains of the National Weather Service complex that the U.S. maintained here until the 1970’s. It’s an entirely 3rd World affair, sorely in need of all sorts of renovations; it was not at all what I had expected in terms of a military base. The privates informed Dallas (in Spanish, of course) that they spend their time here chopping brush with machetes, not to prepare for building anything, but rather to get a better view of the ocean (read: to keep the troops busy). All in all, it is an interesting but certainly not a touristy destination! The officer invited us for a game of beach volleyball. We will participate in if we can muster up the energy. First priorities include sleep and showers!!

Northwest tip of Swan Island from our anchorage

Our next priorities are to clean things up a bit and check the weather. Provided this goes well, we’ll be off for Panama in the next day or so. There will likely be more of the same in terms of the current and point of sail, so we will need to psych ourselves up for another adventure!