Bobthebuilder's next adventure - Key West to Havana, Cuba

[Bobthebuilder]

Revolution Square where they were setting up for the concert that almost a million people attended the day we left. People could not believe we were not staying for the concert. The officals on departure were blown away when I showed them my picture with Olga Tanon.

Pic 2 is Jose Marti monument which is a museum and lookout tower.

Pic 3 pic 3 is the Russian Embassy

[JupiterSunsation]

Bob did you or your crew have any reservations about wandering around? Were you worried about Predator being stolen/stripped of anything? The 50V had to be the flashiest thing on the whole island that weekend!

[Tom A.]

Great pictures and story Bob.
Good questions Jupiter.

[Bobthebuilder]

Bob did you or your crew have any reservations about wandering around? Were you worried about Predator being stolen/stripped of anything? The 50V had to be the flashiest thing on the whole island that weekend!

Absolutely no concerns about walking around but at the same time we were prudent. In tourist or high visibility areas where there were people around I would not be afraid to walk alone. At night i would want someone with me and just as here would not walk down a dark alley.

I had no concerns about the boat being stolen as they had security 24 / 7. I was cautioned by the harbormaster not to leave anything lying loose in the cockpit even tho the boat was covered. No concern about losing the electronics or anything fastened down or behind the locked cabin door even tho there were a lot of people there that knew there were valuable items there. I made a point of being generous with the tips to keep everyone happy thinking they would watch out for me. Each tip of $20 to $30 was equal to a month and a half to two months salary so you can imagine they were pleased. Even the electrician whose only job was to plug in the shore power cord got a tip.

[jayboat]

Thanks again for sharing with us, Bob. Very cool trip and a part of the world that most of us probably would not have seen otherwise, at least not anytime soon.

[Bobthebuilder]

Pics 1 & 2 at departure from Marina Hemingway.

Pic 3 Arrival back in Key West with Mickey Mouse waiting to welcome me back. LOL

All done, end of story till next time. Hmmm Lets see, where next? ......

Hope you all enjoyed it. I did.

Bob

[Bobthebuilder]

Thanks again for sharing with us, Bob. Very cool trip and a part of the world that most of us probably would not have seen otherwise, at least not anytime soon.

My pleasure, Jay. And you have shared so many of your great pictures with us. See you back in FL soon now. I will be in touch.

Bob

[Airpacker]

Great stuff Bob.

Cleveland huh? How the knee doing?

[Bobthebuilder]

Great stuff Bob.

Cleveland huh? How the knee doing?

Just my annual checkups with the docs that have patched me up over the last few years at the Cleveland Clinic. The knee was done in Ontario so I did not get them involved in that. With all the boating and walking thru airports in the last week the knee is holding up well with some, but minimal pain. I am starting to be a bit optomistic that I can get by without further surgery. Time will tell, but it's not stopping me from doing much so I will carry on.
Bob

[boatme]

All done, end of story till next time. Hmmm Lets see, where next? ......

Bob I am thinking Chicago to Detroit Tyler Crockett as the onboard Mechanic, I will come as navigator and boat polisher

lets set a world record

[Bobthebuilder]

Bob I am thinking Chicago to Detroit Tyler Crockett as the onboard Mechanic, I will come as navigator and boat polisher

lets set a world record

I will think about it over the winter, Marc from sunny Florida. I remember when reading the article that I saved that I needed more info. I will go back and re visit it and let you know if I'm up for it. It would be a cool thing to do without a doubt.

[25 hors la loi]

Christian are you going to Key West, it would be good to meet you, if you haven't checked out the SOS party thread you should.

Donna , i am thinking about it , i will let you know for sure , are you ready to practice your french ?
because my english sluggish after too much good Molson

[MarylandMark]

If you think you can pick up chicks doing the bar scene in Havana, think again.

ALL of the girls in the bars are hookers.

Confused- sounds like I'd have a 100% success rate picking up chicks at the bars?


Great pics- I was offline for a few weeks and glad to see you returned safe and sound (later being debatable).

Canucks get to have all the fun!

[Bobthebuilder]

Confused- sounds like I'd have a 100% success rate picking up chicks at the bars?


Great pics- I was offline for a few weeks and glad to see you returned safe and sound (later being debatable).

Canucks get to have all the fun!

He, he. Your still a funny guy, Mark. Now you woulld have been in your glory !

[OldSchool]

What a great story and thread!!!! Congrats Bob, glad to see that everything worked out!!!!

Craig

[Bobthebuilder]

What a great story and thread!!!! Congrats Bob, glad to see that everything worked out!!!!

Craig

Thanks, Craig and others. I enjoyed sharing one of my more memorable offshore cruises that I will not soon forget.

Bob

[Bobthebuilder]

I would not normally bring a thread back that has run it's coarse, but have just come across some interesting information about our trip to Cuba..

A week ago, four Canadian friends flew from Toronto to Havana to go fishing. Two of them were on Team PREDATOR with me when we went to Havana back in October. When there, they had an English speaking taxi driver who spends a lot of time around Marina Hemingway where we secured the boat. The taxi driver knew about Team PREDATOR and was in the marina when the call came in that we were intercepted by the Cuban CG and being brought in to be questioned and searched. He also has friends in the CG that shared some scary info.
Apparently when we were spotted, they called their fastest, boat #1 for the intercept. That was the CC that is pictured below. The Cuban CG gets it's boats by seizing them, mostly from human smugglers. The highest military authorities were aware of and monitoring the situation that was going on with us. They were hoping that we were involved in some illegal activities and would have reason to seize the boat and upgrade their CG fleet. !! LOL I'm told that they were all very nervous though, as they were convinced that we were not there as the tourists we stated. When no trace of drugs were found on us or the boat they then figured we were there to either take some of their best Cuban baseball players or entertainers that were there for the concert, back to America. When we checked into the National Hotel until Sunday they began to relax some. Unknown to us at the time, we were being followed by their plainclothes police. I was told that the best thing we did was leave the boat in the harbour until it was time to leave. Their biggest concern was that we would party on the boat with some of the locals and then try to leave with them. They only way they could have stopped us would be to start shooting and they wanted to avoid an incident that would have international repercussions. I had been flattered that we had armed guards watching our boat at Marina Hemingway when in fact as it turns out, they were there to prevent us from leaving with any Cubans.
Knowing this, I am not anxious to return to Cuba even though it was an interesting experience.

This past week I have been busy putting together my next adventure. It will make your hair stand up as well but I cannot go public with it just yet, but soon. Stay tuned.

Bob

[Ratickle]

No worries Bob. You could have outrun them......

[Bobthebuilder]

No worries Bob. You could have outrun them......

But not their guns ! LOL Funny story. After they had finished their search and we were clean, I said to one of their Coasties that seemed to be in charge and understood some English - "You know, we let you catch us." which was true as I intensionally slowed, as I could see them ripping towards us. He laughed at the comment, nodded in agreement, then patted his rifle. The message was, we could out run his boat but not their guns.

[Baja340SF]

Great Thread! Even better adventure!

Thanks for sharing!