Cayo Cuervo Cuba

We’d had an excellent evening with Cheryl, Morgan and Gael on Nomadica and as we had left to return to BV we’d hatched a plan for me to join them on the morning of Sunday 17 February to visit the fishing boats and trade for shrimps and, hopefully, lobster.  The fleet started to return at about 0800, and in their wake followed a small white motor cruiser.  The skipper of the motor boat tried to sell us a few kilos of shrimp (cost 20CUC) but we thought that we’d do better dealing direct with the fishing fleet and so it turned out.

The fishing fleet’s post-catch huddle. Later a vessel towing a small barge appeared which we think was a mobile refuelling platform and at about noon one of the fishing boats disappeared off (perhaps with the fleet’s catch) and was replaced by another trawler

Armed with a large bucket, I joined the crew of Nomadica, and their bucket, and zoomed off to the reassembling fishing fleet in the hope of intercepting some shrimp and lobster.

Half an hour later we were back at BV, grinning triumphantly and flushed with success.  We had only needed to visit one of the 3 fishing boats and, aided by Morgan’s fluent Spanish and the presence of Gael (the Cubans are very family-oriented), the fishermen had been gifted 2 buckets of prawns and 12 lobsters!  Morgan had fully expected to trade boat stuff, clothes or toiletries for the shellfish but the fishermen didn’t want any payment.  Taking such a large quantity of seafood for nothing didn’t feel right; I produced a bottle of rum which seemed an appropriate ‘payment’ – from both perspectives!

How much seafood?  We had 6 good-sized lobsters and the best part of a large bucket of really good-size prawns (and Nomadica had the same).  Now the problem was how to cook and eat them all before they went off.  Nomadica at least has a freezer!

No matter how many prawns we took from the
bucket the level never seemed to go down!

So, Charlotte and I set to shelling the prawns with a vengeance which took the best part of an hour.  We kept some with their shells on for barbecuing later, the rest we steamed, cooled, put into boxes and stored in the bottom of the fridge.

Larry, Loretta and Liam the Lobsters. Their 3 larger friends
spent the day in a tub of salt water

We also took the opportunity to cook 3 of our lobsters but left the other 3 to barbecue on the beach that evening. Like the swordfish we had caught off Great Inagua, we were destined to eat nothing but prawns or lobster for days. Oh, the hardship!

Shellfish dealt with, Charlotte and I took a trip out around the cays, searching for good snorkelling spots and beaches.

In the shallows to the south of the anchorage we saw huge numbers of pillow starfish, clearly visible in the beautiful clear water.

We returned to BV to collect Nicky and our snorkelling kit, showed her the starfish and then anchored the dinghy in some slightly deeper water close to the reef and had an hour’s great snorkelling.

There were barracuda, a good variety of reef fish and lots and lots of coral, hard and soft.  With warm, clear water and bright sunshine it was probably the best snorkelling site that Charlotte has visited with us.

BV and Nomadica at anchor from our snorkelling spot

Nomadica’s Cay

The snorkelling was lovely but we needed to ‘do’ a beach and the most perfect sandy, desert island cay was the one that Nomadica had been anchored off when had we arrived at Cayo Cuervo.  So we dinghied over…..

…..and oohed and aahhed over the soft sand, the clear, warm, shallow water….

Yes, the conch shells we saw in the water housed live animals.
This is good mature specimen (3½ years old or more)

…..the blue skies, the mangroves and the abundance of conch.

It was a wonderful morning.

A tropical island all to ourselves

You can tell that Morgan and Cheryl used to work as professional skipper and mate – their beach barbecue set-up was perfect!  Firewood stacked ready during the day, a huge grill brought in from Nomadica and, best of all, a table – no grovelling in the sand for the food

As the afternoon drew to a close we met up with Cheryl, Morgan and Gael on the beach.  Also there, albeit only briefly, were the crews of 2 American catamarans, Carlotta’s Promise and El Gato, that had arrived in the anchorage that afternoon.  The Americans discussed returning with the makings of a barbecue meal but having left, did not come back.  Perhaps the bugs put them off – there were an awful lot of ferocious no see ‘ums– but as the evening progressed we noticed them less [Ed:  I wonder why?]

Juvenile conch coming up the beach – perhaps to join the barbecue?

Steeds at the ready – ours was so ready that she floated off on the rising tide late in the evening, which was a little embarrassing, but I managed to wade out and retrieve her before she went too far 

Too much food for the table space (but least we had a table, thank you Nomadica) and lots of people having fun

It was a fabulous barbecue, great food, better company, lots of laughter and fun.  And we were joined by the owners, their children and the crew of Child of Lir, the 105ft Swan that we had seen at anchor on the south end of Cayo Cuervo when we had arrived. Unfortunately, Morgan and Cheryl had to leave shortly after sunset to put Gael to bed but the rest of us stayed on later, chatting into the dark and only finally leaving when the no see ‘ums made their presence felt once again with the rising tide.

Child of Lir in the sunset

It had been a wonderful day, a perfect cruising day, the sort of day that makes all the maintenance and boat chores pale into insignificance – it’s what living aboard long-term is all about.

Cayo Cuervo, Cuba