Sailing to Cayo Cuervo Cuba

Cobalt blue skies and seas – what a change from the previous day’s grey.  And the temperature was much better too!

What a difference a day makes!  We woke on Friday 15 February to blue skies and seas but also to virtually no wind.  Clearly, our long day’s sail to Cayo Cuervo was destined to become a long day’s motor.  But at least it was warm.

Through the Canal Rancho Viejo

From Cayo Granada we headed north and then threaded our way through the mangrove cays along the well-marked Canal Rancho Viejo.  We later heard from Cheryl and Morgan on Nomadica that they had been in this area when the cold front that battered us in Cayo Granada reached them.  With virtually no visibility they dropped anchor where they were in about 15m of water and sat there, wind howling and boat plunging up and down on large, steep waves generated by the gale force wind blowing over a long fetch.  It was all very unpleasant.  But when we went through…….well, the pictures say it all.

Something big scaring something small

The still water made it easy to spot flying fish, scared out of the water by BV’s passage.  And there were other fish, ones that come part out of the water to skim along propelled by just their tails in the sea when they are startled.  We saw a lot of these fish, as well as the unmistakable swirl of a large predator. Was it a tuna?  Perhaps a marlin?  Maybe something else?

Keep on chugging……  The ‘iron topsail’ does sterling service

And throughout we just kept motoring on. At least it proved the engine fuel system was properly OK.

Cays around the Canal de Algodones

About 10nm short of our destination, Cayo Cuervo, we passed Cayo Algodon Grande, Cayo Algodoncito and Cayo  Manuel Gomez, clustered on either side of the Canal de Algodones.  Nicky had wanted to stop at several of these but the timeline dictated by Charlotte’s flight home from Havana put paid to that thought.  But I have to admit that they do look to be very pretty cays, rimmed with sand and bright turquoise waters.  We’d only see mangrove cays thus far.  Having a beach around the edge makes all the difference visually.

Pilot whales

Hedgehog bread

In the last hour or so we were fortunate enough to have a brief visit from a small pod of pilot whales.  They didn’t stay long but it was lovely to have a short glimpse of them.  Perhaps they could smell the loaf I was baking and had come for a closer look! Nicky, a little rudely I thought, called it Hedgehog Bread but it’s infinitely better than embossing by the upper oven shelf (and the main body of the loaf came out better than the previous two as well).

As we approached Cayo Cuervo, we saw the fisheries support vessel, Jardines Aggressor, on the AIS.  It reminded us of Elliot Jardine, a good friend from work days, so I took a photo to post on Facebook in a “we saw this and thought of you” sort of way [Ed: except he’s not exactly the aggressive sort!]

Approaching Cayo Cuervo – another low-lying mangrove covered cay – but it also has beaches!

‘In search of sand’, the subtitle to Nomadica’s cruise through Los
Jardines de la Reine. With a nearly one year old toddler on board,
they had been desperate to find somewhere that Gael could practise
 his new walking skill.  The beaches of Cayo Cuervo proved ideal

As we reached Cayo Cuervo we spotted 2 other yachts on AIS, Child of Lir, a 105ft Swan, and Nomadica.  Cheryl and Morgan and one year-old son Gael had spent the day on the tiny island just southwest of the main body of Cayo Cuervo (see picture right), with Nomadica anchored off.  Gael had had a wonderful day, toddling across the soft sand to his heart’s content, building sandcastles and swimming in the shallow water.  Operation Search for Sand Pt 1, complete!

Nomadica at anchor in Cayo Cuervo and a shrimp boat off for a night’s fishing

Shrimp boats

Nomadica beat us into the anchorage by a few minutes.  There’s lots of space but also great all round protection, not that it looked like we needed the protection given the flat calm evening. A large shrimping fleet bases itself out of the cay for much of the year, serviced by Jardines Agressor and a couple of other vessels.  As we arrived, the fishing boats were moving out for their night’s work and we had high hopes of trading for some shrimp, and perhaps lobster, in the morning.

Anchoring

We dropped anchor at 1620, after 9½ hours of fault-free motoring.  Though it was great to know that the engine was definitely reliable again, it was bliss to switch it off and be enveloped in peace and quiet.  But the peace and quiet didn’t reign for too long.  Cheryl and Morgan had invited us for drinks so we set to the post-anchoring tasks with alacrity so that BV was all sorted out for the night, before dinghying across for a fun evening aboard Nomadica.

Cayo Cuervo, Cuba