Cuba 2 To Trinidad de Cuba and Goodbye to Doros (Mile 7497)

Doros wearing the shirt in anticipation of Ireland's win. They did magnificently Grand Slam!
We dive again in the Garfens of the Queen after moving from our "snug" anchorage in the mangroves. The photos do not do it justice as the colours were much more vibrant - hopefully Doros's raw images can be colour corrected in due course - the shots below are from my 59 quid gopro clone.








 Lovely little sand alleys between clumps of coral - a coral garden
 peekaboo
And there is a lionfish hiding behind him.
And then onto Trindidad de Cuba - its seaport is called Salida actually, and the main old town is 5 miles away.
We pass fishing boats on the way in (Sunday)

We get in to the sheltered bay, go to the town and are told to go to the marina - it has 1.7m in the entrance and we draw 1.85, we plough our own furrow and have to reverse off, again. Anchor in the bay, go ashore and wait the security guard in the very quiet marina is very good and phones the guarda - they take 2 hours to arrive but process us quickly, I disenroll Doros without paperwork, it is Sunday and only the Guarda are in attendence - he said it was ok, should be interesting when I try to leave! (Wednesday am)


We visit the nearby (massive) hotel and try to get a drink and wifi. Hmm, no, you pay 23USD and have use of all hotel facilities - from 6pm too 23:00. This includes as much free drink and food as you can eat, swimming pool, etc, Wifi is available at 1 CUC per hour. We have a meal or two and a few beers. The place is full of people, including Cubans, I suppose the foreign tourists fly in, drink in, eat in maybe take a wee tour and think Cuba is brilliant...

Not many in the pool - they are in the bar
Man with red bracelet pass. The Mone Lisa enigmatic smile is because he now knows the rugby scores.

Anyway we got our Wifi, I get weather and pilotage notes and resolve to blog after Doros leaves.
The hotel arrange a taxi at 8:00, it comes at 7:45, we head to the buis station and just about get Doros on an 8am bus whoich will take 10 hours to get to Holguin, he picks up a hotel and is safe to fly home the next day. Au revoir Doros, you have been brilliant. 4000 miles travelled of which you helmed 1000 of them.

This would have been a photograph of Doros leaving, but he got on the bus...



And then old buildings, Trindidad is packed with old buildings and these are protected under UN heritage.


And a place with Wifi!
A lot of tourists - and hence stalls selling tourist things. If you want a knickknack this is good. Finding shops that sell bread and stuff is much harder.

Here is a nice arty house/gallery/cafe/thing

Many houses carry a blue anchor symbol, this means they have rooms for hire, often with meals. There are stacks of them in Trindidad - they are registered with the government and pay a special tax.

Horses are used for work, and to strut around on. 


Has a vague south american/mexican feel
I guess if it is hot you can leave the windows open in this one.

A local market stall has these superb knickknacks made from old drinks tins - Take note Coco Cola on a better way to recycle. 




I visit the museum Palacio Contero and take some photos - I like chairs that work, form and function.







The museum also has vases for some reason




Ok, these are not vases, also can you spot Wally?

Gosh it is not a singer sewing machine!
Also a speed dragster

And finally some plants for Shirley


Oh, they also had a radio, I like radios!
This case took a lot of stuffing

I went in search of coffee but 11 was too early for this one...
I do hear some music in the street
And get a coffee and even manage to buy some Cuban coffee (yet to taste!) and then I head back to the boat.
 My car has more horsepower
 Some nice mountains in the background

My taxi
And finally on my own, first time since before Christmas, I resolve to spend the next  day tiding the boat, get my charts in order and plan my next steps - 30 mile up the coast to a good marina in Cuenfuegos to get fuel, food and maybe water. Looks like I will head south via Cayo Largo and  the Isla Juventa. More later