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<\/a><\/p>\nOn the other hand, there is a lot of scary stuff (Bob would say \u2018exciting\u2019) hurtling toward us.\u00a0 Where do I begin??\u00a0 Like the Bahamas, we will only approach a shoreline in daylight hours with the sun high overhead.\u00a0 This is good news to me because I really don\u2019t like night sailing.\u00a0 Even so, there will be a fair amount of night sailing\u2014just not when we go into harbors.\u00a0 Ugh.\u00a0 The swells will be large, but the wind should be mostly on our backs, which is more comfortable than other directions.<\/p>\n
We will need to be tucked into good harbors at night because Cuba is a mountainous country, with katabatic winds at night–quite strong katabatic winds.\u00a0 (from the Greek: katabaino – to go down– is the generic term for downslope winds<\/b>\u00a0flowing from high elevations of mountains, plateaus, and hills down their slopes to the valleys or planes below.)<\/p>\n
And speaking of winds–we have heard from good friends who have already crossed over the the Bahamas that there have been terrible winds there lately. \u00a0In particular, there was a cold front earlier this week that brought sustained winds of 105 mph through an area of the Exumas. \u00a0Our friends were anchored between Great Exuma and Stocking Island where the winds were 65 mph. \u00a0A number of boats were thrown ashore and badly damaged in this blow. \u00a0I was horrified to learn about this. \u00a0We’ve had some bad winds there the past two years, but nothing like this! At least there are protective harbors in Cuba, unlike in the Bahamas.\u00a0 So\u2014we will want to be well tucked in each night, or well offshore.\u00a0 I\u2019m hoping for the former!<\/p>\n
Also, we will need to be sensitive to situations onshore.\u00a0 Sometimes we will be welcomed and sometimes not.\u00a0 We need to read the signs of whether we should be in a particular shop buying items that the Cubans want to buy or whether we\u2019ll be welcome to eat in particular restaurants that are for the locals.\u00a0 I\u2019m so sensitive in this regard that I often over <\/i>react.\u00a0 I\u2019m certain that Bob and I will run into differing impressions when these situations arise.\u00a0 All in all, Jules and Gary gave us a wealth of advice and information.<\/p>\n
A sobering bit of info is that our visas, which will only be good for 30 days, really cannot be extended.\u00a0 We have to leave Cuba for at least 24 hours in order to get a new visa for another 30 days.\u00a0 Since it\u2019s impossible to sail the coast of Cuba in only 30 days we will have to face this dilemma.\u00a0 I was hoping that we could just anchor off the mainland someplace safe, but that is not acceptable.\u00a0 We need to check out of Cuba and check into another country to prove that we left.\u00a0 The most obvious choices from the southwestern end of Cuba are the Caymans or Jamaica.\u00a0 Either of these will involve another overnight sail in big ocean.\u00a0 Can you imagine the kind of dreams I had last night?<\/p>\n
So the next few days to a week will be focused on finishing up our repairs and provisioning.\u00a0 High on my list is getting my cartoon sorted for my next tapestry.\u00a0 I am going to weave the final line from a favorite Robert Frost poem called \u201cMowing.\u201d\u00a0 The culmination of that poem is \u201cThe fact is the sweetest dream that labor knows.\u201d\u00a0 This is moving to me on so many levels, and I envision that weaving this phrase will be quite enjoyable.\u00a0 The piece will go to my son Chris when it\u2019s finished, so I asked him to work on the font and the spacing of the letters.\u00a0 After trying a couple of fonts, we both decided on Adobe Caslon. \u00a0Here is a small version of it.<\/p>\n
This is what it look like printed out full size, spread out on the floor at Staples in Vero. \u00a0Don’t you like Bob’s foot for scale?<\/p>\n I made a little sample of the text in a different font some time ago.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n