Your Marine Sanitation Device Suppliers at Raritan Talk About the Excitement of Sailing to Cuba
Raritan Engineering your marine sanitation device manufacturers would like to share with you this week information regarding amazing tips while traveling to Havana.
Now that U.S. sailors can so easily can go to Cuba, the question remains should they go? I think most cruisers would not want to miss the chance. To explore the reefs of the fabled Jardínes de la Reina, to reach close along the green mountains between Punta Maisi and Boracoa, to wander the streets of La Habana— what more could the cruising life offer than to explore far (and not so far) corners of the world under sail?
If navigation worries are what’s holding you back, you need not be overly concerned. One of the unexpected benefits of Cuba’s Soviet experience is the GPS-accurate surveys of the island. This does not mean that you can steer blindly through passes by watching your chartplotter cursor, but it does mean that there are surprisingly accurate charts and guides to the area, in many cases more accurate than our own.
Your Marine Sanitation Device Experts Continue Discussion on Great Sailing Tips You Might Need While Sailing to Cuba
Your marine sanitation device professionals talk about how it is from the publishers of the Waterway Guide, which was highly rated in our most recent comparison of guides to the Intracoastal Waterway. The Waterway Guide has a relatively strong online component with an active community of contributors, so even if you don’t buy the guide, you can use their website for updates on marinas and other relevant information. Wally Moran, a regular contributor to the Waterway Guide with multiple trips to Cuba under his belt (he is a Canadian citizen), contributed much of the information to the guide.
It covers the north and south coasts of western Cuba, describing the counterclockwise route around the western tip, Cabo San Antonio. The book is 224 pages long and filled with dozens of detailed chartlets and specific navigation instruction. Offering tips on everything from where to buy fresh-baked bread, to making windward progress along the coast, it is about as good a combination of navigation/travel guide as you’ll find for cruising.
Cuba: A Cruising Guide by Nigel Calder ($57) is the oldest book in our library. Published in 1999 by Imray Laurie Norie & Wilson, the same publisher of Don Street’s familiar guides to the Caribbean, this is the thickest guide to the area, with detailed descriptions of anchorages, even ones that the other guides miss. It is, as far as I know, the only English-language cruising guide that covers the entire island.
Buying all three books costs close to $150. If I were to skip one to save money, it would be the Waterway Guide, although it covers east coast entry points that Barr’s book omits, so if you are coming down the waterway and through the Bahamas, it is worthwhile. Certainly, you could get by with Calder’s book alone, but Barr’s updates come in handy and her chartlets are well rendered.
If you want to dip your toe into the Cuba cruising without spending a dime, there is also a free guidebook online.
Finally, for word-of-mouth updates for cruisers who have been there, the Seven Seas Cruising Association is a great resource. The organization held a gam late last year on cruising Cuba and offers a wealth of information for sailors.
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