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We sort of feel like we were on the edge of civilization in Cabo San Antonio, which is the most westerly port in Cuba and the last stop before the Yucatan Channel. The marina consists of one concrete wall and a few buildings that look abandoned. It doesn’t have a radio so our hails went unanswered as we approached and hoped that there was enough water for us to get in. As we got close a man smoking a big cigar waved us to a spot on the wall and then disappeared.
Cabo San Antonio is located on the Guanahacabibes Peninsula which is a national park. The nearest town is over 70 kms away and public transportation consists of one van, with no seats, that rotates the staff at the marina in and out bi-weekly. On our second day we went on a guided cave tour with the agriculture inspector from the marina. We walked about 5 km to a path through the forest which led to a series of small caves. There are wild pigs everywhere and we disturbed a pair as we neared the primary cave; they came bolting out and nearly trampled me. Once our hearts stopped racing we went inside and found ourselves in a low cave with interesting rock formations and bats! As they flew around us we could hear and feel the breeze from their beating wings. It was amazing. On the walk home we saw a mother pig with 6 piglets; Adam tried to catch one of the babies by distracting the mother with mangos but they were way too fast for him. It was for the best though, I didn’t really want to have another conversation about why we shouldn’t have a pet on the boat.
Our second big adventure was seeing a tornado on the water. We had nice blue skies with a storm front coming toward us from the east. We were watching it when we saw a spout form from the clouds down into the water. We could actually see it spinning and throwing up water as it moved. It lasted for about 15 minutes and then dissipated before it got too close to us.
After two days we said good-bye to Cabo San Antonio and Cuba. We are a bit behind in our schedule so we are looking forward to moving on a bit faster from now on. The next stop is Belize.
Cabo San Antonio is located on the Guanahacabibes Peninsula which is a national park. The nearest town is over 70 kms away and public transportation consists of one van, with no seats, that rotates the staff at the marina in and out bi-weekly. On our second day we went on a guided cave tour with the agriculture inspector from the marina. We walked about 5 km to a path through the forest which led to a series of small caves. There are wild pigs everywhere and we disturbed a pair as we neared the primary cave; they came bolting out and nearly trampled me. Once our hearts stopped racing we went inside and found ourselves in a low cave with interesting rock formations and bats! As they flew around us we could hear and feel the breeze from their beating wings. It was amazing. On the walk home we saw a mother pig with 6 piglets; Adam tried to catch one of the babies by distracting the mother with mangos but they were way too fast for him. It was for the best though, I didn’t really want to have another conversation about why we shouldn’t have a pet on the boat.
Our second big adventure was seeing a tornado on the water. We had nice blue skies with a storm front coming toward us from the east. We were watching it when we saw a spout form from the clouds down into the water. We could actually see it spinning and throwing up water as it moved. It lasted for about 15 minutes and then dissipated before it got too close to us.
After two days we said good-bye to Cabo San Antonio and Cuba. We are a bit behind in our schedule so we are looking forward to moving on a bit faster from now on. The next stop is Belize.