18 January Farewell Levisa

Finally the winds are favourable for departure from Cayo Levisa. We've been here so long, three weeks, we are best friends with the staff in the resort and have established squatters rights in the western anchorage.

The plan is to leave late afternoon and sail overnight to Cayo Lenas which is 7 miles from Cabo San Antonio, spend the day there and then another overnight to an anchorage at Cayo San Felipe. First we have to go in to the resort to do last internet, say goodbye to chef and Dios Dada and then bring the Guarda out to Jackster for clearance. Internet took a little longer than we had anticipated while I cached the Google Earth images for the next islands and had a Skype chat with Mum. We called in at the restaurant to say goodbye and got invited to stay for lunch and given a bag of fresh baked bread to take on our journey. Once again we are surprised in the nicest way by the friendship and generosity of our Cuban friends. They are gems.

Dios Dada, David and chef Juan Carlos

The young Guarda man was patiently waiting at the dock for us and he was keen to get in the dinghy and whizz through the mangrove channel back to Jackster. My Spanish is very rudimentary but we have Google translate to help. The Guarda is new to the job and had no English so he was with us for an hour, made a few phone calls back to HQ to confirm procedure. The problem was our flare box hadn't been sealed in Marina Hemingway and he thought it should have been. Eventually the matter was sorted and we had our papers for clearance through to Cayo Largo.

As soon as I returned from dropping him off at the resort we lifted the dinghy on deck and set off. Cayo Levisa is a good place for an extended stay. Meals in the restaurant were very affordable, the resort cruiser friendly and they were able to help us sourcing eggs and vegetables during our stay. But now it is onwards. More places to discover and people to meet.