30 December Arrival in Cayo Levisa

resort jetty at Levisa

After going aground yesterday afternoon on the western approach to Levisa anchorage we were very, very nervous about repeating the exercise. What do you do? You get the dinghy, a hand held depth sounder and a smart phone with the Navionics app loaded and you do your personal survey of the seabed in the immediate area. Good friend, great help and saviour Chris with his wife Linda surveyed the depths coming from the anchorage to where we stranded like a whale on a beach. With our findings and then following Chris and Linda's dinghy we reached the anchorage. There were a few bottom clenching moments, but we made it and very gratefully dropped anchor in 4m of sand and turtle grass.

that's the anchorage to the left

There was time to sort out our paperwork before going in to the dock to meet the Guarda and check in. This Guarda doesn't like travelling by dinghy out to the boats so was content to take our papers on shore and trust us not to have anything we shouldn't have on board.

On the dock we met the resort security guard, Juan Carlos, a dapper young chap with good English and a wide smile. He welcomed us and showed us the way along the dock to the resort. He also offered to help should we need any provisions. I'd taken the chance to stock up before we left Havana and had plenty for the few days we'd be here.

The resort is truly cruiser friendly and a really nice place to stay. There's wifi, not free, available and buffet style meals in the main restaurant. Of course we had to look at the restaurant and meet the manager, another big beaming, welcoming Cuban called Dios Dado. It took a beat for me to make the translation - Godfather. It's his real name. He is number 2, his Dad is number 1. Dios Dado told us we were welcome to take our meals anytime, breakfast cost CUC /$5 each, lunch CUC 8 and dinner CUC 10 with drinks extra.

We had dinner there that evening and made a booking for the New Year's Eve dinner tomorrow night, a table for 6 for the 3 boats in the anchorage. When we went to bed tonight it was a real sense of relief and happiness to be here. I think it's going to be a really good end to 2019.