Sailing the St. Francis to Cuba Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Sailing the St. Francis to Cuba The Sun Herald - May 22, 2002 Cuba-bound from Burnt Store's Latitudes by Steve Reilly BURNT STORE -- The manager of Burnt Store's Latitudes on the Water restaurant is sailing off for southern latitudes. Richard Stewart and Nancy Bartlett are heading for Cuba in his 40-foot catamaran, the St. Francis. This will be the second time the couple has visited Cuba and is planning to spend five to six days in the island community. The voyage may not be as unique as it sounds. "I've been here six years and can name more than a dozen boaters in Burnt Store Marina who have gone to Cuba," Stewart said. "That kind of piqued my interest." Stewart said he plans to make the trip in two legs. From the marina, he said they will sail 20 hours, 130 miles to the Dry Tortugas. The next night they will sail the 90-mile trip across the Florida Straits to Havana. Foreign boaters are only allowed to dock at the Marina Hemingway, located 10 miles from downtown Havana. U.S. citizens are allowed to visit the island community, but with the U.S. embargo against Fidel Castro's communist government, U.S. visitors cannot spend any U.S. dollars on the island. Stewart, like other boaters, are inherently self-sufficient, carrying their own food and other supplies, so he has no need to spend any money. He is adamant on that point and reiterated how he plans not to spend one cent in Cuba. "That would be treason," Steward said, emphasizing the word "treason." "I am not willing to take that chance. We don't buy Cuban goods and won't be bringing back Cuban goods." But Stewart did confess what partly attracts him to Cuba is the taste of "forbidden fruit." "Legally, you're allowed to go there, but there's all these restrictions," he said. "You have to walk the line. You have to deal with the U.S. Coast Guard and customs. You have to dot all your i's and cross your t's." Stewart belongs to what he described as a loose-knit humanitarian organization of boaters call Concord Cayo Hueso in Key West. He said the boaters bring basic first-aid supplies, medicines and other humanitarian aid to be distributed to the Cuban people. Stewart and Bartlett will also be bringing small inexpensive toys for children. On their first visit, they said they saw children playing with a beat up remnant of a tennis ball. The authorities Once he docks in Havana, Stewart said he expects to see at least five Cuban inspectors to come on board his boat. From his last experience, a medical, health, agriculture and other inspectors boarded his boat. The process may take three to four hours. To help speed up the process, Stewart prepares paperwork in Spanish in advance of their arrival. "You can't bring in fresh meats, eggs or milk or any other foods that can bring in bacterial threats," Stewart said. "Their instances of food-borne disease is very, very low because they don't let anyone into the country without a thorough inspection." Stewart also described a customs inspector with a trained dog that inspects the boat when they arrived and left Cuba last year. "They are generally very friendly," Stewart said of the Cuban inspectors But when he returns, Stewart said he will have to fill out forms and report to the U.S. Coast Guard and other federal officials. He described it as normal bureaucratic processing. Yanquis welcomed "The Cuban people don't seem to really care all that much that their government is communist," Stewart said. "They don't think of themselves as communists the way we think of communists. "They just think of their government as 'the government,'" Stewart said. He said the Cubans never spoke to him about politics, which was wise from their perspective -- especially since they live under a dictatorial government. The repercussions could be serious, Stewart suggested. "The people there are so warm and friendly," he said. "And there's music playing everywhere." The poverty is evident, but so is the ingenuity of the Cuban people, Stewart suggested. Studebakers, Packards and other America automotive relics from the 1940s and 1950s are still running throughout Havana. "Because of the 40-year American embargo, autos are rigged from parts of automobiles throughout everywhere else in the world, and they're running pretty darn well," Stewart said. "It's a tribute to the human spirit. What we would consider junk and reject, to them, is a gem." >From those he met, despite the poverty, Stewart also said he viewed the Cubans as a very happy, religious people. "They've been spared the influence of the negative side of Western culture," he said. "They've been very shielded from that because they are a very governed and restricted people." Stewart is 53 years old and can recall the Cuban missile crisis, the Cold War, and other tensions between the two nations. While a stereotypical image of "communists" might suggest the Cubans and Russians would be close, Stewart said they're not. "Especially from what we know now, the whole reason for the embargo seems like ancient history," Stewart suggested. "I think at the time, it was largely because of the Russian presence and the threat of aggression, but that's gone, very much gone." Today, Cubans seem closer to Americans than they were to Russians, Stewart said, and the Russian presence in Cuba is now negligible. He said the skyscraper in Havana that once housed the Soviet embassy and other Russian officials now stands virtually empty. "I really have no political agenda, but I'd really like to see the embargo end, so the Cuban people could have access to the things they desperately need," Stewart said. His wish may be a long way off, since President Bush told a Miami audience Monday he saw no reason to lift the embargo until Castro allows monitored elections and releases political prisoners. Stewart views lifting the embargo from another perspective. "For me, it's the humanitarian aspect," he said. "I would like to communicate that these people are the opposite of what most of us have probably an image of. "These are most generous and kindest people I've ever met -- in spite of their poverty," he said. source - JosePertierra@aol.com ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytact-05.23.02-07:24:35-3286