3 May 2000 - Wednesday

Antica has been anchored at Mulle Lake in North Miami Beach for several days now. The plan is to leave for Baltimore on May, 8th. There I'll slip the yacht and repair the underwater part before sailing across Atlantic. I'm. going to leave Baltimore at the end of May and to start the cruise from New York to Europe around June, 15th.

That's all as far as the plans are concerned.

Now let's recall some of the past events. On April, 6th we left Cozumel for Cuba with the new crew on board consisting of Marcin from Mexico and Piotr Wolski from Rochester, USA. We were constantly sailing in severe, changing weather conditions. Unsteady winds, sometimes very strong ones, made us reef the sails quite often. 200 miles away from Cuba the dolphin striker broke down and we had to sail very carefully. 10 miles before entering the Hemingway marine in Havana we were joined by a Cuban surveillance vessel. The customs clearance was a real oddity of ultra communism. It lasted 2 hours and 16 people and 2 dogs took part in it. The controlled everything and in the end I was forced to hard-boil 30 eggs so that I didn't bring any pest over from Mexico. Apart from this little incident everyone was very nice and friendly. I saw the whole of Havana in one day. It looks very shabby but one can see the remains of past prosperity, especially in architecture. There are many tourists from Europe and Canada. In the field of politics one can sense the drive to changes which are bound to appear. It is my opinion that those people here deserve a better life.

In Havana the crew which had been with me up to the moment we reached the city left the yacht but a Hindu Briton embarked. He is a very nice and hard-working man. Together we sailed to Key West where he left. In Key West a new life was breathed into Antica. For the Easter Janusz Kędzierski and Marek Leżański arrived with their families. There were 8 of us altogether and for the following 10 days we were sailing along south Florida visiting several reefs, diving a bit and fishing. The biggest fishing success belonged to Marek who fished a small shark which was, of course, eaten by us with great appetite. Then, from Miami, the 'Easter' crew returned home.

Antica is almost ready for the voyage. I eliminated the damages, patched the sails and the engine underwent the examination. All I'm waiting for are the maps and all I'm trying to do is finding the crew for the stage to Baltimore. I wouldn't fancy sailing on my own.

Capt. Jerzy Wąsowicz

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