Crossing from Cuba - West Coast - to the Bay Islands of Honduras

A wild ride across the Caribbean Sea…

18.04. – 20.04.2025

On Maundy Thursday, we reached the westernmost point of the Cuban coast. The marina "Los Morros de Cabo San Antonio" is our port of clearance.

Marina Los Morros – Cabo de San Antonio

This has little to do with a marina, though. A lonely customs house in an otherwise almost deserted bay, two other buildings, and a restaurant, which isn't in operation. We're the only boat moored here. There's a simple concrete jetty that can accommodate two to three boats, and in the bay in front of the marina, you can moor in water that's 2 to 3 meters deep. Unfortunately, the marina offers no protection from northerly or northeasterly winds, and the waves roll unhindered into the anchorage. It's a good thing the weather is still relatively calm.

The town of San Antonio is about 6 km away – this is probably where the customs officer who clears us comes from. Everything goes smoothly and quickly.

Marina El Morros - westernmost point of Cuba — Clearance marina on the west coast of Cuba – “Los Morros de Cabo San Antonio”

We'd have to wait five days for a window of calm weather – if it actually arrives... We don't want to stay in this lonely spot that long. So we decide to set sail quickly the next morning before the wind increases any further. After all, the forecast already calls for 5 knots of wind and 25 to 2 meter waves from the side. Not ideal – but doable.

A good 340 nautical miles lie ahead of us and we expect the crossing to take 3 days.

Skipper Bernd at the helm of Blue Joline on the crossing from Cuba to Honduras — Skipper Bernd at the helm

We actually manage it in two days. Winds around 2 knots, plus the backflow of the Gulf Stream, which we skillfully harness and which now gives us further thrust from behind. We race at up to 30 knots over the waves – which come in from the side at 9-2 meters. The mainsail in reef 3 and the genoa at 2% are enough. It's a wild ride.

Endless expanses, we are the only boat far and wide- — View ahead from the helm

After 50 hours, we reached Guanaja, the first of Honduras' Bay Islands, in the morning. With an average speed of 6,9 knots, this was our fastest crossing yet. We covered 350 nautical miles. It could have been even faster, but we didn't want to arrive in the dark.

Since we arrive on Easter Sunday morning, the public places are closed, we first lie down in the bay and leave a message on the answering machine and via WhatsApp to announce our arrival.

Large Zaragoza grass fields can also be found off the Bay Islands in Honduras — Approaching Guanaja – the shiny reddish-brown Zaragoza grass looks quite picturesque, but is a nuisance and hinders fishing immensely, as it repeatedly gets caught in the bait.

What is a multi-day crossing like under these conditions?

Crossings across the open sea are always a special experience and a challenge. Travel comfort is directly related to wind strength and wave direction. If the wind and waves are coming from behind, such a crossing is very pleasant – even in strong winds. During our crossing, we had the wind and waves from the side, which caused the boat to bounce quite a bit over the waves, which significantly limited the options on board...

At a frequency of 6 waves per minute, this is at least 18.000 waves rushing beneath Joline. With waves 2 to 3 meters high, this is quite a challenge for both man and machine.

Crossing the Caribbean Sea 1 — Again and again, Joline has to rock over the waves coming from the side.

Lying down is fine; sitting is fine too; walking is uncomfortable, you have to hold on tight and then you know what it's good for: it's narrow in some areas, so you can get wedged in there and there are overhangs everywhere to hold on to.

Carrying something with one hand becomes a challenge – you think twice about what you really need.

Working while standing with both hands...impossible, especially with "dangerous" objects - which means the kitchen stays cold.

So on the first day of the trip we have pretzels, apples and chips, and on the second day we increase our menu to crackers with hummus and cheese, dry bread and coleslaw left over from the last meal in the marina.

Crossing the Caribbean Sea 2 — With such wind and waves, the sea offers an intense soundscape.

There is another limitation with so much wind and waves – the sea is incredibly loud.

The noise is so loud that if you sit across from someone at a table, you have to speak significantly louder to understand each other. Working on the computer was out of the question for us either—at that volume, we couldn't think clearly.

It is much quieter in the cabin – sleeping was no problem.

Our route was very straightforward, and we were able to sail directly – once we set up the autopilot, the boat sailed the route independently. We regularly checked for other vessels or anything else unusual. We adjusted the sails if the wind changed slightly, but otherwise the boat stayed on course and took us steadily to our destination.

As Bernd likes to say: “The boat can withstand more than the crew.”