Boat to Cuba?

I'm an American who's done the Nassau to Havana and Cancun to Havana thing. I'd love to arrive in Cuba this time by water! Does anyone have any idea how best to do this? Has anyone done it?

Catch a lift on a yacht out of Key West to the Marina Hemingway. This was possible and comparitively easy when I was resident in Cuba in the 90s. A number of US yachtsman made the passage regularly.

I was able to both go to and return from(the two trips not occuring during the same trip to Cuba) Hemingway by way of the town marina in Key West. There was a grocery store near a sail shop in Key West with a bulletin board listing boats going to Cuba. This was pre tightening of the embargo by the sociopathic toxic Texan Shrub, so perhaps now it is more difficult to find boats risking the trip. Trap

You're in Luck. Opened last year Fantasia Ferries LTD. has daily service to Havana from Key West, Playa del Carmen and Ocho Rios Jamaica. With hundreds of satified customers. I took the Key West ferry in January and the trip was Fantastic. They served food and drinks and even a small show for entertainment.

Visit the site or give them a call. Saturday sailings from Key West are booked months in advance so hurry.

Pepin Gatiesa

Fantasia Ferries sounds rediculous. The "Web site" is a blog and prostitutes and "refreshments" are advertised. It'd be nice to reserve this forum for factual information for travelers.

It's a joke. It was funny once. As in one time . Unfortunately, that was a long, long time ago.

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Fantasia Ferries sounds rediculous.<hr></blockquote>
And so was the OP which is probably about the 500th Can I get to Cuba by boat post. There is a considerable irony in the question that you probably do not appreciate. Tourists are dying to be able to get to the Island by boat and numerous Cubans each year actually die trying to leave the island by boat.

Ridiculous, perhaps. "Red"iculous - never!

"... Fantasia Ferries sounds rediculous..."

Wow, you figured that out by yourself? You're a genius.

So far every single poster who ever clicked on that link has sent them money. I'm sure of this.

Cheers,
Terry

"Tourists are dying to be able to get to the Island by boat and numerous Cubans each year actually die trying to leave the island by boat. "

That's a stretch. I don't know any Americans dying to get to Cuba by any means of transportation. Comparing Americans traveling to Cuba and Cubans trying to escape Castro's regime is a little disrespectful, I think.

"Wow, you figured that out by yourself? You're a genius."

I try.

"Ridiculous, perhaps. 'Red'iculous - never!"

Thanks for the spelling lesson.

# 9 lighten up. Perhaps this board is not for you.

Did you read #6? Maybe this board isn't for them.

Hang in there LesliePear! There's usually (not always) some good information to be had, but you do have to wade through the crap. (And if you think this is bad, you should have been around for the last year--and I'm NOT kidding!)

Actually, LesliePear, I see that you were around. In which case, you know what I'm talking about.

Schwuller, please note that the two posters who managed to score yatch rides to Cuba did so some years back. It has very definitely gotten much more difficult. Not entirely impossible, though, if you've got good yatch-hitching skills, and lots and lots of time to hang about in the port of your departure.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I LOVE the boat questions and the answers and I never get tired of them. Adds some light and easy humour to this forum

I think too, OP, that you missed the meaning of FormerlyFantasia's "red"-iculous comment. While it was indirectly a spelling correction, it's more than just that. Agree or not -- cute/clever, imo.

Oops, last comment wasn't for the OP, but for LesliePear. Smile - it's only an internet bb :-)

#1and #2s reply/solution is historical information and is not possible today, nor has it been for the past 3 years.

#3 / 7 is of course the Forum clown.

And me? Ive got around 25 trips to Cuba with around 7 to 8 trips by boat (no, knot on the ferrie), so I know a little about the nuances of getting to Cuba by boat.

Cubafish, my information from people trying to get to Cuba by boat is basically the same as yours (not possible!) although I did say "not entirely impossible if you've got good yatch-hitching skills and lots and lots of time to hang around the port of depature."
My question to you, which I think might also be something the OP and other boat-seekers might want to know is: if it's NOT POSSIBLE today, why not?

Yatchs do put into Marina Hemingway from all over the world, so--what has changed that might make it now utterly impossible for someone to hitch a ride on a non-US boat sailing to Cuba from a non-US port or colony?

I assume Cubafish's "not possible" is regarding yachts departing from the US. It was certainly feasible years ago, but as he says, no longer.

As for yacht hitchhikers from other countries, as of late February this year Immigration at Hemmingway Marina had not processed a single entry for a person hitching a ride on a boat in the previous year. I'm not saying it's not possible - just that it's (obviously) extremely unlikely.

Cheers,
Terry

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<hr>That's a stretch. I don't know any Americans dying to get to Cuba by any means of transportation. Comparing Americans traveling to Cuba and Cubans trying to escape Castro's regime is a little disrespectful, I think. . . . .

Did you read #6? Maybe this board isn't for them. <hr></blockquote>

I believe I said tourists Leslie--not Americans. Most of the questions about ferries and boats are not posted by Americans, not that it really matters. I know how Americans get to Cuba and I frequently provide information on the easiest and cheapest ways to do it. In that sense this board is for me.

Getting to Cuba by sea apparantly fascinates a catagory of travelers who have seem to have romantic notions about traveling in general. For some reason it periodically pops up here---moreso in the past than now. Fantasia Ferries was an over-the-top spoof making fun of that FAQ. It is nothing more than that.

I'm sorry that you do not appreciate the irony between a silly travel question and a very real socio/economic/political issue. If anything the original question was more disrespectful than my response. Any disrespect in my response was directed towards seagoing tourists, not those Cubans who risk their lives trying to leave. The OP actually got more factual information than this throw away question usually gets or deserves.

Leslie - Fantasia Ferries sounds rediculous. The "Web site" is a blog and prostitutes and "refreshments" are advertised. It'd be nice to reserve this forum for factual information for travelers.

Prostitutes ??? & Refreshments...wow what a combination.

Did you read the part where we are building a railroad across from Key West to Havana for those travelors that have a problem with sea-sickness. There's a Brittish fellow named Prospero who is negotiating with French company to build a tunnel. I'll let you know when that's completed.

Alta- Sorry about the comfusion.

Pepin

I believe the OP made no mention about wanting to catch a ride on a boat from the US. Didn't s/he say from NASSAU?
And isn't that NOT the US? Or has Nassau gone the way of Puerto Rico? So back to the original question, has anybody RECENTLY gotten a boat ride from Nassau to Cuba? (My best guess is that, "possible" or not, the answer to this question will be NO.)

Oh, okay, sorry--the OP didn't specifically say s/he was looking for a boat from Nassau. So maybe one from Key West would do. I think here's where we get into the the realm of "flatly impossible."

What the OP implied was that he has flown from NAS to HAV and CUN to HAV, and would now like to try to get to Cuba via boat.

What I said in my previous post was that what Posters #1 and 2 said was historical information, and their information/recommendation? was at this time impossible to do.

Private boat/yacht arrivals in Cuba are down something around 90% according to my source at Marina Hemingway, and I verified that this figure is for the entire country and not just Marina Hemingway.

- - - -

For the OP: your chances of doing what you would like to do on your next trip to Cuba is near impossible (near = 99.9% impossible) unless the US (1)eases up, or (2)startes looking the other way on their position on boats going from the US to Cuba. So are there boats going to Cuba from other places in the world? Sure, but the chances of anyone locating one of these boats = a 99.9% failure rate.

The passage of H.R.4645, a Bill before Congress, will reopen sea travel for Americans to visit Cuba.With an increase in the number of travelers to Cuba, new and more cost effective methods of travel will need to be established. Cuba International Ferry will offer this service from Key West when the bill is passed into law.