Report from flats fishing trip in Cuba

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I found this on Dan Blanton's message board:

__________________________________________________ ______________________

Cuba - JDR - 2018
[Bulletin Board]
Posted by Ping on 2018-03-27 17:20:48

Got back from another Cuba trip with my buddy a few weeks ago. We had last gone (for the first time) in late summer 2015, and had marked the place as a spot we had to return to. Same deal as last time, a week on the Tortuga houseboat, a mass of steel plunked down in the middle of the Jardines de la Reina. Flew in via Ft Lauderdale this time, on Jet Blue, versus last time on Air Mexico via Mexico City. Logistics were about the same, after you fly in, you take a bus to the port and then a 3.5 hour boat ride out to the JDR.

Thankfully, the environment was just as we remembered it, stunning in all regards. We were only one of three boats fishing the entire JDR that week, which was quite fortunate.

The pictures don't really do justice to what kind of place the JDR is, that it is the kind of place where you see things that you didn't think you would ever see, or things that you have only ever seen in aquariums or on television shows with an old British man droning on and on about the mysteries of life. Things like coming across an ocean-side flat and finding acres of bonefish, two or three thousand fish, so many it looked more like the shadow of a cloud than a school of fish, milling about, waiting for the full moon to head offshore and spawn. Smallest fish we could find in the school went a healthy six pounds, and the biggest was over 10. It was an incredible sight - all those fish swimming around the boat - something we'll be seeing in our dreams for a while. Or things like slowly drifting down a small channel and seeing, in the waters below, a medley of life from a small school of jacks to a cadre of eagle rays, to another school of hundreds of bonefish, big snappers milling about below, solitary cudas lurking off in the distance, a concentration of life gawk-worthy even at an aquarium.

The fishing was fantastic, as usual, though I will note that this assessment is helped greatly by our willingness to find fun in catching just about anything - if all you want to do is catch a permit, you might have some days slower than others; if you find it fun to catch a few tarpon and then toss a sinking line and a clouser into a channel or blue hole and see what sort of fierce creature you can pull out, there's never a dull moment.

Our guide Bemba was fantastic again, and the accommodations and food on board the Tortuga were excellent.

It's good to know that places like that still exist. That, for all the havoc humans have wrought upon our shared environment, life can still find a way to thrive. Can't wait to go back.

[gitt]

Bill,

I see you toured Havana while you were there in May. What were your impressions and where did you go?

Fidel Castro was an avid scuba diver. He placed quite a few (read as a lot) of the areas off the coast into Marine Sanctuaries back in the late 90's and enforced those areas a few years later. Cubans can't even fish from the shore in those areas. The waters are pretty much protected and accessible only by the few. As ping suggests and I agree, those areas are pristine waters. I had never seen so many healthy bonefish, tarpon, and permit in the protected areas. We were south on Cayo Largo. While there, we did not see another boat that was not associated with Avalon. After fishing before dinner, we fed 5-6 foot tarpon bread from the dock as if they were pets.

There was a wooden sailboat in the marina skippered by an American from Hilo. The guy works 6 months out of the year and lets his son run the business the other 6 months while sails around the world the rest of the time. He had left his boat in Cayo Largo the previous year when hurricane season put his sailing travels on hold. We had dinner with him a few nights and even toured his boat as he got his vessel ready to get underway out of the area. The other guests/fly anglers were doctors from Santiago, Chile, and Terra del Fuego, Argentina. One of the doctors had been a guide in Southern Argentina while going to dental school. He had guided both Terra del Fuego and Strobel or Jurassic Lake. They all spoke fluent English and could converse accept for his father. The guide turned dentist said his favorite English was a four-letter Saxon word that Americans used that began with an "F" and ended with a "k" when he was guiding. He then went off on how to use the word in several instances. He just loved the sound and flow of the word and laughed at his own expertise in using the word.

The Argentinians brought a case of beef and the Chileans brought a case of Chilean wine that we shared nightly. At the most, there was just 8 of us at dinner as we joined at the same table nightly in lively conversation. What stood out with the travelers from Hilo is their tales of size and abundance of lobster on the reefs when then hit Cuban waters. They said they had never seen so many and enjoyed a few meals of fresh lobster. We told them that the waters were protected. Their reply was no one was there to enforce the protection. When the Cuban Navy or Coast Guard approached them as they entered the Cuban waters the previous year and boarded their vessel to check their documents, it was friendly and fairly routine as far as they were concerned. After the Naval personal disembarked their vessel, it was fairly easy sailing on to Cayo Largo. They hired a local Cuban at the marina to help them polish all the chrome and salt off of the mahogany for a couple of days in order to ready the vessel for travel. They were just waiting for friends to show up as they continued on out of the country and west. Got to tell you, what a life. The guy that owned the boat flew into Havana with a deckhand where they spent the night at a whore house before flying to Cayo Largo. I will have to look for photos of their schooner and post as an edit later.

As for our guide, he had been in the military as a personal bodyguard for visiting political dignitaries. He had met Hugo Chavez and Putin while in the service. He had to pass a written test to even be considered for a position as a guide with Avalon. On the last night, we had him join us for dinner with his girlfriend who worked as a hotel concierge at the hotel row a few miles away from our location. For the most part, we were isolated from the more touristy area. Airline crew members staying overnight were the only other guests where we stayed. For a couple of days we did not see a plane arrive from our view of the flight path. Later we heard that the only aircraft flying into Cayo Largo had been grounded for an unscheduled repair.

Tales like this, one can simply not make it up. It was great just being a casual observer and interacting with this group. I have not even touched on the fishing or Viejo Havana prior to flying out to Cayo Largo. It was great experience.

[mems]

Cool story, who was the guy from hilo?

[gitt]

Don,

He told us that he was an electrical contractor that maintained and installed the street lights in Hilo. Not certain of his name, but I can shoot you a group photo so you can clearly identify him and his crew member.

[mems]

Cool, I fish with a friend who is retired from HELCO. If I don't know who he is, my friend should. My e-mail is kickithilo@yahoo.com
Thanks, Don.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Taking a one day professional tour in Havana would be my recommendation....

Some would spend a week there.

Thousand of old cars.....

Here is some good footage showing the beautiful architecture....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uv5FVJb-iA

[gitt]

Here are a few photos of that private sailboat that I was referring to at the marina while in Cayo Large, Cuba.

14012

14013

[dynaflow]

Wow! Dreams are made of this.My eyes glazed over reading that report...