Reddit mentions: The best caribbean travel guides

By visiting Cuba with a solidarity group or tour. Start learning Spanish it will lead to a better experience.

From the C.S.C - Cuba Solidarity Campaign & Rock around the Blockade in the United Kingdom, C.N.C - Canadian Network on Cuba in Canada, Pastors for Peace/IFCO in the United States, Cuba Sí in Germany as well as groups in Ireland, Belgium, France, Turkey, and Greece.

All these organisations offer diverse and wide ranging solidarity events, activities, cuban history, knowledge and information resources, on-going news, brigades, tours of Cuba and cultural exchanges.

Most if not all these organisations call for an end to the United States blockade against Cuba and some for their governments to to oppose it. They believe it is up to Cubans to decide what’s going to happen in Cuba, to decide their own internal affairs without outside interference, like other peoples in their own nations, the right to self determination, national sovereignty and independence.

There has been for a long time a call for the normalisation of diplomatic relations between Cuba & the United States, some of these organisations biggest campaigns were for the freedom of the group known as the Cuban Five or Miami Five that you can read about in the chapter “The Cuban Five”. (In my book from www.cubawanderer.co.uk)

Different groups offer different trips or tours, you can give your money to big commercial travel corporations or there are better ways like Cuba Cycle Challenges, a wonderful way to see Cuba as you ride through hamlets, small villages, towns and cities. I’ve been told the experiences with the local cubans that you meet as you ride will last a life time & at the same time raise money for educational equipment for young visually impaired Cuban school children and support the work of the solidarity campaigns & networks.

Brigades with young and old individuals offer the opportunity to participate in practical solidarity work by discovering the true reality of life for Cubans that will be a valuable insight into the many achievements of the revolution and the Cuban people. One of the biggest would be the 1st May Day Rally in Plaza de la Revolución in Havana where brigades from all over the world descend on Cuba. Brigades get to witness the devastating effect caused by the United States blockade by meeting and discussing current issues with Cubans in visits to schools, hospitals, workplaces and within neighbourhoods. In the past brigades contributed to real work in the agricultural and production areas. Today this is still available via voluntary work sessions.

Other tours, for instance the “Following Fidel study tour” include the same visits and meetings as the brigades and goes deep into the Sierra Maestra, all the way to the Comandancia de la Plata! The camouflaged and remote HQ of the revolution, where you can find Che’s Hospital, the bakery, the radio station & press office and even a school.

Another option would be the Viva Che Tour, where you get to meet Cuban doctors from the International Henry Reeve Brigade at Santa Clara Medical University. An educational visit to a Santa Clara childrens foster home, the Literacy Campaign Museum and an organic urban agricultural co-op. Other brigades and tours are available in the Summer & Winter for Young Trade Unionists, environmentalists, educationalists and Social-Work tours.

The Pastors for Peace in the United States send “Caravans” to Cuba from US soil that visit US communities on the way to explain their mission. Maybe you fancy that type of adventure!

For more info see here - http://www.cubawanderer.co.uk/index.php/features/cubansolidarity

See You Tube for my weekly vlog from Cuba. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNwPEeW-mHppAwI22cES5VQ

In the next few weeks I am vlogging about the best books and flims to read about Cuba. If you cannot wait that long and want to learn now then buy

"Women in Cuba: The Making of a Revolution Within the Revolution -From Santiago de Cuba and the Rebel Army, to the birth of the Federation of Cuban Women" By Vilma Espín, Asela de los Santos, Yolanda Ferrer.

Also see my blog and book - www.cubwanderer.co.uk - and http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993375006

Hello,
"An American Tourist in Fidel's Cuba" is a helpful guide for Americans interested in traveling to Cuba. In his book, Mark Goldman brings us into the Cuban world, introducing us to the outside markets, vintage cars from the 1950s, Cuban families enjoying their time together, young girls wearing colorful and elaborate dresses while sitting on the grounds and having pigeons perch on them, and the old haunts of one of America's most treasured writers, Ernest Hemingway.

Follow this link to get a digital copy of the book at http://www.amazon.com/American-Tourist-Fidels-Cuba-ebook/dp/B00DDGPYM2

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

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amazon.co.jp

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If you want to make it to the caribbean by powerboat, buy "the gentleman's guide to passages south" but Bruce Van Sant
http://amzn.com/1470146967


My biggest concern is the math on fuel consumption.

Do you know your Actual burn rate?

My best understanding of that vessel and engine setup is 15 gallons/hr at 11kts.

So being a bit conservative, its. 1.5gallons/mile. more if you go faster.

It's around 1400NM by water from lake erie to Miami.

another 1000 to the virgin islands via the Bahamas.

That's 2100 gallons of gasoline for the miami leg, and another 1500 gallons to the caribbean.

this is ONE WAY.

Fuel dock prices on the east coast are currently averaging around $3/gallon, so that's $6200 in gas to just get to miami.

In the bahamas/caribbean, it's currently around $4/gallon,
so another $6000 to get from Miami to the Virgin Islands.

That's a total of $24,000 in gas for the round trip.

I'd look for a single engine diesel for the trip, which can get up up to 3 miles/gallon if I was doing that trip by powerboat, but you did come to a sailing forum for advice.

This south-easterly voyage is often referred to as "the Thorny Path", as it's into the tradewinds.

I've read that the wind dies down in the middle of the night and the early hours are the best time to make a few hours headway.

My mid-morning the headwinds have picked up, and it becomes a matter of how long you can endure it - typically anchoring before midday.

Google "the Thorny Path sailing" for lots of results. I've read that this is a good guide.

The New York Times: 36 Hours Latin America & The Caribbean

https://www.amazon.ca/StreetSmart-Havana-Map-VanDam-Laminated/dp/193439548X