Cienfuegos

We have recently left Cuba after an interesting couple of weeks. Before making our way there we heard from another yacht in Luperon, Dominican Republic, that the Easternmost port of entry on the south coast, Santiago de Cuba, was closed, which meant the next available port of entry on the south coast was Cienfuegos. With reference to the Nigel Calder cruising guide to Cuba, Manzanillo and Casilda are no longer ports of entry, the only other on the south coast being Cayo Largo. This turned our plan for arrival in Cuba to a 600 rather than 300 mile passage and mean that friends joining us had also to change their flight arrival details.
However, Cienfuegos transpired to be a good centre to get a flavour of Cuba and from which to visit Havana, which ought to be on everybody 's list.
Apart bringing excessive paperwork (but little more than is experienced in other Carribean countries), the officials were all very friendly.
The closure of Santiago was confirmed by those officials who could not provide any information as why or for how long the closure would last.

Port Antonio
Errol Flynn Marina

We arrived here from Cuba as the first major stage in working our way east.
Various sources counsel caution in visiting Jamaica, but what we have found here at Errol Flynn Marina is a secure, friendly, economical and under utilized marina. Currently it is $0.75 a foot (+water & electricity) in the marina or $10/night at anchor or on a buoy for use of all marina facilities (showers, wifi etc). Given that elsewhere in the Caribbean it is common to pay $3 for a shower, the latter is a good deal.
The adjacent town has a good market and reasonable supermarkets (by Caribbean standards), and there do not appear to be major issues and we have confidence in leaving the boat for local touring.
From our current experience, here (Near the NE corner of Jamaica) is to be highly recommended as a staging post for passages east/west or north/south,and may be particularly useful for those visiting Cuba if current restrictions continue on the use of Santiago de Cuba (see message above)

Graeme & Gillian Mulcahy
S/Y Kathleen Love