Cuba

#1 Marina Hemingway

This information was compiled by Graham Hoyland & Gina Waggott on “Curlew”, for SevenSeasSevenSummits.com. You may copy and distribute as you see fit, but please acknowledge the original source. Info is correct as of March 2010.

This guide was written after arriving in Marina Hemingway, staying a few weeks, and wishing we knew all this information at the start. It doesn’t include the entrance and exit procedures, these are well documented elsewhere. Nor is it a tourist guide to Cuba - something else that is abundant on other sites. Although any cruiser would probably find out most of this information in the end (especially if you speak Spanish), we thought it would be a useful starting place for yachties arriving at the Marina. Enjoy!

Currency

There are two currencies in Cuba - the National Peso (CUP) and the Cuban Convertible (CUC). Tourists are not ‘meant’ to have the National Pesos, although you can get them, along with CUC, at the Cadeca (Money Exchange). The nearest Cadeca is halfway down Canal 3.

The rate is about 25 national pesos to a CUC. It’s not worth getting a lot of them - there are hardly any places to spend them. Tourists can usually only pay for things in CUC, which is supposed to be a 1:1 parity with the US Dollar but often isn’t due to exchange fees.

Places you CAN spend the national Peso (thus making things cost 25 times less!) are panaderias (local bakeries), fruit and veg stands, and some cafes outside of Havana (for example, we paid for our coffees at a roadside Café with them). Locals often want to be paid in CUC instead - the Cuban people have to pay for luxury goods with CUCs, making things like clothes and toiletries horribly expensive for them (they make good gifts, therefore, for local people).

We quickly learned that nobody seems to know the official status of why some charges are made with some currencies or cards - not even the banks! Basically, bring as much IN CASH as you think you will need for your stay, in EUR, GBP or Canadian Dollars. Euros can be spent in some stores in Havana (and later, we discovered, in Varadero) at a poor rate of about 0.85. Don’t bother with credit cards or USD in any form - you will lose almost 12% in charges. We found that some guidebooks were incorrect in saying you can use a card, so long as the currency is not in USD. This isn’t true. Your home currency on the card will be converted to USD before CUCs, so it’s not worth it. Convert your cash Euros (or Pounds, etc) into CUC as you go. All Cuban currency is worthless outside the island, so change any unused CUC or CUP before you go home. Note that there’s a 25 CUC per person departure tax that has to be paid to leave Cuba, so put some CUC aside.

If you must use a card, there is one ATM in Havana (charging about 7% instead of 12%), - follow signs for the Floridita bar, and follow the road along the bar (not Obispo, the other one). There’s a bank on the right, complete with ATM. There’s always a queue, but far less people wait at night than in the day.

Weather

We could get one (sometimes two) of the NOAA channels on our VHF, reception seemed better at night. Weather is stuck on the Marina notice board outside the dock master’s office every day. The Cuban weather on TV follows the 8pm news - if you ask nicely, you can watch this on the TV in the lounge outside the dock master’s office.

Getting into Havana

Buses

There are special tourist buses (red with “HavanaTour” written on the side, not the Transtur ones, which seem to be for reserved excursions). They leave from outside the Marina shower/café block approximately on the hour. We say approximately, because some days, they left and appeared randomly. The only consistency seemed to be the time of the last returning bus to the Marina, which was about 5:30-6pm.

The best thing to do is to wait until you see the bus arrive and park, then the staff get out to stretch their legs and go to the bathroom… the bus sits there for anywhere between 10-30 minutes, so get on it then. You need two buses to get into Old Havana. The first one (from the Marina) terminates at Plaza De La Revolution (Revolutionary Square). The second goes from the Square (same place you got off, so best not to wander far) into Old Havana. The timetables are meant to be linked but sometimes you will wait a long time for the second bus to roll around.

Ticket prices are 1 CUC (return) on the first bus, and either 3 or 5 CUC on the second. One day, we were sold the 5 CUC (all inclusive) ticket on the first bus. We were told this was due to us being there low season (Jan), then February, but we’re still not entirely sure. Expect to pay 1 CUC followed by 5 CUC as a rule. The “guided tour” element is also completely random… sometimes the ticket lady at the front of the bus will point out landmarks in either English, Spanish or both, most times this is omitted entirely. The buses also go slightly different routes sometimes (always ending up at the same destination, so don’t panic too much). Presumably this is to pick up or drop off at some hotels, but again, we’re not entirely sure. Just go with the flow!

Taxis

Official taxis are far more expensive than ‘private ones’, which are illegal but omnipresent throughout Havana. The best thing to do is to go outside the Marina gates and cross the road. Flag down some cars (with ’taxi’ written on them or not) - within minutes, someone will pull up. Negotiate the price beforehand (the least we paid for a ride into Old Havana was 8 CUC, the most was 12 CUC with 4 of us in the car). This is only recommended for short trips - outside Havana, there are lots of Guarda posts who routinely check cars for Cubans taking tourists in their cars.

Hire Cars

Hire Cars are both inferior in quality and much more expensive than most other countries - about 100 CUC a day. There is little room for bargains or bartering, because as with everything in Cuba, the rates are set nationwide by the government.

Another inflexibility is the time you bring the car back. In our experience at home, nobody cares give or take an hour or two. In Cuba, this is unheard of. We tried to return a car one evening, saw the office was closed, and decided to return it first thing in the morning. In the UK, this is usually no problem. We accidentally caused a marathon of stress for the poor man who runs the CubaCar facility in the Marina (sorry Oswaldo!). Another car hire chap in Varadero actually gave us his home number should things go wrong, which is unprecedented back home. Bring the car back on time, and everyone is happy. Oh, and you do NOT have to fill the tank with gas/petrol before you return it. You can return it empty if you like, at no additional cost (you get charged for fuel when you hire it). Due to problems with black market fuel, the Car Hire depot does NOT expect you to fill the tank before return.

Internet

Abysmally slow internet (equivalent to about 56kps dialup - what we had in the UK 15 years ago!) is available in two places. The first is Club Acuardio(?), the hotel complex that runs alongside the third canal in Marina Hemingway. It has four computers in the lobby/reception area, one of which wasn’t working during our visit. It’s frequently busy with a couple of people waiting to log on. You buy pre-paid cards from reception for either 30 mins (3 CUC) or 60 mins (6 CUC). It’s unclear if the internet is just for hotel guests: we were asked for room numbers twice out of the ten or so times we bought cards. Note that we heard (but can’t confirm), that some email providers are impossible to log on to, notably AOL. If there is a basic html version of your email (Gmail has this facility, and Yahoo calls it “Yahoo Classic”), then choose that, or it will take you a very long time to sign in and read your mail. It’s rumoured that the lack of speed is down to all connections going through a monitored server in Havana, so it’s probably best not to say anything controversial in your emails to friends and family back home…

The second internet facility is at Club Havana, a gorgeous colonial building and conference centre about 1.5 miles away from the Marina, on your left at traffic lights as you follow main road to Havana. You’ll have to leave your passport with the entrance guards. Tell them that you are there for the internet, or you’ll get charged the daily rate of 10 CUC for using the club. The internet room is in the main building - go through the entrance and turn right. An almost identical card system is in place here, and it costs 5CUC per hour from a lady who oversees the room (which has around 7 computers).

At the time of writing, there is no wireless internet anywhere in Cuba, so leave the laptops on the boat!

Provisioning

The Marina has two shops onsite:

Ship Chandlery

Usually staffed by a very friendly and helpful guy called Jose, who has excellent English. For inexplicable reasons, spirits are very cheap here. We got Beefeater Gin for around 7 CUC, and Havana Club Rum for about 4. Other spirits, including single malt whisky and several British exports, are cheaper than back home! Wine is better priced elsewhere. Aside from condiments, soft drinks and some toiletries, the fridge is usually well-stocked. Eggs (delicious free-range Cuban ones!) are less than 3 CUC for a large tray of 24. Don’t take the cardboard onboard, though - we saw the trays were full of cockroaches and their eggs. The frozen chickens (from Brazil) are excellent, and the butter is cheap.

Marina Mercado

This is obviously aimed at cruisers, owing to the large amount of plastic containers and cutlery you can buy - prices are similar (or a little more expensive) than USA ones. Cheaper wine is here (wine seems to be pretty expensive all over Cuba, so stock up while you can). The 5 CUC bottles we tried were drinkable Spanish imports. Beer is 1 CUC a can. You can also get UHT whole milk, some tinned veg and dried beans and pasta here. Bread appears rarely (in bags near the checkout). At the other end of the market is a deli of sorts. The freezer is randomly stocked with whole chickens (or cuts of them). At the counter, meat comes and goes randomly - buy it when you can, and soon after it appears, as it seems to sit there for a while! We tried the Cuban gouda cheese, which was very good - and some delicious pork sausages called Cibollo - no idea what’s in them, and probably best not to ask - but they tasted great. Chorizo is always available, as is some ham and luncheon meat, all reasonably priced.

Bread is rationed in Cuba, and the locals get theirs from a panadaria - it’s not in any shops. There is a panadaria about 15 mins walk out of the Marina, on the left side of the road. Sometimes there isn’t any bread, or they won’t sell it to you. When they do, you can pay in local pesos - it’s about 6 peso a loaf.

Fresh fruit and veg evaded us for a long time. Potatoes, by the way, cannot be found anywhere (except cooked in restaurants!), so stock up before you leave for Cuba. There is a farmer’s market on the tourist bus route (T-2) from the Marina to the Plaza del la Revolucion. Return price is 1 CUC. Instead of going all the way to the plaza, ask the staff if you can be dropped at the “vegetable market” en route. We got lots of things there, and cheaply too (for local Pesos). Although we didn’t buy any, meat (mostly pork) was available in a large shed-like building next to the market. The T-2 bus will pick you up again on the way back (approx 40 mins later), if you stand on the road and wave your tickets. Fruit and veg stalls are also dotted around in the villages - there is one near the panadaria, although we can’t remember the name of the street.

There are two Supermercados that we found. One is almost directly underneath the Russian Embassy, which looks like a large ugly concrete block, near the Hotel Panorama. The other is two streets behind Club Havana, and is much better.

Restaurants

The Marina has a few places to eat out:

Chinese Restaurant

This is behind the car park, at the back of the shower and bathrooms. Very good food, prices seem to be slightly cheaper than back home. It’s open until midnight. Some of the translations had us puzzled - if anyone tries the “head meat”, please tell us what it was like…

Kilimanjaro bar buffet

The Hotel Acurio complex (alongside canal 3) and surrounding restaurants are all for hotel residents, who wear wristbands to show that they’re part of the all-inclusive deal. You can get a temporary wristband for the buffet only, from the reception at Hotel Acurio. It was 16 CUC each for an all-you-can-eat style buffet inclusive of drinks, but the food was relatively uninspiring. There is an Italian restaurant downstairs, but we didn’t try it as we were told it was “reservations only”, even though it was almost empty!

Pizza Nova

We had an excellent large pizza to take away, for 18 CUC. Delivery is 2 CUC, should you not fancy the walk (it’s at the end of canal 3, near the road out of the Marina). We ate in the restaurant once, too - the pasta was all right, but the service was slow (to be fair, it was a busy night - Valentine’s Day). They had a very good guitarist there that night, though we suspect he’s not a regular feature.

Marina Yacht Club

Every Friday night, from about 6pm onwards, the Yacht Club had a barbecue. For 3-5 CUC, you can have a pork chop, fish fillet or half a chicken, served with salad. Both times we ate there, the food was very good. Music was there one night but not the other, and inside is a small bar and TV area.

Further afield:

Club Havana

Mentioned above in the Internet details, Club Havana also has an excellent restaurant called La Chelo (‘The Chello’). It looked very expensive… but it wasn’t! Filet mignon was 12 CUC, lobster was steeper at 25. Most mains are around 5-8 CUC and are delicious. The restaurant itself is lovely, and was very busy: reservations are recommended.

Note: We had three recommendations to go to a Restaurant opposite the Capitolio in Havana - called Los Novas or similar. We got there, and there was a huge (20+) queue of people outside the door. As an alternative, we’d recommend:

Al Medina Restaurant

On Las Oficianas street, just off the Plaza des Armas. An Arabian restaurant set in a beautiful courtyard. We ate there three or four times, we like it that much. The specials include a glass of wine and dessert - one is a lobster and seafood kebab for about 15 CUC (bargain!), the other is stewed lamb in red wine sauce (also very good). There are a couple of resident parrots to keep you amused while you wait…

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Go to www.cubacentral.com for updates on current legislation and politics regarding Cuba
Go to www.lawg.org for the latest info on the Cuba amendment being hijacked from the Appropriations bill (Nov 2003)