By Thomas R. Dempsey, M.D. CCI.
Well, I finally got to take a trip to Cuba. What an experience. I don’t know why anyone would want to fish the Bahamas when they could go to Cuba. The entrance into Cuba is extremely easy and can be accomplished in about 15-20 minutes on the computer. Once that’s done, a trip to Miami and a 32-minute flight from Miami International to Cuba’s International Airport and you’re there. Once we landed, we made our way to one of the local hotels that had been there about 3 years. It was magnificent and the furnishings were great.
While I was waiting to go with my friends, who were going to arrive about 2 hours after I got there, I took a pedicab ride with Raphael. He took me to parts of Old Havana that tourists don’t get to see. Up on top of a small building we had a magnificent lobster meal for about 10 bucks and finished it off with a large mojito. I told him to get in back of the pedicab and I would pedal him around. So for the next 30 minutes he hailed all his friends up and down the street while he drank his mojito.
We took a cultural tour for 2 days which was fascinating. The Cuban people are wonderful. They love the Americans and are polite and they have nothing. Their average salary is $4 a month. They have no cars. They walk or ride bicycles. Once you get out of Havana then there are none of the old 1950’s Chevrolets that have been restored. Only bicycles, horse-drawn carts and walking are available. All the kids I gave coloring books to on the streets thanked me and their parents thanked me.
3-hours north is Cayo Largo where we caught our mother ship from the Italian company Avalon. They’ve got it down right. Each person has their own little state room with 2 beds, bathroom, shower and they wash your clothes every day. The food was fantastic! 5 of the 7 nights we had all the lobster you can eat, chicken, pork and beef. Plus all the rum you can drink and all the beer. It is a price-fixed trip.
At 8-oclock in the morning we caught our dolphin skiff and for the next 8 hours we polled the flats looking for bonefish, tarpon and permit and a variety of other bottom fish. There are miles and miles of flats and the only boats you will see are the ones by Avalon. The Cuban people can’t afford boats or fishing equipment. So, nobody fishes except the charter people. Our guide had been guiding for some 18 years and could spot bonefish and tarpon like nobody’s business. I thought the guides were probably some of the best I have ever had. There were plenty of bonefish, plenty of tarpon, some permit, horse-eye jacks, ribbon fish, needle fish, blue runners and a lot of different types of fish.
It was a great opportunity to see a country that is no military or political or economic threat to us under an embargo that makes no sense. I would go back to Cuba anytime. What a beautiful country. There are miles and miles of antique buildings that are falling apart because they have to money to restore them. But the Cuban excitement is there. The people are happy to be Cubans and they love the Americans. If you ever have a chance to go to Cuba you need to take it because the future of Cuba is a great unknown.
