It’s not news any more that Americans are cruising to Cuba. I went there myself in with Scott Porter, the president of Formula, on one of his 40-foot cruisers way back in 1998 (and it was one of the best trips ever). But it is news to cruise there on a pontoon boat, a vessel usually found on inland rivers and lakes.
Here’s a fun story from Boating World about how Jim Wolf, the CEO of Avalon pontoon boats, and three friends drove a 27-foot Avalon from Key West to Cuba. Actually, they took the boat much farther, from Clearwater, Florida, where they put it in the water from a launch ramp. Wolf says it was a standard Ambassador model, with twin 400-hp Mercury Verado outboards, plus a Garmin GPS, EPIRBs and a sat phone.
The goal was to be the first pontoon boat to go from the United States to Cuba. To make sure they made it, roundtrip, without refueling, they added a second 100-gallon fuel tank. (The standard Ambassador model has a single tank in the center pontoon.) They also took eight five-gallon jerry cans for a total of 240 gallons on board.
The water was calm on the way over, and they put in some fuel from the jerry cans. They had no trouble clearing Cuban customs at Marina Hemingway, the major entry point for American boats about 12 miles west of Havana. The dockmaster ended up calling the Avalon a Sea Car. They then spent a few days sightseeing, enjoying riding around in the old American cars and sampling some native Cuban rum and cigars.
On the way back, the seas ran three-to-five feet at first, and then calmed down. When they got back to Key West, they fueled up again; they had used just 168 for the more than 200-mile roundtrip. Read more:
http://www.boatingworld.com/feature-stories/havana-via-avalon/?
