The former invalid person onboard, also called First Mate, has sort of returned from the death today. When we left Bahia the Vita yesterday I had to try really hard to look as healthy as possible, the last thing we wanted was to be kept in the marina by the harbor master who otherwise maybe would have called the doctor again to have me medically investigated before we could continue. I claimed my tiredness and my bend over walk had to do with too much partying and too little sleep which the marina employees believed in and found very entertaining. And as always, First Mate is more than happy to entertain, but this time it was little painful I must admit. I was happy to return to bed when we had cleared out of the marina and I had steered us out the bay when Maria programmed the handheld GPS with the waypoints towards the island Cayo Coco, where Cuba's best beaches are to be found. Cayo Coco is together with another 400 islands situated in an archipelago called Jardines del Ray which means Gardens of the King. The girls took the day watches with help of wind vane monitor and I took the bed watches until I couldn't stand the sweaty sheets any longer. Then Maria gave me a little shot of white rum which I swigged, the immediate effect failed to come though but since the wind vane steered beautifully, beam reaching on starboard tack all night long I insisted on doing my night and morning watches with the help of some painkillers. What motivated me more for the watches was not the white rum, rather the book of Ellen MacArthur, Taking the World, I was reading at the moment. If she could break the world record in 2005 and become the fastest solo sailor round the world, I think I could make those hours. Ellen MacArthur sailed a 75-feet trimaran round the world in 71 days, she is pure girl power in a sailing world dominated of men. However, luckily the world is changing and there are more girls entering the sailing sport. We are showing the islands here around Carribean that girls actually can sail by themselves. And I was very happy the other day when our stalker told me about a girl who had kicked some male egos in last regatta he joined. She was meant to be trimmer but when some other guys joined the crew she was put on the rail, not until the guys screwed up she was allowed to show her capability and did awesome! A phrase I love and try to live my life after, a phrase that is very important for Ellen MacArthur too and was written on her world record boat is YOU CAN DO IT… If you want something really bad in life, you can to it, no matter what!

This afternoon we arrived in the archipelago Jardines del Ray, we didn't reach as far as Escape before it got dark and hard to navigate among the coral reeves, but will sail there tomorrow and intend to have some lazy beach and boat days. If the resort prices aren't beyond the stars we might check in for some "all you can eat/drink/surf on the net". You see Cubans are not allowed to use the Internet (!!!) and it hardly exists anywhere. What is an email address – a question I have gotten from people I have given our Cantare business card to…So no, Internet is not as widely spread as you sometime think and we are happy to be able to use the satellite phone to update our blog. We have heard though that some of the hotels have internet for their guests, hopefully that is true and we can get some access. Sadly our lives are, despite the Cubans, deeply affected by the Internet and we need it from time to time, I mean now it is declaration times :-) Over and Out/ First Mate. A First Mate who is slowly recovering from her strange diarrhea with Maria's white rum shots.