In this video, Sailing Cayo Largo and the Yucatan Channel, Cuba for Cruisers, We anchor off the endless powder soft beaches of Cayo Largo, deserted from the covid-19 pandemic and go ashore to explore and pitch our sun tent. We snorkel in the reef just 100' from our boat and get chased away by huge barracuda fish. We sail around the Island of Jerventud, then west for the Yucatan Channel, and the Gulf Steam as we round the western tip if Cuba. #cruisingcuba #cayolargo #sailingchannel If you like our videos and want to see more/better videos, more often you can become a patreon supporter: https://www.patreon.com/sailingbalachandra If you haven't yet SUBSCRIBED and want to see more please click the SUBSCRIBE button above, and be sure to give this video a like! In August of 2017 we sold everything and moved aboard Balachandra, a 1986 C&C44 sailboat, then sailed it over 300 nautical miles to Halifax Nova Scotia to spend a cold Canadian winter in the frozen waters of the North Atlantic. Sailing Balachandra is our YouTube sailing vlog inspired by other great channels such as Delos and La Vagabonde, which documents the sailing adventures of myself and my partner Nawal as we navigate the globe. We also dive into lots of DIY boat projects both above and below decks, and share with you all of the pros and cons of living aboard full time. Sailing Balachandra is published weekly so please subscribe so you don't miss out on future videos! This video was shot with equipment from Optrix by Body Glove, Nikon, Apple, GoPro, and Polaroid Opening Theme Music: License Info: Beautiful Story / Taketones.com Used with a Paid Licence / Permission PURCHASED MUSIC: LINK: https://taketones.com/track/beautiful-story LICENSE N: TTEXTENDED157339559892860327 EXTENDED Special Thanks to our Cuban friends Group Nucay for giving us permision to use to use their album "Tropicalissimo" throughout our YouTube series. Other Music: the YouTube Music Library Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sailingbalachandra Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sailingbalachandra Instagram: http://instagram.com/sailing_balachandra


Closed Captions (CC):
in this episode we explore the endless

beaches of cayo largo we go snorkeling

then sail along the south coast of cuba

headed for the yucatan channel and the

gulf of mexico

last time on sailing bella chandra we

sailed

to beautiful kyo brigantine then the

city of san fuegos

and arrived in kyle largo for mojitos in

a sea turtle sanctuary

if you're new to the channel hi i'm

noelle and i'm dan and we're sailing

bella chandra

we sailed all the way from halifax nova

scotia

to the caribbean that's right we're

sailing around the caribbean now and if

you haven't subscribed

to our channel just go below this video

look for the big red subscribe button

and press that button

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kyle largo hosts endless stretches of

beautiful powder sand beaches

spotted with empty cabana-style resorts

closed

due to the pandemic we had it all to

ourselves

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so

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we found spectacular snorkeling not 100

feet from our anchor spot however

we had to cut things short when some

four foot barracudas turned up and

started getting a little too

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curious

ohio largo was pretty amazing it has to

be our favorite spot i think on the

south coast of cuba

if you're cruising the south coast and

you're going through all the little

cayos and islands

you really want to try to make it to kyo

largo it's really beautiful the beaches

are incredible

the the water is crystal clear the

snorkeling was amazing

just all around a really great slice of

what the caribbean is

this far south of the exumas today we're

sailing from kyle largo

to see how far we can get towards the

western tip of cuba

there's a few anchorages we can grab on

the way if we need to rest

we did stop at one last night there

wasn't a whole lot there to see or do so

we just

rested quickly and then left again we're

doing really good right now we're making

amazing time doing about six to seven

knots sailing downwind with both the jib

and the main out and we are just south

of the island of gervatu

uh on my open cpn charts it's called the

isle de pinos so i don't know what you

want to call it

i don't even think gervatu is the right

way to pronounce it it's like

j-e-r-v-i-t-u-d so maybe here there too

or something not really sure we've got a

really good week of amazing weather

easterly trades flowing in from the east

and from the southeast

all week long no northerly is expected

we haven't seen any squalls we did have

one kind of a squall rollover yesterday

but it was just more like a small

increase in wind so it was all right

so really really amazing sailing

conditions and we're having a good time

with any luck we'll get to the west

coast of cuba and then we can rest a

little and then

plan our trip from there north to havana

and uh that's our last stop in cuba so

we'll see how it goes

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what are you doing you come back to the

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cockpit

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we passed the island of wave and two or

german two

i can't pronounce it last night but i

did figure out that it translates to the

island of youth

well past that now and we are headed for

the

western tip of cuba which just

sticks out and touches into the gulf

stream

right there at the gulf of mexico where

the atlantic gulf stream begins

there's going to be a bit of a cross

current there between the yucatan

channel

and the gulf of mexico where you go

around cuba and

up into that water between cuba and

florida

something of a cross current and

depending on the wind direction it could

have a very similar effect to

cape hatteras we're a little bit

concerned about that and we're gonna try

to figure this one out and do our best

not to get caught in anything serious

out there

you know it's just one little corner if

we can get around it there's an

anchorage just on the other side

and we should be okay so we're going to

grab a mooring ball on a piece of land

that's

stuck out there just before we get to

that area and uh suss out the situation

try to get a weather update with our

phones we did get chris parker this

morning over the ssb and we have a

pretty good idea of what's going on so

that's good

um but we also have to bring our dinghy

up on deck and maybe set up the storm

jib just in case you know

bad things happen it's a lot of work but

um if we get caught out

in bad conditions we want to be ready

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we continue to feel overwhelmed by just

how massive the island

and country of cuba really is it's just

seemingly endless

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all right so after a night on anchor we

just had to get some rest we were

sailing for like two

days straight trying to get around the

west side of

cuba so that we can head up towards

havana

we anchored really close to the yucatan

channel but we didn't enter it

the yucatan channel is the piece of

water between cuba

and mexico and that's also where the

gulf stream kind of kicks off and starts

we read on active captain that this can

be a pretty dangerous spot

regardless of wind based on the cross

currents that you have with the gulf

stream and

the normal caribbean east to west

uh current that you have always going

through here

we're literally just passing the west

tip of cuba now

we are entering the yucatan channel and

we just have this light

wind day uh we have wind from the

southeast

east and east southeast blowing from

behind us and

we're doing about five knots and the

swell is

small it's maybe like four feet and it's

pretty light conditions

and we're doing great we're keeping

about four to five nautical miles

offshore just in case there's any kind

of

rip currents or anything up near shore

at ease or um

reversing waves hitting the shore and

coming back which can also be a problem

pretty soon we'll be turning

up with the gulf stream completely

rounding the west side

of cuba once that's done there's an

anchorage just on the other side that

we're going to grab

from that point on we have to work out

our plan to get to havana

now going to havana from there might

mean sailing upwind

but sometimes the wind crosses cuba

and heads straight for florida from more

of a southerly direction so i'm hoping

that we'll get a few days like that

where we can actually

you know sail on a beam reach and travel

towards havana that way so we'll see how

it goes

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thanks see you later

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thank you

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boy