Flags
When I entered Cuba the last time, I had our flag flying from the stern and a Q flag flying from the starboard spreader. After being cleared in--medical, agriculture, drug-sniffing dog, immigration, customs, etc.--we then took down the Q flag and flew the Cuban flag from the starboard spreader. I was a bit embarrassed when a Cuban official came by the boat and explained to me that I had the Cuban flag flying upside down. oh. Corrected that immediately.
Return to the USA was easy. Because we had been in Cuba, we got a personal inspection from agriculture and customs. Guys were very efficient, very courteous. Then, as we were leaving Key West a few days later, for parts north, we got rolled by a Coast Guard cutter, Monhegan. Big wake. Put in a claim for $10 for a bottle of Cuban rum that got smashed.. Coast Guard hemmed and hawed for a couple of years, lost the paperwork twice, and then paid. I framed the correspondence. The top officer of Coast Guard Group Key West was quoted in The Navy Times as, basically, saying a vessel is not responsible for its own wake, if it's in the channel. He apparently missed Rules of the Road 101. He offered, in the story, to buy me a drink. Well, it's 800 miles round trip from the Tampa Bay area to Key West. I demurred.
