Arrival in Cuba and Strate’s Birthday

Ship: Regina Maris
Date: 9th of February 2025
Position: Marina Hemingway
Geographical Position: 23°05.276’N, 082°29.946’W
Etmal: 75 nm
Total: 7,782 nm

00:00: I woke up to a loud HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Exactly at midnight, everyone was singing for Strate’s birthday. Our wonderful boy turned into a man – he is now finally 16 years old.

After a delicious cheese toast for breakfast, it was watch time. Together with the rest of the Charlie watch, we sailed with our beautiful Reggie towards the skyline of Havana, Cuba.

Right before the harbor, we got the announcement that the Thor Heyerdahl, the sailing ship of a different school ship organization – KUS (Klassenzimmer unter Segeln) – had just arrived shortly before us, so we had to wait for them to check in. We used the time to clean the rest of the ship, but after our deep, deep clean yesterday, there wasn’t too much left to do. After cleaning the bathroom for the third time, we finally got the go-ahead.

Our captain, Heine, who is sadly leaving us here in Cuba, docked the ship perfectly, as always.

The whole check-in process took ages. The entire ship had to be inspected for things like drugs and onboard hygiene. Luckily, the hours of cleaning the day before paid off and the Regina was confirmed to stay in Cuba.

Setting foot on Cuba for the first time, the first thing you notice is the beautiful classic cars. They are everywhere, from baby blue to Barbie pink, they exist in every color you can imagine.

We were even lucky enough to get the opportunity to sit in some of these extraordinary cars and talk to their owners. Many of them could even speak German and we had some lovely conversations.

After lunch, we had free shore leave in the harbor. We had time for all kinds of activities – some people went swimming, some took a little walk with our teacher Niklas to explore the harbor and some, including me, took the chance to do sports.

After three months without being able to do any kind of exercise, we were all pretty much out of shape. We set off for our first little sprint in months. Running on the Reggie is strictly forbidden, especially during rough seas, so this was a rare opportunity.

After a hard training session, including just a few push-ups and burpees – we were completely exhausted and sweating like crazy. But still, it felt amazing to move again.

Thanks to the water connection in the harbor, we were able to take long, warm showers. The effort paid off and the day ended with delicious pancakes 🥞 from our wonderful galley team.

Anmerkungen:

Johannes: Hallohallo ihr Lieben😘! Habe euch heute echt doll vermisst, aber danke für die schönen Briefe und die Kette ❤️ habe mich echt riesig gefreut und hatte eigentlich einen echt schönen Tag. Habe mal anders in meinen Geburtstag reingefeiert😉. Hab‘ euch alle ganz dolle lieb!❤️ P.S. Habe mich auch riesig doll über den Brief von Anika gefreut ❤️