SUNDAY 6th

We have come to the conclusion that it is not such a good idea to have the cafe open 24 hours as once again noisy people disturbed our sleep. Cases have to be out and our rooms vacated by noon so I want to make most of this morning before we depart for Havana airport at 1pm.

I watched a group of snorkelers going out to a reef on one of the small sailboats that we can use but must have an expert onboard . 6 people climbed on something designed for a maximum of 4 which made me glad I wasn’t on it. Our usual sunbeds are occupied by a couple who are doing a similar tour to us travelling with Jules Verne (now part of the Kuoni Group) but instead of returning to Havana for one night after visiting Vinales they stayed in a ‘rain forest’ area where if it had been the right season there would have been an abundance of orchids. The downside was it was a very long journey via the 'Bay of Pigs' to Trinidad. John and Dorothy joined in the conversation informing us they had just seen a ‘frigate bird’ which we had spotted on our walk yesterday, probably not the same one. We settled on nearby sunbeds until 11am when we returned to our room to shower and change.

The cafe is the only place open for food at this time of the day which is okay except when Joaquin came to our table he informed us there was no mint for the mojitos. You should have seen Keith’s face! Goodbyes said to the staff and whilst Keith finished his drink I went for a short walk around the front of the hotel. Today was really hot and surprisingly I still had several photographic opportunities.

Time to board our bus and we are taking 10 people from the last SAGA trip. Strange we have not encountered any of them until now.

A last Pina Colada stop gave me the opportunity to talk to one of the ladies who said the weather had not been that good – heavy showers and the first 4 days in Varadero had been cold and windy so really no chance to sunbathe. Our driver tooted the horn and the lady said we should go. “Not to worry” I responded “We haven’t taken much notice of our rep before, so why should be start now!” Not realising I was joking she returned to the bus. Ellen had taken a sip out of her Pina Colada (almost 3/4s of the glass) and topped it up with rum asking Ken to have a taste. His comment “quite nice!”

We had about another hour’s drive to the airport passing through some lovely coastal scenery but we were seated on the left hand side of the coach. Keith was rather relieved as at one point we drove very slowly over a narrow bridge across a wooded ravine where once again the turkey vultures were flying at eye level.

Arriving at the airport it was not as chaotic as I had expected but we were early. We joined the check in queue, moved on to pay our 25CUCs at the departure tax desk (which Mary Jane had handed out after our Pina Colada stop as she was frightened we would spend it on more drinks!) and then joined the line at Immigration for VIPs, located next to Crew and Diplomats. The process was slow and when all the Crew had been dealt with I took a look to see if the official was still in his booth. We remained in the queue but laughed a lot when I said “I wouldn’t mind” “What being crew or Diplomat?” “Me diplomat – I don’t think so!” My turn came and the official was very nice calling me by me Christian name and asking politely for me to look into the ball camera before handing back my documentation as I thanked him for a wonderful stay in Cuba. Going through security my underwired bra set off the alarm bells but other than that everything else was okay. A short walk down the hall and we were at the VIP Lounge.

It was not a very big place and not a lot of choice in food or drinks. The time at the ‘Melia’ had made me forget about how little food Cuba has. So it was cheese or plastic ham sandwiches, canapé of pickled onion on a stick or a packet of salty crackers. Thankfully they had plenty of rum but no mint so a large cuba libre was the order of the afternoon. We had heard a rumour that our flight was delayed but on being joined by Diane, and much later Tony as he had missed the VIP sign and spent 90 minutes getting through, we saw there was no information on the monitor in the lounge. Diane paid frequent visits to look at the screen and the lady on reception was no help. We listened for the announcements until finally our time came but by now most of the passengers were around Gate 10B waiting to board. Keith made his way through the throng whilst we followed him catching up with Ivor and Marion at the sign marked ‘Upper Class’ who were just about to board.

We are once again sat by the bar with Tony and Diane opposite. After take off Tony was soon asleep and missed his meal. I ordered posh meat pie but was later informed that was a mistake and would I be happy with fillet steak. Keith had ordered chicken and was now wishing he was having steak. As the stewardess cleared away we realised they had run out of the pie. With a 4 day stop over for the crew our stewardess told us she had her boyfriend with her on this trip and they had been having private 3 hour Salsa lessons. Last night they went to a Salsa Club but when her boyfriend saw the Cubans dancing he wouldn’t join in. She wasn’t upset with him – just pleased he was here and had made an effort for her. We all settled down for the night as our chairs turn over to form flat beds on which a thin quilted mattress was laid and then we have a duvet. Despite everyone appearing to be asleep the crew were very noisy in the galley next to our seats so it wasn’t such a peaceful night as I had hoped. Breakfast was served early and I made a wrong choice of choosing blueberry pancakes (thinking they would be as good as KLM) but they were very dry. I repeatedly asked for coffee which arrived in a large mug. Then it was time to fasten seat belts as we descended down into Gatwick around 8.30. Despite the delay in leaving we had made good time and arrived early.

It felt cold, but then we had left temperatures of around 30C, and had to wait at the open bus stop for the hotel bus. Collecting the car keys from hotel reception Keith went to the compound only to find the car had been moved closer to the building. We had a very blustery ride home and when we stopped for a coffee break on the A1 near Doncaster someone let their car door hit the driver’s side of our car so now we have a large dent and a lot of blue paint to remedy. Had we been more alert we should have parked the car well away from other vehicles due to the strong wind. We arrived home mid afternoon and the journey for a Monday had not been as bad as anticipated. Having said that we were once again lucky as we passed a car well alight, the driver still on the phone, and it was quite a distance up the M11 when we saw the fire engine heading down to the incident. It was on the M11 on our way down that we came across a car and caravan on the dual carriageway. The front of the car was badly damaged having hit a barrier and the caravan had bits strewn over the road along with womens shoes and other debris. On both occasions if the Police had got there first they would have shut the road and we could have been in for a long wait.