Robert Vassallo and Angellette Smith had been battered by waves for two days when a final surge sent their boat crashing into a reef off the western coast of Cuba.They had set sail from Key West in their 38-foot (12-metre) sailboat for a weeklong, pre-holiday trip around the Caribbean.
The plan was to circle Grand Cayman island and Jamaica, then head home. The left side of their boat was cracked and taking in water. Vassallo and Smith spotted a nearby lighthouse and stepped on to the shell-strewn shore to seek help.
But it was near midnight and everyone inside was sleeping, so they went back to the boat, made a fire, put on some warm clothing and waited for morning.Hours later, they were surrounded by dozens of Cuban soldiers. Lacking the necessary paperwork to be on the island, they wound up in a Havana jail where they spent Christmas amid squalid conditions."I was probably in more danger there than any place I've ever been," Vassallo said. "But I didn't feel threatened at all."
The Ozello, Florida, restaurant manager and his girlfriend were describing their ordeal after returning to Florida. American officials in Cuba who helped them to get off the island declined to identify them because of privacy concerns, but confirmed their general story. Vassallo and Smith never meant to spend the holidays in Cuba.
Everything was going according to plan until, about six days into the journey, the waves began picking up. For two days, they were unable to find a place to anchor as the waves built to 20 feet (six metres).
Waves in patternsStill, "I didn't think we were in trouble," said Vassallo, 40. "The waves were coming, but they were coming in patterns."Exhausted, the couple finally anchored just off the Cuban shore. They were hoping to get some rest and head toward Jamaica in the morning. But the waves were too strong. The anchor broke loose and the boat crashed ashore. "If we were in deeper water, we could have sunk," said Smith, 29.
Equally etched in their minds is the jail experience. Vassallo was taken to a men's cell and Smith to one for women. The concrete walls were covered with writing and the stench of urine was constant. "I had to cover my nose and I just fell asleep from exhaustion," Vassallo said. For breakfast, they were given a biscuit with a piece of meat in it. For lunch, they got beans and a soup made of yellow broth and chicken skin, but no chicken meat."I ate it all because I was hungry," Vassallo said. "I was starving."
The other prisoners included an Englishman who was biking around Cuba and had his passport stolen, and two others who were also waiting for money and paperwork to get out, Vassallo said.
Smith was kept with two Ecuadorian women, one of whom had lost her passport at the airport. The cell had a toilet, but with no seat or toilet paper. The women braided Smith's hair to pass time. "They kind of kept me calm," she said. Vassallo called US diplomats from the jail, and on December 26, after three days in custody, authorities finally negotiated their release.
It took another five days to get a ticket on a flight to Miami, and they stayed with a university professor who rented out rooms to travellers for about US$25 a night.On New Year's Eve, the couple finally made it home. Source: AP
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