The DER below is from the expedition to Cuba that began on February 8, 2017.

Today we enjoyed a relaxing day at sea; Panorama II sailed west all night long and most of the day, heading towards the Island of Youth. The island, formerly known as the Island of Pines before Fidel renamed it in 1966, is going to be our destination tomorrow and it is Cuba's second largest and the biggest one of the Canarreos archipelago. It is located about seventy kilometers southeast of the Pinar del Rio province but several hundred kilometers west of the port of Casilda where we departed yesterday. This gave us the opportunity to catch-up with or personal projects like reading a good book, writing our journals or editing our pictures. More importantly, it regaled us with the pleasure to be out at sea and feel the gentle motion of a moving ship and listen to the sound of the wind in our sails! To be out at sea gave us a glimpse into the realm of pelagic creatures that can only be seen far offshore like the always-amazing flying fish; the advancing bow of the Panorama II disturbed the peace and quiet of the flying fish as they looked around for small planktonic organisms to eat near the surface, and made them move away quickly, accelerating the beat of their bodies and using the longer low lobe of their tails to keep propelling themselves as they extended their oversize pectoral fins to catch wind and glide over the water for dozens and sometimes hundreds of feet! What an amazing thing to see, a fish mastering, for a few seconds, the realm of birds!

We also had the time to engage in some other activities, like listen to a couple of lectures on board and learn about how to improve our expedition travel photography skills and about the Cuban society; rum-tasting in the aft deck proved to be very popular and we enjoyed sampling the different kinds of the alcoholic beverages that make Cuba world-famous and the favorite of those pirates and privateers of legend that sailed these same waters. We toasted for their souls, for the future of the beautiful Cuba and watched an amazing sunset at sea, putting an end to a wonderful Valentine's Day at sea.