Amid Thaw, First Authorized U.S. Yacht Sails to Cuba on Hopes of Travel Surge

Amid Thaw, First Authorized U.S. Yacht Sails to Cuba on Hopes of Travel
Surge
Trip marks first time an American charter of its kind visits Cuba
legally since U.S. trade embargo began
By DUDLEY ALTHAUS
Updated Aug. 9, 2015 8:02 p.m. ET

MARINA HEMINGWAY, Cuba—The first yacht to legally carry paying American
travelers to Cuba in decades cut across a mercifully mild sea into this
historic marina, marking what promoters hope will be a surge in seaborne
travelers to the Communist island.

The 78-foot Still Water docked in the marina late Wednesday after a
four-hour jaunt. Aboard the sleek yacht were three crew and 12
passengers eager to see Cuba before the sharp economic and social change
that many Americans expect to sweep the country as a long-frozen
U.S.-Cuba relationship thaws. Some also hoped to sniff out business
opportunities that such a transformation might spawn.

"Being born in the 50s and being indoctrinated the way we were, it's
interesting to be able to see this," said 57-year-old passenger Jack
McClurg, who manages his personal investments from Colorado and sails
the Caribbean in his own 115-foot Italian-made yacht. "I'm just wanting
to see this change happening."

The $3.2 million Still Water's berthing at the Marina Hemingway, which
sits on Havana's eastern edge, marked the first time an American charter
of its kind has visited Cuba legally since the U.S. trade embargo was
implemented in the early 1960s. The yacht's passengers and crew traveled
on a "person-to-person" permit—one of 12 types of exemptions to a U.S.
ban on American's visiting the island—which provides for trips with
activities aimed at cultivating ties between Americans and Cubans.

Though Presidents Barack Obama and Raúl Castro agreed in December to
restore diplomatic relations between their countries, the trade embargo
remains largely in effect. But officials and entrepreneurs in both
countries are chipping at its edges, hoping to marry U.S. investors with
Cuba's hope to revive its economy.

"The genie of free enterprise is out of the bottle and it is a powerful
genie," Jose Viera, a retired senior Cuban diplomat, assured the yacht's
group in a private briefing.

But putting that genie to work means overhauling Cuba's politics,
weaning a sclerotic economy off unsustainable subsidies, and motivating
a state-employed workforce used to equal pay for unequal effort. Just
serving a crush of American tourists pouring into the island—Cuba's
biggest hope of economic revitalization—would mean building quality
hotels, marinas and transportation grids. Little is in place to make
that happen very quickly, Mr. Viera said.

Some of the yacht passengers got an inkling of the task upon checking
into the marina's once-fashionable hotel. Toilets were broken, beds
threadbare. A tour guide advised that breakfast was fine, but lunch and
dinner were best avoided.

Only the Marina Hemingway and a larger, recently completed one at the
Varadero resort on the coast east of Havana are in any condition to
receive upscale yachts, said Palm Beach yacht broker Paul Madden, who
arranged the trip. It took him seven months to secure U.S.
authorization, the only one issued so far for yacht charters and among
just a handful granted for commercial passengers ships. Ferry companies
and cruise lines hope to begin servicing the island soon, carrying in
Americans traveling under auspices of the travel-ban exemptions.

Like the Still Water's passengers, many thousands of Americans have been
rushing into Cuba this year, eager to peek at its ebbing communist life.
At the same time, uncounted Cubans continue to escape the island by
perilously heading north in overcrowded rafts and small boats on the
same route used by the yachters, despairing that real change is not
happening fast enough.

Tourists from other countries, including those arriving by boat, have
always been free to visit Cuba. But any commercial vessel visiting the
island without a U.S. permit is barred from entering an American port
for six months afterward.

Some U.S. boaters have long popped into Cuba, either under permit by
bringing humanitarian supplies or by covering their tracks by visiting
other countries on the way home. Those without U.S.-issued permits risk
fines, confiscation of a boat, even jail time. Still, several boats
docked near the Still Water at the Marina Hemingway were flying the
Stars and Stripes.

Mr. Madden, 65, has teamed up with Jim Friedlander, president and owner
of Academic Arrangements Abroad, a New York City firm that takes
well-heeled arts and university patrons on small group adventures and
educational tours around the world. Though they declined to discuss
price points for the Cuba trip, the partners are targeting a five-star
clientele. "Everyone wants to come before things change," said Mr.
Friedlander, 55.

Mr. Friedlander in October led a tour by chartered luxury train into
Iran. Departing from Budapest, the train crossed Turkey was loaded on to
barges to cross both the Bosporus at Istanbul and Lake Van in eastern
Anatolia. A shipping container's worth of fine wine and other liquor was
left in Turkey until the train returned from Iran.

"We are in an era now where there are not that many things left undone,"
said Darren Church, who took leave from his regular job as captain of
another yacht to pilot the Still Water to the island. "This definitely
is one of them."

Cranking to more than 20 knots after pulling out from Key West, the
Still Water skipped through a light chop across the Gulf Stream, which
flows swiftly east between Cuba and Florida before heading north toward
Europe.

The aquamarine of the near-shore shallows darkened to a gunmetal blue as
the boat passed over the chasm of the Florida Straits, nearly a mile
deep in places.

The first glimpse of Cuba came with the single bright beam from the
lighthouse of El Morro, the colonial era fortress at the mouth of Havana
harbor built by the Spaniards to guard against pirates and other
marauders. The streetlights lining the Malecón, the city's seafront
promenade, glistened through the darkness.

A Cuban voice crackled over the radio, offering a welcome and directions
to finding the lighted buoys marking the channel. The Still Water
slipped quietly to the dock, met by immigration, customs and medical
officers.

"Right now I would think everybody wants to do this," Mr. Madden said
the morning after the yacht docked. "For Americans who would like to
come here and have a totally different kind of experience, to be able to
meet people and talk to people and then come back and enjoy their yacht,
it's the best of all worlds."

Write to Dudley Althaus at Dudley.Althaus@wsj.com

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