Best Defense

Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Avast! ‘Yachting’ magazine warns that Cuba isn’t yet a paradise for yachters

I don’t usually turn to Yachting for foreign policy advice, but I was struck by their caution against casually navigating your stylish new 60-foot Monte Carlo 6 cabin cruiser down to Cuba right now.

Camp_Delta,_Guantanamo_Bay,_Cuba-2
Camp_Delta,_Guantanamo_Bay,_Cuba-2

 

 

I don’t usually turn to Yachting for foreign policy advice, but I was struck by their caution against casually navigating your stylish new 60-foot Monte Carlo six-cabin cruiser down to Cuba right now. “Entering Cuba is… not like dropping into St. Barths and hitting the Vuitton, Bulgari and Hermes shops on the quay,” the magazine advises in its July issue. “There are few marinas, and most of these have marginal facilities.”

And especially think twice before dropping anchor at Gtmo, warns a yachting website the article cites. “The U.S. still maintains a military base at Guantanamo Bay on the SE extremity of the island. This port should only be entered in an absolute emergency.”

Kathleen T. Rhem/Wikimedia Commons

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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