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Couple Recount Accidental Trip To Cuba

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By CHRISTINE ARMARIO

The Associated Press

Published: January 9, 2009

TAMPA - 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.

The left side of their boat was cracked and taking on water. Vassallo and Smith spotted a lighthouse and stepped onto the shell-strewn shore to seek help. 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 manager of a restaurant near Crystal River and his girlfriend described their ordeal this week after returning to Florida. American officials in Cuba who helped them 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.

They set sail from Key West in their 38-foot sailboat for a weeklong, preholiday trip around the Caribbean. The plan was to circle Grand Cayman island and Jamaica, then head home. The couple had plenty of food, warm clothes, even a laptop.

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.

Still, "I didn't think we were in trouble," said Vassallo, 40. "The waves were coming, but they were coming in patterns."

The couple finally anchored just off the Cuban shore, hoping to get some rest and head toward Jamaica in the morning. The waves were too strong, however. The anchor broke loose, and the boat crashed ashore.

"If we were in deeper water, we could have sunk," said Smith, 29.

The couple walked ashore but couldn't find anyone to help them. Some government officials spotted them the next morning, and because Smith did not have her passport and neither had visas to enter Cuba, they were taken into custody.

The two were allowed to gather some clothing and personal items, then they watched helplessly as the soldiers began dismantling Vassallo's boat.

"At that point, I'm surrounded by 30 to 50 Cuban soldiers," Vassallo said. "They weren't armed, but I was just trying to get what I had to get off the boat."

The pair spent that night at a nearby hotel, but the next day immigration officials arrived and took them to a jail in Havana.

The concrete walls of the cells 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 Ecuadorean women, one of whom 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 U.S. diplomats from the jail, and on Dec. 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 travelers for about $25 a night. The contrast to the decrepit jail was dramatic - the professor's home had 16-foot ceilings and beautiful furnishings.

On New Year's Eve, the couple finally made it home.

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