This past weekend I spend a day a house in stillsvile; this is one of seven homes located on the water near Biscayne Bay in Miami, Florida. I was an assistant scoutmaster for troop 811 in Miami, Florida. The troop loved the house, having fun in the water and fishing all day. The home hosts were very supportive and generous with us by lending their facility to the boys and teaching them about a piece of Miami history.
One of the fishing boats returned from his fishing trip with a raft they found at sea on Saturday afternoon. The raft was floating without any people inside. However, it had a US coast guard sticker that read OK and May 10, 2012.
We assumed the people on the raft were pickup by the coast guard and send back to Cuba. The catamaran had two Styrofoam beans on each side, a wooden platform, and a sail; we found inside a bag of crackers, bread, and can food. It looked similar to Hobbie cat catamaran.
This raft reassembles the one on which I left Cuba. I found myself telling my story again to people and answering questions about what goes thru your mind when you risk your life and throw yourself into uncertainty.
I was a young man in 1994, and at the age of 24, I was old in the conviction that the communist system was not for me, so I did the only thing I could think of doing, leaving the country in any way possible. All it took for me to do this was a conviction that freedom was worth the risk.
Someone asked me if I would do it again, knowing all the trouble I went through. I responded, yes I’m a free man and will always be one. We are all lucky to live in this great country, and I am forever grateful!
