On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 07:45:14 -0400, Jim wrote:


Reminds me of some of the stuff the Cubans were floating over on back
in the '90s. I remember one raft made out of rebar. The whole thing
was wrapped in a blue poly tarp, and used a couple of chunks of
Styrofoam for floatation. Frankly, I wouldn't have crossed a small
pond in it, let alone 90 miles of ocean. Guts, desperation, or both.

In Key West I saw an innertube with a door strapped to it. Supposedly it
was used to make the 90 mile crossing from Cigarland.

In the early '90s, there was a Cuban restaurant in Miami, that had a
collection of rafts that had made the journey. Most all of them were
damn scary. Now, apparently, they are a thing of the past.

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/exile/vanishing.htm