Fla. couple back home after unexpected Cuba trip

[January 06, 2009]  OZELLO, Fla. (AP) -- A Florida couple who said they wound up in a Cuban jail after their boat was badly damaged in a storm are back home.

Robert Vassallo on Friday said he and his girlfriend, Angellette Smith, flew into Miami on New Year's Eve. The couple said they had been sailing around the Caribbean when they encountered rough waves, and their boat washed ashore and sustained damage.

Vassallo said Smith didn't have her passport and neither of them had visas, so they had to wait for U.S. authorities to secure their release.

They say they were released on Dec. 26 and finally flew to Florida earlier this week.

The U.S. State Department could not immediately verify the couple's journey.

[Associated Press]

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