#CoastalNotes - An unusual vessel that washed up in Co Sligo at the weekend has been traced thousands of kilometres across the Atlantic – to Cuba.

According to BBC News, Gordon Fallis was walking his dogs on the beach near the famous surfing hotspot of Mullaghmore when he discovered the dilapidated boat on the shore.

It appeared to be improvised from a metal frame and plastic bottles for buoyancy, covered in a yellow tarp, and powered by a repurposed car engine.

After posting photos of the strange boat to the Facebook group Lost at Sea, which attempts to identify such coastal finds, he was advised to take another look at the labels on the plastic bottles – which said they were from Cuba.

Such jury-rigged boats, nicknamed ‘chugs’ due to the sound of their straining motors, are commonly used by Cubans hoping to cross the Florida Straits for a better life in the United States.

It’s not the first unique find to wash up in the North West in recent months, following the Canadian houseboat that beached in Co Mayo this past November, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

But never before has an improvised vessel from Cuba been discovered on this side of the Atlantic — a journey that could have taken anywhere from months to years.

BBC News has much more on the story HERE.