BY MARIKA LYNCH

 New York Yankees pitcher Orlando Hernandez and Noris Bosch -- who survived
 rough waters after setting off in a boat together from Cuba in 1997 -- tied the knot
 Monday, Valentine's Day.

 The wife-to-be of ``El Duque walked down the aisle in a tiara.

 Both smiled giddily and kissed coyly when it came time. Later at a Coral Gables
 reception the couple were feted by friends -- including baseball players like Rey
 Ordoñez of the New York Mets and recent Cuban defector Danys Baez of the
 Cleveland Indians -- and serenaded by popular Cuban exile singer Willy Chirino.

 ``I'm very happy. Noris has been at my side through good and bad. We love each
 other, and we wanted to share our lives, Hernandez said, squeezing the
 satin-gloved arm of his bride.

 The baseball star and the dance teacher fell in love at first sight on a street in
 Havana, he said. They came to the United States through the Bahamas less than
 three years ago -- following in the footsteps of Hernandez's half-brother Livan, who
 once played for the Florida Marlins and is now with the San Francisco Giants.

 Friends and family from the couple's two worlds -- their lives in Cuba and the
 United States -- shared the small, private ceremony for about 100 people at St.
 Catherine of Siena Church.

 Bosch marched down the aisle on the arm of Hernandez's financial advisor Juan
 Carlos Collar.

 Awaiting at the altar with Hernandez was Osmani Lorenzo -- who came in the
 boat with the couple.

 During the ceremony, Livan Hernandez also prayed next to them, while Orlando's
 mother draped the couple in a double, pearl rosary. The pitcher's daughters by
 another marriage, Yahmara, 9, and Stehffi, 4, sat in the front row with rose
 garlands in their hair.

 ``Now I have two sons, and a daughter, said a beaming Maria Julia Pedrosa,
 Orlando's mom. ``It's special, too, that this is the day set aside for love.

 The wood-paneled church was decorated simply, with two light-pink rose
 bouquets on the altar. Afterward, the couple sped to Coral Gables' Omni
 Colonnade Hotel in a white Rolls-Royce.

 At the reception, couples hugged the ballroom's upstairs balcony, sipping
 cocktails and snacking on smoked salmon with caviar on toast and rolled
 prosciutto. Later the crowd of friends, family and fellow baseball players retired
 downstairs to a dinner of New York steak. Each table was adorned in ivory. The
 fountain overflowed with ferns.

 As for the honeymoon . . .

 What honeymoon? Hernandez said.

 ``I leave the day after tomorrow for spring training in Tampa, Hernandez said.
 Noris in tow, ``of course, he added.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald