Even though the storm was messy, Eta still held on to tropical cyclone status, and began turning northeastward, eventually moving back over the Caribbean Sea on November 6 and speeding up due to the influence of a developing trough over the Gulf of Mexico. On November 7, following a couple of center reformations, the system became better organized and became a tropical storm again, at 15:00 UTC on November 7. Even with strong wind shear, the storm continued to strengthen through the day and reached a second peak of winds of 65 mph (100 km/h) and a pressure of 991 mbar at 00:00 UTC on November 8. It then held its strength and slowed slightly before making landfall on the south central coast of Cuba at 09:00 UTC. Eta weakened after making landfall in Cuba's Sancti Spíritus Province, but this was short as it quickly moved back over water in the Atlantic Ocean and began to strengthen again as it turned northwestward around the northeastern side of a low that had formed over the northwestern Caribbean Sea near the Isle of Youth.