We ended up with several more days at Port Royal; it is such a beautiful anchorage and warmly hosted by Terry at Mango Creek. After a rainy afternoon of dominoes, we said farewell to Tashmoo , as they headed back to French Harbour; we were sad to see them leave.
Other boats came and went and we enjoyed the beauty of our surroundings ... and Bob spent hours troubleshooting and repairing the generator. We experienced a range of weather - flat calm, wind, squalls, rain. For provisioning, we bought lobster from a local fisherman as fresh as you can get. We rode to Coxen Hole with Terry as he reprovisioned Mango Creek, and we also provisioned allowing us to stay in this beautiful, remote spot a little longer.
It was so calm, Maggie got the reflection of the boat's hull while standing on the deck looking down. We were in about 8' of water.
Dalhia, Mango Creek's 21-year-old-cook, makes a now famous fish tea soup (served in a coconut) on Fridays and the boaters and lodge guests rank it as one of the best meals ever. We are on the lookout for the first printing of her cookbook.
On Tuesday, March 3, at 9:30a, we made a spur-of-the-moment decision to leave. Maggie ran up to the house to get internet for the last time, Bob brought our jerry jugs to fill 35 gallons of water. By 11:00a, we had the dinghy motor hauled, the dinghy on the davits, the course plotted, and were ready to drop the mooring. On a beautiful (and unusual for this time of year) westerly wind, we headed to Guanaja. It always feels good to get underway again.... especially good to sail.
Between Barbareta (the eastern tip of Roatan) and Guanaja, the wind had increased to 25 kts and shifted to the northeast. Bob reefed the main for a smoother ride. By the time we rounded the end of Guanaja, all was calm and we could take in the beauty of the mountainous island.
We thought we'd go to Graham's Cay, but the cruise ship World was there, so we decided to go to El Bight. El Bight is one of those storm holes that cruisers tend to congregate in, with a good bar on the beach.
We tucked into the eastern corner near the wrecked shrimpboats, where it was peaceful and calm ... which also means buggy.
There are about 10,000 residents on the island, and 80% of them live on the small cay of Bonacca, a 100 acre plot of land where the bugs don't go!
On the south side of Guanaja, the Tigo signal is strong, Maggie had internet and phone on the boat again, and Bob stayed busy repairing the single sideband radio and still troubleshooting the generator.
A group of us had dinner at Manatee, and near the end, a young woman came over to Bob, asking if he was a movie star. She and her friends recognized him and insisted he was famous. They were more than happy to have their photo taken with a celebrity.
On a beautiful Sunday, we took the dinghy around through the canal to the north side of Guanaja, and discovered the paradise of Michael Rock - sandy white beaches, pine trees, mountains, and lots of coral.
We moved the boat to Graham's Cay for a night, but rocked and rolled so much, we decided to leave after a very short stay. Graham's, named for the owner of the island, is a popular place for cruisers; Graham will take our trash, give us ice, and feed us some really good food.
On Tuesday, March 10, we weighed anchor and thought we'd go back to El Bight. We watched Linus leave, hailed them to find out the conditions (which looked pretty rough and squally), and decided to follow on to Roatan. It wasn't too bad; we had 15-20+ out of the northeast and 6 to 8 foot swells all the way back to French Harbour.
Maggie flew out on Saturday, March 14, to spend a week in the States - to be with Peter for a few days and visit with family and friends in Connecticut, especially her new nephew, Ben. Maggie's niece Debbi had her first child just three weeks ago, bringing great joy to the whole family, especially Grammy Clara.
While Maggie was gone, Bob sat comfortably on a mooring in French Harbour, doing some boat chores and discovering happy hour at Cocoa View Resort.
Before leaving the boat, Mommy Maggie made sure to have a clean spot for Rosie in Maggie's corner.
The day before Maggie returned from the States friends sailed into French Harbour aboard Honolee. We last saw Denni and Marie four years ago in the Bahamas where we cruised with them for five or six weeks. We had lost contact and were very happy to get reacquainted. Unfortunately Maggie did not get back in time to see them, because they left the day she arrived. They will see us again in the Rio next November.
Maggie returned on March 21, and shortly after arriving back to the boat, Slip Away came into the harbor. We spent much of last season with them and haven't seen them since they sailed into Mystic last summer. We've been in touch though; they brought with them 50 cans of Publix brand catfood for Rosie, her favorite kind.
Bob wanted to take advantage of the weather window, and early Sunday morning we headed back to Guanaja, this time to anchor at Michael Rock.
We were thrilled to have Tashmoo join us again; they have taken on some projects at Mango Creek and will be spending time in and out of Port Royal. Pelican Flight (whom we met and had drinks with in the Chesapeake in fall 05) is here, too, along with Tempest and Sanderling .
We are tucked in at the same beach we loved so much on our dinghy ride, and have an unobstructed view of the west sky. Bob saw his first green flash as the sun set; all these years he insisted it did not exist! The dolphin, named Honey by the cruisers, swam around the boats in El Bight when we were there, and came over to Michael Rock to visit. This dolphin spends its time in the major anchorages in Guanaja.
The easterly trades are building so we stayed hunkered down while we watched 20-38kts of wind. There is no local phone connection here, and the only internet access is at the Green Flash Bar about a 1/2 mile away. Twice each day, Bob drops Maggie off at the beach and she walks to her office in the restaurant. Here's her walk to work:
On Saturday, we were invited by John and Cindy to hike to the top of Michael Rock; we had thought it was the little mound near the beach, so we said yes. Well, off we went to hike one of the mountains. The view was spectacular from the first hill, and the climb was a challenge for us. Cindy caught this shot while we were still smiling and before we turned back!
The forecast is for the wind to clear out on Sunday, before picking up again Monday afternoon. Sunday morning we woke to a west wind and building swells in the anchorage. We quickly picked up our dingy and two anchors and set sail for the other side of Guanaja. After a quick three-hour passage we picked up a mooring at Graham's Cay. We will spend the next few days deciding where to next. So stay posted.