We were in Rio Dulce for New Year's Eve, celebrating at Mario's Marina with a buffet dinner, music, dancing and fireworks. Denis and Marie on Honah Lee II danced the night away. Returning to SeaTryst about 11:30p, we put our seats on the bow and waited for the extravaganza along the river. We have never seen so many fireworks, or inhaled so much smoke. It was wild.
We tried to be patient waiting for Daniel, the cabinet maker, to finish our work. We finally went out to a mooring to get used to running on our own systems rather than being secure with power at the dock.
At 5:00p on Saturday, January 2 (we planned to leave the next day), Daniel and his helper came aboard and finished the work. He does great work and anyone going to the Rio needing woodwork should give him a call.
Early Sunday morning, we made a dash to town for last-minute provisions and paid our bill at Tortugal. We released the mooring at 11:30a, leaving our home of Tortugal behind. Traveling with Honah Lee II and Island Girl II, we went to Texan Bay. About five miles down the river we caught something in our prop that slammed into the hull and scored up the new bottom paint job. At Texan bay we got to try out our new screen enclosure. It was a lovely evening -- bug free!
On Monday, January 4, we left to check out of Guatemala, making that beautiful passage through the gorge.
Having provided the information to Raul, the local agent, ahead of time, the guys went ashore and the women stayed aboard the boats; it took no time for them to return and we all crossed the bar at the 11:00a high tide. Our thought was to anchor at Cabo Tres Puntas for the night, and make day trips along the Honduran coast ... but the weather was perfect with a light westerly breeze. After consulting our fleet, and Leonore of Sark, who hailed us from a nearby anchorage (Bill and Trudy had tried to leave earlier but conditions were not good), we all decided to make an overnight passage to Utila.
Bob rigged the jack lines, and we took the usual precautions for an overnight trip. At least we tried to remember what they were - since this was our first trip in seven months!
It was lovely for a few hours ... and then the wind shifted, piped up to 25-30 kts from the NE, 7-9', swells hit our quarter stern, the rain came, and night fell. We had no choice but to keep going. It was a horrible, rough 12 hours in a a boat that turned into a washing machine. A wave hit and sent Maggie flying across the cockpit, hurting her already injured back. She and Rosie were seasick, things flew around down below, the rain pelted and came through every crevice in the cockpit. Bob was heroic and stood a 19-hour watch. We arrived Utila at about 8:00a, called in to the Net, and collapsed! Later in the day, we slowly put the boat back together as the rain continued to pour. Bob's guess is it rained 20 inches in 12 hours; that's how it felt. he good news is we filled our port water tank.
On Wednesday, January 6, while still raining, we went ashore and checked into Honduras, had lunch at Munchies with our friends and relived the passage.
Marie was glad to be on safe ground, even in full foulies in the Caribbean!
Utila is a friendly place. The Immigrations/Customs officer welcomed us and said we could renew for another 90 days when these were up. It cost 114 Limpera, or about $5.50, to check in.
That night, we were hobby-horsing in the anchorage and ended up dragging anchor, resetting at 11:00p. We are used to this since we drag every time we are in Utila harbor.
Up to this point, Maggie was handling all her work emails on her BlackBerry, but Peter had given her a research project for his new book and she needed internet. She left the boat early in the morning to go ashore to complete the assignment. No place was open. Tony, a local realtor, offered his internet connection. When Maggie's computer touchpad didn't work, Tony directed her to the local geek, Chris, who expertly handled the situation; the only charge was a hug and "pay it forward." She likes this place!
We had had another
rolly night in the anchorage and heard about the lagoon for protection.
Island Girl, with a 4' draft, went in first; no problem. Next was
Honah Lee; oops, ran aground. We entered the tricky channel
after, and went aground too. Bob tried to free Honah Lee by
kedging with their halyard. No luck.
Early the next morning on Friday, January 8, we left Utila and our fellow travelers, and headed to Roatan. We were trying to get settled before a strong Northern front hit Roatan. Upon reaching French Harbour, we hailed Sanderling. Here is what cruising is about: Bob on Sanderling went out in his dinghy, showed us a mooring where the line was disconnected, Maggie had rigged a line at the bow, threw it to him, and he tied us off. After many days, the rain had finally stopped, the sun was shining, and we were safe on a mooring. Did this feel good!
French Harbour is the place to provision in Roatan. The new mega-plaza had opened since our last visit. We went right to the Tigo (local phone service) store, bought a modem for $50, which include first month of service free. We also bought Lactaid milk and found lactose-free ice cream! Wow, life is good -- food American style, no more beans and rice.
We reconnected with Harry on Rhionon. As a single-handler, he is completing his circumnavigation. He will go through the Panama Canal, up the Pacific coast, cross to Hawaii, and then shoot over to Seattle, where his adventure began 5 years ago. A trip of just over 8,000 miles and 50 to 60 days. It's just amazing the people we meet along the way.
We spent several days in French Harbour, secure during the gale-force winds that blew after the cold front and many more days of rain, it was time to move on. On January 19, the weather was perfect for West End.
How fun to return here - restaurants, bars, reefs, clear water! We dinghied over to South of Reality to re-introduce ourselves to Denise and Byron whom we had met last year. They were going to town also, so they came along with us. We shared happy hour and dinner and discovered many similarities.
We have been at West End for five days - we have had sunshine, light breezes, and absolutely idyllic days and star-filled nights. Bob has been diagnosing the problem with our generator; it still shuts down after 30 minutes. Byron came over to help; it took all day to free a bolt and take out the thermostat .... only to find out that that is not the problem. Well, we will just charge the batteries in one-half-hour increments for now.
Rosie likes these calm days, staying topside and watching the activity in the harbor from a cozy, safe spot. And when she tires of that, she goes below.
We are watching the weather to determine our next move. Just as we thought things were perfect, an unexpected front came out of the west and gave us a very uncomfortable night on the mooring. It just shows you weather forecasting is not a science and still a bit of guess work. Weather permitting we will leave West End tomorrow (January 26) for more protection and reprovisioning. Our friend Lorenzo will arrive on February 6, so we are resting up getting ready for his visit!