We have not left our safe mooring in French Harbour! The grass is growing long on our anchor rode and will start having barnacles soon. We have never stayed in one spot so long! But, as we like to remind ourselves, it is about the weather: beautiful sunny warm days and star-filled nights, surrounded by our boating friends.
Shortly after Larry and Pat left, we had a strong front with winds clocked at 52 kts, and SeaTryst held tight in her position. Not so for the boat in front of us; they had two anchors out and dragged right on top of us. Bob had to call them to say they were dragging; they were down below playing backgammon. It was a wild time as they tried to lift their two anchors in the high wind and with no windlass. Out of desperation they hailed us on VHF radio and said they would just drift behind us; Maggie's reaction to them on the VHF for everyone to hear was "holey moley! you're going to do what?!" A comic relief for many feeling the frustration of boats dragging anchor. Now Maggie's new name is Holey Moley Maggie.
We had hoped we would leave to catch up with Honah Lee II at West End before they went back to the Rio Dulce, but we decided to stay put on the mooring while we waited for generator and watermaker parts, and more fronts in the forecast.
After two months of working on the generator and many bits of advice, Bob realized that it was not an over-heating problem, but a bad fuel pump. We used Roatan Air Services to ship in the part, and it arrived in six days. Bob had it installed and up and running, perfectly, that afternoon. Halleluiah!
Here is a picture of French Harbour on one of those beautiful still mornings - the calm before the storm as they say.
We are at the eastern side of French Harbour, and not many boats near us, except on those occasions when the harbour fills up to 35+ boats. It's a good place to hide during a front, with good protection from the hills and easy access to great provisioning. (And we've had plenty of fronts!) There are two huge grocery stores within walking distance, propane station, fuel docks, etc. Below is Bob's Dock - we haven't met Bob, but this where all the cruiser's dinghies are tie up for those trips to town. We ease our way in between the shrimp boats to a space at the dock.
The rebuild kit for the watermaker finally came in. This required a day's work of pulling out gaskets from the high pressure pump manifold and replacing them with the new ones, and then dismantling the floor to put the pump back on. Only to find out ... it didn't work. Did the seals get put in wrong? That was the thought from Greg at Village Marine, the manufacturer's rep Bob had been speaking to. So ... another day of trying to take out the seals, with help from Mike on Windfree, an experienced cruiser. They spent hours with all kinds of tools. They wouldn't budge. Greg offered to rebuild it, we just had to get the unit shipped to him. So back to the manufacturer and waiting for it to be returned, Village Marine told Bob he did everything right. Bob pondered this for a while, and wondered if this was indeed the problem. And after more tinkering and closely looking at the watermaker, he saw that a set screw had popped out. He tightened it, and it's working. Once we get the high pressure pump back, we will be able to make water again.
On the nice days when cruise ships are on Roatan, the float plane takes off about 20 times, with two people photographing their aerial shots of the harbour. Sometimes it feels close enough to pass the Grey Poupon.
One of the boats that pulled into the harbour was Dutchess, which Bob had raced on with Dick Tuschick in Connecticut for over 9 years, from 1983-1992. She was hit during the hurricane in Grenada, and rebuilt by Jack, the new owner. Dutchess still has the red tulip on her transom.
Rosie was sick for a while and needed a trip to the Vet. She was running a high fever and having some intestinal problems, so he gave her a shot of antibiotic and put her on Cipro for a week. After a few days, she was back to normal. It is nice to see her playful again and able to stand her watches.
Maggie is a net controller again this year, On Sundays she hosts the Northwest Caribbean Net, sometimes checking in 40 and more boats in the morning, and then several more again in the evening for boats underway. It's the way the community of boaters out here keeps in touch, hears the weather, and are able to get information and help.
At one time in this harbour, we had four net controllers and Kristiana; Doug, the captain, is our "weather guy." Every morning at 5:30a he starts collecting and analyzing data to report forecasts from the Straits of Florida to Panama.
And just a few days ago, we had the joy of welcoming Tashmoo into the anchorage; talk about exciting! John and Cindy spent two months in Australia and New Zealand, and just returned to their boat. Angelina came into the harbor the same day. We had to celebrate with a dinghy raft to get everyone together.
The harbour is clearing out; the week between Palm Sunday and Easter is Semana Santa, a big celebration time here in Central America. Maggie will be in the States for that week, seeing friends and family, visiting with Peter, and looking for daffodils. Bob and Rosie will stay secure on the mooring in French Harbour, not knowing what to expect of the party scene with the natives.
It's a beautiful place to be!