The Good, The Bad & The Ugly!
I love sailing! There's just something mesmerizing about being underway -- even better than watching a crackling fire! Clear blue water rushing by in all shades of aqua, listening to the whoosh as the hull cuts easily through the depths. The boat glides up one swell and surfs down the far side ... every now & then waves intersect from different directions causing the boat to shudder quietly & slow temporarily. Thinking about it, there are no other days when we do absolutely nothing but watch the sun-sparkling water go by. Ahead of us there's an island shrouded in the clouds where we know we'll drop anchor later this afternoon. Nothing around us to break the tranquility -- no other boats, a lone white heron circles us lazily before flying off to shallow water to catch dinner. Aaaahhhhh, perfect cruising!!!
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We're sailing from Utila to Roatan, Honduras -- about a 25 mile trip which takes most of the day at 5 mph! A week ago we sailed overnight from the Rio (Guatemala) to Puerto Escondido, Honduras and we had a giant dead pig float by (maybe a casualty from Hurricane Wilma?) - one of the stranger sights we've seen enroute! We also had some excitement with bats in our belfry on that passage - we put in a reef about sunset and disturbed their slumber. They certainly disturbed the peace aboard WInterlude before finally departing!!! Later when anchored at West End, Roatan, we discovered that we have a hitchhiker aboard! He must have joined us in the Rio because the boat's not been at a dock since November 23! Our new pet loves to eat lots of insects -- especially noseeums & mosquitos -- if he'd consent, I'd love to pet him, but he has other ideas.
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 He's white against the hull & other colors as necessary against other parts of the deck -- we have our very own chameleon aboard! He's only about 3" long & the only times we've seen him, he's been white. But if he eats bugs, he's my best friend!!
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Robbed In Utila, Bay Islands
Utila Anchorage - WL is the dark hulled boat in the center
Winterlude is finally in the Bay Islands of Honduras -- emerald gems in a turquoise sea -- the islands are actually the peaks of an underwater mountain range. There are 8 islands and 65 smaller cays comprising an oval chain. The three largest islands are Roatan, Guanaja & Utila and are fast becoming one of the world's premier dive locations. It seems everyone including the Smithsonian wants in on the exploration & research being conducted here. We haven't seen a whale shark yet, but I'm sure if we do, it'll make our update, since that's the largest mammal in the world!
 'Downtown' Utila |
 David in the Tranquillo Bar Overlooking the Harbor |
Pirates in paradise boarded & robbed Winterlude while David & I were at dinner with friends. We were warned not to be off the boat after dark while anchored at Utila, but we were "only" on the other side of the island's only street, probably less than 100 yards from Winterlude. We left the boat at 6 PM, had a WONDERFUL grouper dinner, one of the best I've ever had and it cost all of $4 US, but I digress. When we returned at 8 PM, I unlocked the companionway and my first thought was ... I don't remember putting the computer back in it's case.... Needless to say, they took our laptop, digital camera (that fits in the underwater case which they did NOT take), camcorder, 3 cell phones & some cash. It was probably our fault, it was hot & we locked the boat except for the small hatch above our bed. The pirates let themselves in the hatch, leaving us communicationless -- bummer! We reported the theft to the local police & who knows if they were feigning concern or whatever, but nothing ever turned up ... not that I expected it would. Anyone who knows me might be able to imagine how PISSED OFF I am!!! David's reaction was slightly different -- in his own words, "I was concerned, now I'm just paranoid"! :)
Was it the two young men in the wooden cayuco smoking pot paddling through the anchorage earlier that afternoon, or more likely the TIGO cell phone guy that sold us the new SIM card for our phone & had the GPRS turned on -- and asked if we had the computer & cable for free internet -- and I foolishly told him "of course" ... or maybe the waiter at the restaurant in cahoots with his buddies - he knew how long we'd be eating... we'll never know & the saddest thing is that after something happens, you look at all islanders with a bit of suspicion and most are hard-working nice gracious people just trying to make a living in paradise.
LESSONS LEARNED: Do not be off the boat after dark. When you leave your boat anywhere cruising, make sure it is locked up. Most crimes are crimes of convenience, do NOT make it convenient for anyone to take your stuff!
Was it the two young men in the wooden cayuco smoking pot paddling through the anchorage earlier that afternoon, or more likely the TIGO cell phone guy that sold us the new SIM card for our phone & had the GPRS turned on -- and asked if we had the computer & cable for free internet -- and I foolishly told him "of course" ... or maybe the waiter at the restaurant in cahoots with his buddies - he knew how long we'd be eating... we'll never know & the saddest thing is that after something happens, you look at all islanders with a bit of suspicion and most are hard-working nice gracious people just trying to make a living in paradise.
LESSONS LEARNED: Do not be off the boat after dark. When you leave your boat anywhere cruising, make sure it is locked up. Most crimes are crimes of convenience, do NOT make it convenient for anyone to take your stuff!
Happier Times ... West End Roatan and Beyond
Luna Beach, West End, Roatan WL Anchored in Middle
Other than the excitement of the dark side, we finished our PADI refresher course so we can take advantage of all the coral ecosystem has to offer. We anchored at West End, Roatan.... a funky 3rd world, world class dive location. Every day we snorkeled off our stern (saw a big turtle swimming along the reef) & the diving was pretty good -- not the best we've ever had (that was Bonaire) but pretty good & easy! We only wish we could have eaten the GIANT lobster we saw hiding under a ledge during our refresher dive!!! West End is an interesting composite -- a sand path along the waterfront with dive "resorts", dive shops, alot of internet cafes, a few restaurants & bars & alot of new construction. Hurricane Wilma destroyed every dock in West End -- even Hurricane Mitch only destroyed 2 docks, but Wilma was far worse. They're rebuilding quickly & there were lots of new docks in place. We were able to buy diesel fuel from the back room of a local tienda (small grocery store) - in gallon jugs -- they emptied their gallon jugs into our 5 gallon jerry cans for $3.17/gallon, not too bad since we paid over $4/gallon in Utila!
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Thursday night was a bit rolly in the anchorage at West End (really only protected from the tradewinds blowing from the east) -- when the wind switched overnight to the southwest & blew hard enough all night to have our wind generator provide enough power for our fridge, we were awakened in the night by being rocked rail to rail. As soon as the sun came up, another boat, Halliday Girl, called us to say they were sailing to French Cay Harbor on the south coast of Roatan for better protection from the next two days rains. Skyus was going with them, we on Winterlude decided to tag along & then our friends on Chautauqua followed us!
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 Funky Village of West End, Roatan So four boats moved to French Cay Harbor today.... that's a typical day in a cruiser's life -- when we awoke, we had NO plan to leave through the reef, sail around the island & find our way into an unfamiliar spot behind yet another reef..... yet, here we are! :)
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Replacing Our Stuff ... Plus Puerto Escondido
French Cay Harbor, Roatan
Other Highlights Include:
* To replace our laptop, we caught an early flight to LaCeiba on the mainland on a 10 seate twin engine plane - no ducktape on the engines though, we checked. Since catching a cab at the airport cost 150 lempiras to the mall -- across the street was only 50 lempiras - in a nice white Toyota Corolla. The exchange rate is 18.895 lempiras per US dollar, so 50 lempiras is about $2.50 US. Buying a laptop in a 3rd world country is not the same as ordering a Dell in the US! Especially when the mainland speaks only Spanish!!! What a challenge -- I can't speak enough Spanish for police reports & ordering RAM on a computer, believe me! :) Nothing gets shipped into Honduras without being stolen, so most US businesses will not ship here! We bought a new Acer laptop that doesn't have the RAM & harddrive space I'm used to, but it wasn't very expensive in comparison, so we'll use it on the boat for necessities & buy another Dell when we get home. In the meantime, we were able to reload the Nobeltec navigation system on the Acer computer so we have our navigation system back & the SSB/ham radio e-mail works with the new computer as well. Weather, navigation & ssb/ham radio e-mail were the 3 biggest concerns when we lost the laptop, so we're back in business! Unfortunately, we also lost our entire e-mail address book AND my recipe file -- now THAT'S a major loss since I'm not much of a cook anyway!!!!!
* To replace our laptop, we caught an early flight to LaCeiba on the mainland on a 10 seate twin engine plane - no ducktape on the engines though, we checked. Since catching a cab at the airport cost 150 lempiras to the mall -- across the street was only 50 lempiras - in a nice white Toyota Corolla. The exchange rate is 18.895 lempiras per US dollar, so 50 lempiras is about $2.50 US. Buying a laptop in a 3rd world country is not the same as ordering a Dell in the US! Especially when the mainland speaks only Spanish!!! What a challenge -- I can't speak enough Spanish for police reports & ordering RAM on a computer, believe me! :) Nothing gets shipped into Honduras without being stolen, so most US businesses will not ship here! We bought a new Acer laptop that doesn't have the RAM & harddrive space I'm used to, but it wasn't very expensive in comparison, so we'll use it on the boat for necessities & buy another Dell when we get home. In the meantime, we were able to reload the Nobeltec navigation system on the Acer computer so we have our navigation system back & the SSB/ham radio e-mail works with the new computer as well. Weather, navigation & ssb/ham radio e-mail were the 3 biggest concerns when we lost the laptop, so we're back in business! Unfortunately, we also lost our entire e-mail address book AND my recipe file -- now THAT'S a major loss since I'm not much of a cook anyway!!!!!
 Puerto Escondido North Beach, Punta Sal Nat'l Park |
 Trail To The Howler Monkeys! |
We spent 3 days anchored in Puerto Escondido - Punta Sal National Park - enroute from the Rio to Honduras. The approach to Puerto Escondido was interesting -- we were cruising along in beautiful aqua clear water and all of a sudden, there was a distinct line of Lake Allatoona RED MUD flowing into the ocean! Literally motoring into Puerto Escondido the red mud was so thick that our wake separated the red mud from the water, leaving a black clearer path behind us momentarily. Imagine the muddy Mississippi but bright red!!! You could see how far the river spilled out into the ocean with quite distinct lines! At Puerto Escondido, we walked beaches with no other footprints but LARGE cats -- maybe not jaguars, but really big. I had great photos of the pawprints -- including one set that was clearly a mom & baby cat, but they were on the computer that was stolen ....Howler monkeys also set Puerto Escondido apart from other anchorages. About sunset (and sunrise) we heard this unbelievable loud deep roar -- sounded sort of like LOTS of BIG dogs howling. We were lucky enough to watch 5 howler monkeys (they're big, black & ugly like baboons, but swing through the trees like spider monkeys) play -- at least I think they were playing -- their idea of fun was throwing stuff at us!!! Nearby branches, nuts, anything they could get their paws on came raining down, luckily the rainforest/swamp was thick enough that it was just startling, not dangerous.
David & I climbed up to the top of the lookout -- it was 650 stairs (we counted on the way down) almost STRAIGHT up!!! Plus, Wilma & the mudslides firmly planted a 2 foot diameter tree directly across the stairs -- we had to crawl over one big branch & under another to get past -- the stairs weren't in such great shape at that particular point! :) THe place was loaded with banana trees -- probably why the howler monkeys liked hanging out in the vicinity!
You'll be glad to know it's raining here now, so we're just hanging out waiting on the weather to go to town & replenish supplies. We had hoped to go to a new dive shop grand opening with free food & live blues music this afternoon, but it's 12 miles down the island, we haven't been in there before & it's never a good idea to take Winterlude into a new harbor without bright sun to show the coral heads. So we're hoping for a break in the rain & waiting....
Happy Holidays to all! Enjoy your families & festivities -- it's very strange being on Winterlude this year (we decided not to return to the States since last year we kept having to come back for other reasons as well -- but we miss Aly & Danny, Billy & Andy & Jackie (and all the rest of you, of course!). It doesn't seem like Christmas here -- there are a few signs of Christmas, gaudy tinsel & santas in tiendas, etc., but nothing like last year in Isla.
David & I climbed up to the top of the lookout -- it was 650 stairs (we counted on the way down) almost STRAIGHT up!!! Plus, Wilma & the mudslides firmly planted a 2 foot diameter tree directly across the stairs -- we had to crawl over one big branch & under another to get past -- the stairs weren't in such great shape at that particular point! :) THe place was loaded with banana trees -- probably why the howler monkeys liked hanging out in the vicinity!
You'll be glad to know it's raining here now, so we're just hanging out waiting on the weather to go to town & replenish supplies. We had hoped to go to a new dive shop grand opening with free food & live blues music this afternoon, but it's 12 miles down the island, we haven't been in there before & it's never a good idea to take Winterlude into a new harbor without bright sun to show the coral heads. So we're hoping for a break in the rain & waiting....
Happy Holidays to all! Enjoy your families & festivities -- it's very strange being on Winterlude this year (we decided not to return to the States since last year we kept having to come back for other reasons as well -- but we miss Aly & Danny, Billy & Andy & Jackie (and all the rest of you, of course!). It doesn't seem like Christmas here -- there are a few signs of Christmas, gaudy tinsel & santas in tiendas, etc., but nothing like last year in Isla.
