Honduras, Hurray!!!

The last stop in Colombia was the tiny island of Providencia, a short 60 miles north of San Andres.  This island was first settled by the Pilgrims and until very recently was still called Providence Island. For those of you familiar with Rhode Island I will note that the ancient fort defending the harbor was named Fort Warwick. The pilgrims were followed by the British, Spanish, pirates, and finally the coconut growers so the culture here is “diverse”.  The islanders have put considerable effort into creating a clean, eco-friendly environment (including bio-degradable bags in many stores) and there is a good deal of local public art decorating the streets, parks, and bus stops. We spent evenings at the Bamboo Seafood and days walking the single road on the island. In a feat of sheer stupidity we managed to walk the entire length of the road (about 12 miles) around the island in the midday sun (only mad dogs and Englishmen… ). Were it not for the frequent beer stops we might have perished on this far off island.  These are the true dangers of sailing… walking.





Honduras beckoned, and we set sail for the Honduran Bay Islands of Vivarillos, Guanaja and Roatan.  The route took us northwest around top of Nicaragua and then west along the coast of Honduras running about 40 miles off shore. This leg of the trip was some of the best sailing we have ever had.  We managed to sail for 34 hours of the 36 hour trip to Vivarillos resorting to the motor only in the last two hours as we tried to reach our destination before dark. Part of the trip was a full spinnaker run that lasted for over 6 hours. We got another 24 hour down wind sail to Guanaja and a shorter 8 hour down wind sail to Roatan. For once we were going in exactly the right direction and we couldn’t have been happier. To top it off we experienced one of the most awesome sunset/moonrise evenings I have ever seen. We were headed due west as a spectacular red globe sun set in the water ahead of us.  As we glanced aft we then saw an equally huge yellow moon just lifting from the water.  The two perfect balls of light rested on their respective horizons at precisely the same moment. The sight was so impressive, and it seems so futile to try to describe it adequately. I have never seen anything like it. Calm, colorful, “fishless” seas and good winds are what I will remember of this part of the trip. (Note the term “fishless”:  I may have set a futility record of some kind by dragging a rubber fish for almost 900 miles and catching “nada”.  We buy all of the fish we eat.) 

Vivarillos is an uninhabited island with a long reef providing protection for anchoring. Just another white sand beach with turquoise water. Ho-hum. The only sign of life were the stacks of lobster pots hidden in the palms.  Lobster is out of season in the Caribbean right now and the fishermen store their traps here until they return in July. Deserted. From Vivarillos we sailed on to Guanaja where we would check in to Honduras. Guanaja is a pretty large island surrounded on all sides by ocean reefs. There are about 8,000 residents on the island and they almost all live on one small Cay that is the main town of Bonacca.  The whole island is only about 12 miles long and is is dotted with small, struggling-to-survive resorts that occupy the bays on the island as well as the small cays that dot the reefs. Supplies come from the mainland so availability and prices are very reasonable. This island is a beautiful destination resort, but no airstrip or ferry service comes here so you need to make private arrangements through the resorts to come by boat. That does keep the crowds down. The resorts are very quiet right now, but they are very beautiful places. The “season” is January to April.



We anchored in a beautiful bay called El Bight on a Sunday afternoon and found a German palapa bar ashore that provided much information about the area. The following morning we headed to Bonacca to check in. Friendly people everywhere. The town has no vehicles (no streets either) and everyone walks the narrow lanes between buildings. The economy is afloat. Fishing is the primary business with many large shrimp boats moored across the bay that provide most of the employment. Tourism seems to be the only other industry, but with the lack of ferry service this consists of cruisers stopping in and the resort visitors taking a day ashore. Immigration and the port captain were easy stops and we sampled the local boleados for breakfast (thick tortillas with beans and cheese) before returning to the boat. Much later that night we found that El Bight had been misspelled. Apparently El Bite would have been much more appropriate.  Although we were anchored several hundred feet off shore and the winds were strong and gusting all night we woke the next day with MANY mosquito bites. No wonder the resorts struggle. We abandoned El Bite that day and spent the next few nights anchored behind the reefs and far from shore.



Roatan was next. French Cay, West End, some of the best diving and snorkeling in the world. Our buddy boat needed to keep moving since Dana wanted to reach the Rio Dulce River by late May for her trip home. We are leaving her in Roatan and will be joining other friends who left Bocas earlier in the winter for the next month of our trip. Winds are beginning to pipe up in this portion of the Caribbean and all of the boats have a weather eye cast for signs of an early hurricane season.  Our last night in Guanaja was constant 25 - 30 knot winds and the sail to Roatan, while downwind, was made in 20 knots. Mañana has sailed flawlessly the entire trip and we feel safe and comfortable. Our only malfunction this entire trip was some bad gas from Bocas that fouled our fuel filters. We had gotten lazy about filtering all of our gas before putting it into the tanks and since I had just changed the fuel filters in late January when we put the boat away I had seen no need to get new spare filters just yet.  The result is that on one of those “great sails” we spent several hours hand pumping and filtering all of the gas in our tanks. 

Roatan is still another island ringed by ocean reefs (albeit a much larger island). This is the premier dive center of the Caribbean with hundreds of dive spots and many, many businesses catering to the dive market. We found an anchorage in French Harbor Cay just inside the reefs and we are sitting pleasantly afloat enjoying the warm, sunny days.  The winds are strong here, but the reef buffers the seas very nicely.  Ashore we found a very modern super market (much appreciated) as well as a friendly cruisers’ marina offering regular happy hours, pot luck suppers and an opportunity to connect with other boats who have anchored in the area. Since the winds have kicked up so much we rented a car visit the famed West End which is a little more exposed to the weather.  West End is a seemingly  endless beach lined with dive shops and restaurants and bars. We also found time to visit the local iguana farm where large iguanas roamed freely.  In the wild they are a bit skittish (remember iguana tastes like chicken) but at the farm we could even pet the cute little creatures.



When we return to the Caribbean next year Roatan will be our primary destination, but for now the quick visit will have to do. Everyone is worried that the bad weather will close out the opportunity to run for the river and its good protection so we anxiously read weather reports on the internet each morning while we debate the accuracy of each prediction. We are cautious enough to realize that our very small boat is better avoiding rough seas so an early visit to the river is probably in our future. Next time you hear from us we expect to be “up the river” so to speak. The Rio Dulce River in Guatemala.

Tom and Andrea