Roatan, Honduras (Fantasy Island)

1/17/17

Oh, my to be stuck in paradise!  We have been here 25 days now and can not get out of here.  Roatan is, of course, a beautiful island.  Unfortunately for the cruising community, it is a very large island and the only way around it is by car.  You can take your dinghy here and there, but not very far from the "mother ship".  So, it makes it difficult to shop or sightsee without renting an expensive taxi or rental car.  Both of which we have done.

Now, this is a MEAL

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The island is also, from what we have experienced so far, not a gastronomical feast, as was Isla Mujeres, Mexico.  We did get a ride to Punta Gorda and had traditional island fare out over the water. Met some locals who offered us a "drink" from their bottle, followed by a sip of Orange Crush.  The older gentleman told Charlie is would be good for his sex life when we got back to the boat.  (yeah...whatever)....

Our restaurant bungalow 

Most of our days are spent laying around reading or "bobbing" in the water with our British friends, Jan and Richard.  So not only am I learning Spanish but "English" as well from them.  We will be sailing to Panama with them in our small flotilla.  We have done one dive trip (a 2 tank dive) to Mary's Place and Gold Chain.  These are 2 dive sites very near Fantasy Island.  The dive boat drops you off on top of the reef (approximately 15') and then you make your way to the wall and down to about 65'.  The coral (both soft and hard) is breathtaking.  But my favorites are the sponges.  Of course, it goes without saying that the reef fish are pretty cool, too.  I had some great photos with our GoPro, especially of a Hawksbill Turtle that seemed to love to swim all through our group of divers.  Unfortunately, my sweet husband lost the tiny chip from my camera so all photos are lost somewhere in our boat.

The local grocery store, Eldon's, sends a large bus to the "Tiki Palapa"....the meeting ground of the cruisers at Fantasy Island, on Tuesdays at 3:00.  They wait for an hour and then return us with all our groceries, so that is a help.  Presently we are thinking about trying to rent a 4-wheel drive truck so we can really explore the islands north side as well as the east end.  John is looking for a way to rent a house for a month and bring his "fast" panga here from Guatemala to do some serious fishing.  So if our exploration actually unfolds I will report on that in a future post.  Until then....

The Bay Islands....Honduras

1/8/17

We arrived at Utila on December 23.  We had been beaten up on this first and shortest leg of our trip.  The trip from Livingston, Guatemala where we checked out of the country began with sunny weather and a brisk wind.  We made it across to Tres Punt

es and were beginning to make it around the peninsula and getting ready to raise the main.  Fortunately, John saw the boom flopping around and we had lost a clevis pin that attaches the boom to the mast.  We made a u-turn and I took the wheel in the lee of the peninsula and motored back and forth until John and Charlie got the problem resolved.  The evening was fast approaching, once around the corner and heading for Utila we spent the next 20 hours in hardly any wind and what we had was clocking all around the boat.  The bad part was the seas...8' and coming at us in all directions...it was pretty miserable, but "whatcha" gonna do?  We also had the added squall with high winds that would hit ever so often and then be gone as fast as it came.

 We hit the cut in the reef to enter the harbor in Utila at daybreak and in some major rain.  We dropped anchor and just sat and looked at each other, too tired to do anything else at that point.  Around 1:00 pm....we dropped the dinghy and made it to shore to check into Honduras.  In the past this has been a very quick entry, but no not today.  Four hours later, after many walks to this office and that shop to print more copies of our paperwork and Charlie taking the port captain out to our boat for pictures (this was a new one on us), we finally got that all important "entry stamp".  It is now dark thirty and we have not had any sleep or eaten.  We made our way to a new restaurant, Mango Tango and had frozen Mojitos...many frozen mojitos! And, then to our surprise a fabulous dinner.  Full stomachs now and bed!

Hopefully she won't be Christmas dinner!

12/20/16
Rio Dulce, Guatemala

The last few days have been filled with getting the boat ready for our first leg of this adventure, to Roatan, Honduras.  Luv and his wife, Amy, had a big Christmas party for all of his employees.  It was a catered affair at the palapa.  I ate fresh fried chicharrones for the first time, and I have to say they are the bomb with a beer....not like the ones out of a package by any means.  The party started around 2:30, but got into full swing by dark.  I danced the night fandango and then couldn't hardly walk the next day....Charlie is laughing his ass off about this.  My mind is 35, but my body is 65....damn I hate that!

So, here are some pictures of our last days on the Rio.  Adios....we won't be back for a couple of years at least.  It is a nice place, but it just isn't the Caribbean, what can I say!

    Here is the garbage "truck" on the Rio Dulce.  We were having

a nice breakfast in the sunshine and then before you knew it is 

               was raining cats and dogs, it can be a white out at times.  

                               

 Rosita's is our most favorite restaurant on the Rio Dulce. 

 It's clientele is mostly rich Guatemalans and the food is excellent.

          

This is view from Rositas looking back down the river to the bridge.

So here we had fresh Robalo (snook) carpaccio with avocado slices, peppers and red onion (large plate). And braised pulpo
(octopus) in a fabulous spicy sauce with the best garlic bread I've ever eaten to sop up all that delicious sauce.