French Cay Harbor

We are currently at the dock at Fantasy Island Marina in French Cay Harbor. The generator quit working 2 days ago and we had to come in here to plug into shore power so that our refrigerator would function. Also the water-maker went out. Just your typical boat stuff.

After leaving Calabash we went to Port Royal and Mango Creek Resort and spent two nights there. We ate ashore one night and had their delicious "fish tea" which is a wonderful seafood stew with a coconut milk base.....yum. See the 2009 blog for more on Mango Creek.

We then sailed over here to French Cay where their are about 25 boats at anchor and 10 or so in the marina. There is a nice dive resort here and there are nice facilities such as a pool, two beaches, restaurant etc. We are also just a short dinghy ride to French Harbor town where there is an excellent US-style supermarket...Eldon's , where you can get most anything.

I believe we have the generator problem solved.....a faulty switch. Its comfortable here at the dock and we will just relax here a few more days before moving on.

Oh, did I mention that the water-maker is out?

It wasn't a party, or was it?

We are still in Calabash Bight which is a very quiet,peaceful place ordinarily. But, for the past 3 nights there has been music and singing ashore which goes on all night long. We thought it was a big party ashore the first night but then it became consistent each night and lasted all night long. What is going on we asked?
It turns out that an ancient woman passed away 3 days ago and the custom here is to sing all night long each night until the burial occurs.
This I believe is a very nice thing to do....kind of singing her soul into heaven.

Roatan, Calabash Bight

We left Utila last Saturday and sailed over to Calabash Bight near the eastern end of Roatan, a distance of about 40 miles....for you non-sailboaters that is an all-day trip. It is really true that cruising is "fixing your boat in exotic places." We have been out now for less than 3 weeks and already we have had generator problems( exhaust leak requiring finding someone to weld a part) and I have had to rebuild the toilet pump.Oh well. Part of the deal.

This picture is taken from the house of our friends, Mark and Lori who are cruisers who have settled down here on Roatan and have a small marina. They had a Super Bowl party and we all had a great time.Mary and I even won a little money!

We will probably stay here for a week or so before we move on. There are many good anchorages on the south coast of Roatan and we're not sure yet where we go next.We will not go too far because our plan is to stay in the Bay Islands until we return to the Rio Dulce late next month.