French Harbor Roatan to Livingston Guatemala

We spent the remainder of our time in Roatan at Fantasy Island, French Cay Harbor. It is a great gathering spot for cruisers and there was a gala St. Patricks Day party there with upwards of 60 people present. Mary sang "Danny Boy" to the enjoyment of all

.Alas, it was time to leave as we had to arrive in Livingston for the high tide to take us across the bar at the entrance to the Rio Dulce. We left Roatan at 9:00 AM on Sunday and arrived at Cabo Tres Puntas, just off Livingston, 24 hours later . We made good time as we had wind and seas astern, but it was a little rough with 6 to 8 foot seas and 20-25 knots of wind most of the way. We caught this beautiful sunset while anchored at Cabo Tres Puntas. The next morning we crossed the bar into the Rio Dulce and checked into Guatemala at Livingston and then made our way upriver to Mario's Marina.

Now we are in the midst of preparing the boat for the long lay-up period. We fly home next Friday and are looking forward to being back with our friends and family once again, although it is bitter-sweet because we are leaving our good cruising friends. But, we will see them next season.

The year of the generator

Well here we are back at the dock at Fanatsy Island Resort on Roatan( yes they actually have a plane......de plane boss, de plane!!). Anyway we are here because our generator quit for the third time this season, all three problems unrelated. This time it was a cooling water problem. I won't get technical here but suffice to say that I spent a good four or five hours troubleshooting and got nowhere. I hvae an analytical mind and knew the probable problem but my mechanical skills are somewhat lacking. Suffice to say that Clement, the local mechanic did in 15 minutes what it woud have taken me 4 hours to do. As of now all is well....we will see.

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.

Rio Dulce to Utila

We crossed the Rio Dulce bar with the high tide on Tuesday morning and sailed overnight to Utila, Bay Islands of Honduras. We had light winds and had to motor-sail all the way. It was a little lumpy, but over-all not bad. It took us about 20 hours to cross the Bay of Honduras. Utila is the westernmost of the Bay Islands and is a popular spot for divers and back-packers. We plan to stay here through the week-end and then move on to Roatan

Olive ridley turtles

We are just a short walk along the beach from the sea turtle preserve. The turtles come ashore here to lay their eggs. The height of egg-laying season is August and September.Several months later the hatchlings break out of their shells and burrow through the sand to the surface and then make their way to the ocean. Only one in a thousand hatchlings make it to adulthood, but the females who do make it will return to this exact location to lay their eggs, this after many years and thousands of miles of migration. They may live to be fifty years old. Here is a little one on her way to the sea.