Back to the Rio Dulce

We left Roatan on April 17th and sailed to Utila where we spent 4 days. We checked out of Honduran customs and immigration before sailing on to Laguna El Diamante on the mainland of Honduras. This is a very well-protected bay surrounded by mangroves and is adjacent to Puerto Escondido where we had spent two nights on the trip over to Roatan 6 weeks ago. We traveled in company with Windquest, Compania and Goin' Places . We have had very strong trade wind conditions for the past 4 weeks and it made for a fast, if somewhat rough ,passage across the Gulf of Honduras. It is about 50 miles from Utila to Diamante and we made it in about 8 hours.

From there we went back to Omoa and checked out the fort which was built by the Spanish 250 years ago. Omoa is a very lively place on the weekends, with lots of folks from San Pedro Sula coming over to enjoy the beach and water activities. We found that they like to play loud music all night which is not conducive to a good nights sleep in the anchorage. Besides our 4 boats, we were joined by our friends, Dave and Jan on Odyssea and we all went ashore for a very good seafood dinner of shrimp and lobster.

From Omoa we sailed the next day to Cabo Tres Puntas which is just across the bay from Livingston which is at the mouth of the Rio Dulce. High tide the next day was at 9 AM so we were up and underway to position ourselves at the bar one hour before high tide .The bar at the mouth of the Rio will carry 5.5 feet at slack tide so it is important to cross on the rising tide.We draw 6 feet and the high that day was 1.9 feet so we slid acoss with about a foot and a half of water beneath our keel.

After checking in to Guatemala in Livingston, we went through the Rio Dulce gorge and back to our slip at Mario's Marina. We will spend the next 10 days getting the boat ready to leave it for the season and then we will fly out of SanPedro Sula Honduras for Houston and then Memphis on May 13.


We have had a great season, have seen a lot of places and have had a lot of fun but it will be good to get home to family and friends. I am even looking forward to going back to work!

Port Royal, Roatan

Port Royal is a large bay on the eastern end of Roatan. In the 18th century it was a hangout for some notorious pirates including Henry Morgan. Nowadays it is a hangout for cruisers and fly-fishermen, most of which are not notorious.


Ashore here is Mango Creek Resort which is a world-renowned fly fishing resort offering some of the best in permit,tarpon and bone-fishing in this part of the world. The owners, Patrice and Terry are former cruisers and world circumnavigators. They are very hospitable and it is possible to eat ashore in the resort restaurant if they aren't full with their own guests. The food is delicious. They make a fish stew which can't be beat.

In the small-world category, Patrice and I discovered that her ex-husband and I were college fraternity brothers at Tulane 40-odd years ago. How's that? She didn't hold it against me.

While anchored here we hiked some 3 miles over the mountain to Camp Bay, a small settlement on the north side of the island.It is very laid-back here. We ate lunch at Sirena's Bar and Restarant which sits out over the azure blue water. Very nice.As you can see Mary made another friend here.

When we leave here we will begin to slowly retrace our steps back toward the west with our plan being to cross the bar back into the Rio Dulce late this month. We are flying back to Memphis in mid-May.

Calabash Bight, Roatan

The south coast of Roatan is studded with inlets that provide good protection from the prevailing trade winds. The north coast, by contrast, is fringed by reefs and is exposed to the easterly trades and the northerlies that accompany cold fronts during the winter. Therefore most large settlements are on the south coast. Some of these such as Coxen Hole and Old French Harbor are commercial and provide ports for the local shrimp fleet( the largest in the Caribbean) and cruise ships.




The others such as Calabash Bight are beautiful bays surrounded by hills and are the location of a mixture of homes for local fishermen and for ex-pat gringos as well.


We had just dropped anchor when two local fishermen brought some lobsters which we bought and put on the grill last night....hmmm good.

Even anchored out here we have access to the internet thanks to the entrepreneuership of former cruisers Mark amd Laurie who sell access to their satellite hook-up for a good price. They live in the house on the hill in the upper photo.

Well thats all for now. We will be moving on to Port Royal in a day or so.

Parrot Tree Marina

So Mary flew home for a little break and I am staying at this marina in Roatan. It is in a beautiful development called Parrot Tree Plantation. There is a nice coffee house/restaurant, pool, and a beach area. It is in-expensive as far as marinas go...only about $20 per day which is a real deal considering the amenities present. Electricity is extra.
Mary will be back next Thursday and we will then continue our exploration of Roatan, probably going to Port Royal and then to Calabash Bight. In the meantime I am catching up on my reading

Jonesville, Roatan

After leaving Barbareta we sailed back to Roatan and went into Bodden Bight, home of Jonesville, Roatan and more importantly, the Hole in The Wall Bar which is pictured at right.It is accessible only by water and has become a cruiser favorite over the years. The food is good and Bob, the owner, is extremely hospitable. We anchored just off the restaurant and were able to use his wifi signal for internet access.

Jonesville is primarily a working village with shrimping being the main livelihood and it is the home of a sizeable fleet. The homes are built on stilts above the water along the shore.


We were able to take the dinghy east from here all the way to Calabash Bight and west to Caribbean Bight. The canals were mangrove lined with mangroves forming an overhead canopy for almost the entire length. The water was crystal clear and just beyond the canals ,to the south, is the fringing reef that borders the entire south coast of the island.




From here we will make our way the few miles west to Parrot Tree marina. Mary will fly out on the 9th to take a break and play with the grand-kids. She is also having some dental problems that need to be attended to.

Barbareta

Here are the pictures I wanted to post with the previous blog.Not sure what the problem is.
Enjoy

Barbareta

We left French Harbor and sailed about 20 miles to Barbareta, a small island just to the east of Roatan. We passed by Port Royal which was a hangout of the famous privateer Henry Morgan.Barbareta is surrounded by coral reefs and the snorkling is fantastic. There were just four boats in the anchorage, us( Antares) ,Upjinks, with John and Beth Talley aboard and Capraia with Breck and Sally Thomas aboard. Theses three have been together since leaving the Rio Dulce. Joining us from French Harbor was Windquest with Jim and Carol Defelice aboard.



The island is mainly jungle with tall hills and is rich in bird life. In the early mornings in the cockpit of our boat, with a cup of coffee in hand ,I could see many parrots flying to and fro. There were also many wading birds such as herons and egrets and black-necked stilts( a new one for me).There is a nice beach on the south side where we were anchored, with two reefs within swimming distance from the boat.

The island is privately owned and we were fortunate to meet the owner, Kelcy Warren, who gave us permission to explore ashore. He is an affable Texan who owns the power company in Roatan( and gas and oil pipelines in the states) There is a lot of development on this island which I hope does not destroy its pristine character. We were able to hike the entire island and Mary even made some friends with a local bovine inhabitant.

We spent three nights here. We sat out a norther with 30 knots of wind but the anchorage was secure and we had no problems. Our friends on Upjinks, Capraia and Windquest will go on to Guanaja. We will return to Roatan so Mary can fly home for her 2 1/2 week break from me and the boat, but mainly to see the grand-kids. I will have to hang out at Parrot Tree Marina(sad face) ( check out the website)....more later.

Utila, Roatan etc

Here are the pics that i wanted to post with the text below.

Here we are on Fantasy Island with the anchorage behind us.
















Approaching Utila

One big iguana

us at Gio's restauarant where we had gigantic King crabs for dinner.

Utila and Roatan, Bay Islands of Honduras

Sorry, I am having trouble uploading images with the text.

After leaving Puerto Escondido, we sailed the 45 miles to Utila which is the westernmost of Honduras' Bay Islands. The three main islands, Utila, Roatan and Guanaja lie about 30 miles north of the mainland and run in a roughly southwest to northeast orientation.

Utila, is known as "party central" of the northwest caribbean. Lots of young people, backpackers and divers come here. Apparently this is one of the least-expensive places to come to become certified as a diver.It is a fun place with some nice restauarants and the cays southwest of here offer some great snorkliing and diving. After about three days we moved on to French Harbor, Roatan which is about 26 miles NW of Utila. ( We have come some 175 miles from our starting point in the Rio Dulce and it has taken a week.....such is the pace on a sailboat!)

Roatan is about 30 miles long and 2 -3 miles wide. It is quite hilly and green. There is a paved road that runs about 2/3 the length of the island along the hilly spine. It is surrounded by a barrier reef that provides spectacular snorkling and diving. The depth drops from 30 ft to 1000ft in about a hundred yards in many places.

We anchored in French Harbor which is a short dinghy ride away from access to Eldon's grocery store, ATM machines etc.It is also adjacent to Fantasy Island resort, which offers wifi access, beach ,pool etc.

The people of Roatan are a mixture of the Spanish and English influences that held sway here in the 17th and 18th centuries. Most people are bilingual but there are some mainly black ( the Garifuna people who came here from St Vincent 200 years ago) communities who only speak English. The English controlled the Bay Islands for much of their colonial life. This included a period of time in the mid to late 17th century when the English pirates ruled here. Henry Morgan had a hideout here at Port Royal.

From here we are going to the small island of Barbareta 16 miles east of here. More later.

Omoa and Puerto Escondido Honduras

Here are some pics we took on our way from the Rio Dulce to Roatan. Omoa is a small town on the N. coast of Honduras. Puerto Escondido is a beautiful little bay in a national park. It is also situated on Honduras N. coast.

We are now in Roatan which is about 175 miles from our starting point in the Rio Dulce.

More later.

Guatemala and Honduras January 14-22

We arrived back in the Rio Dulce on January 6th and spent a week straightening out the boat. This consists of Orin tearing things apart looking for the items that he "stowed" last season and then Mary picking up and organizing after she shows him where he left said items.

Our friends from the old marina in Biloxi came to visit...Joyce and Frank and Judy and David. Unfortunately, it rained the entire time they were in the Rio, but we showed them the sights and we had a good time despite being wet.

Above is a picture of Edgar, the great white egret that hangs around our slip at Mario's Marina.The beautiful little girl in the dugout canoe, or cayuca, we encountered on our trip through the Rio Dulce gorge on the way to Livingston which is a small town lying at the mouth of the river. The gorge is beautiful, with sheer walls of lush vegetation rising hundreds of feet above the river. The original Tarzan movie with Johnny Weismuller was shot here on location.

The next day we traveled to Copan, Honduras. Copan is a magnificent Mayan ruin site and is the only such site in Honduras. It is close to the Guatemalan border and is a 4.5 hour van ride from Rio Dulce. The 6 of us were joined by our friends Kathleen and George, from s/v Deja Vu. The small town of Copan Ruinas is quite nice, with several good restaurants and is only a short walk from the ruins.

While in Copan we visited Macaw Mountain , a beautful area devoted to housing and caring for tropical birds , all of which were at one time pets, and have been donated to the preserve for ongoing care.

After two days in Copan, we went on to Antigua, another 5 hour van ride. The weather in Antigua was beautiful, with sunny warm days and cool nights. Mary and I were here for a week last year "learning " Spanish. ( See that blog) There are many things to do here and the town is a lovely colonial city with many shops and good restaurants. The coffee grown in this area is some of the best in the world and we had a chance to visit a coffee finca, Finca Filadelphia. Some 90% of their production from 900 acres goes to Starbucks. The remainder is sold under the family name "R. Dalton" and is available in the US.

We left our Biloxi friends in Antigua and returned to the boat. They were to travel on to Lake Atitlan for a couple of days before returning to the states. Our plan is to await a favorable tide for crossing the bar at Livingston and then on to the Bay Islands of Honduras......more later.