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.

Antigua and Monterrico Guatemala

We arrived in the Rio Dulce 10 days ago and spent a few days putting the boat back together and then took off with our friends Beth and John Tally and went to Antigua, Guatemala and then on to Monterrico, on the Pacific coast. We have rented a private home right on the beach. It is a black volcanic sand beach, so different from the beaches we are used to in Destin. The Pacific waves are huge and the surf sounds are terrific. We will have a full moon in a day or two which should be beautiful.