Because of the weather we, including our crew Martina and Dimitri, have stayed anchored in Guanaja, Honduras The only disappointment is because of the weather, we have been limited to what we could do. The first day and the best weather day we went through the canal to the north side of the island to snorkel at a place called Micheal Rock. This was a great snorkel. We spotted many small turtles an octopus a nurse shark and spooked a ray. The rock is surrounded by lots of beautiful corals and sponges so there were lots of the colorful reef fish as well. By the time we were on our way back the winds were filling in and the ride was getting bumpy.
Two of the other boats that left Roatan with us headed for Panama didn’t want to wait for the next weather window and had taken off that morning leaving Sylvester and Stray Catz to travel together.
The following day it was blowing 20 knots all day, but it was fresh vegetable delivery day for the island, so we had to venture into the main cay to load up on provisions. It’s only about a mile downwind dinghy ride from where we were anchored, but by the time we got back to Stray Catz, with the wind waves building in the harbor, all of us and all of the groceries were drenched in salt water.
We’ve visited most of the places at this end of the anchorage. A reopening resort invited us to check them out, so we went there where Anna found another monkey friend. A very young Capuchin who it looks like may have been taken from its mother a little soon. Anna’s maternal instincts kicked in and she has visited the monkey many times since bringing stuffed animals, a rope to swing on, and fruits to eat.
Delayed an extra day by an engine issue on Sylvester, we took Stray Catz out to visit our new friends that we made on Clarks Cay. We spent most of a wonderful day, swimming, snorkeling, and chopping up coconuts to be used for rum drinks. Just before sunset and the rise of the full moon, nine of us took off on four kayaks for the resort two islands over, Grimm’s Place. It was quite a challenge paddling against the wind on the overcrowded kayaks, and I was already looking forward to the downwind, moonlit cruise back. Just as we were loading the kayaks (or should I say, overloading?) for the return trip, heavily armed military personnel swarmed the property and docks giving us orders to return to the bar. Normally I wouldn’t have a problem with that, but it was getting late and I had an early departure time scheduled the next morning.
After nearly a four-hour delay during which we watched an alleged thug dragged out of sight, we finally begged them enough and they let us go. At midnight we made the moonlit trek back down to Stray Catz still planning a 4 am cast off of which we made.
The almost 60 hour trip to Providencia was one of our better multi-day passages. With five able bodies on board, we could do two-hour watches with eight-hour breaks in between. I haven’t had it that easy since I left the FAA. The first 130 miles are usually the hardest because the normal trade winds are directly on the nose, however the winds were out of the NE and before too long we had the sails up and we were doing what sail boats are supposed to do. We played leap-frog with Sylvester the whole trip and pulled into the harbor at the Colombian island early Saturday afternoon under a beautiful blue sky.
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