So, after a day or so in Utila, the crew was onboard, last minute details were taken care of, and we were off to Roatan. We did have a little issue with the anchor windlass (that’s the thing that raises and lowers the anchor). Seems that the relay switch that operated the controller decided to stop working, right when we were anchoring in Utila.
Considering that these kinds of relay switches are not just available anywhere in Central America, much less the Bay Islands, I had to improvise. I managed to set up a way of “hotwiring” the windlass when I needed it to work using a pair of jumper cables. Sure, it’s not as pretty as pushing a button to raise the anchor, but it gets the job done. So it will have to do for now.
With the crew aboard, we made way for West End of Roatan. We got there not long before dark, and decided to just stay onboard the night, and hang out as a crew. We made a nice chicken dinner, of which for some reason, I managed to drop TWO pieces of the grilled chicken right into the deep blue (don’t ask me how) as I took them off the grill. That never happened before. So the chicken portions were a tad reduced, but dinner was good nonetheless. After a couple rounds of rum drinks and a movie, we called it a night.
Next morning, we were off to French Harbour, a little more down east on the south side of the island. The plan was to finish up the provisioning there, and for me to go into Coxen Hole and try to get us checked out of Roatan. We saw that there was an empty slip at the yacht club, so we just opted to pull in there. It would make things much easier. Plus, I know the manager, Nikolai, a crazy Russian guy who has owned the marina for the past few years, so I’d get a chance to say hi and bye to him. I’d seen him about three months ago, the last time I was in French Harbour. Imagine my absolute shock when I found out from his girlfriend that he had been shot dead at his house at the marina about 2 months ago. That was really upsetting. I’d known for some time that he’d had some enemies on the island, and being a hot-headed russian, I’m sure that didn’t win him any friends. It turned out that it was probably a hit, as his girlfriend Jessy told me the whole story. Anyway, that was a pretty upsetting note to end my last visit to Roatan for some time to come.
With the provisioning done, and checkout completed, we headed out for Guanaja the following morning. The weather was expected to be good, with light variable winds coming in from the north, which was PERFECT for us. The first couple hours required us to motorsail, as the winds were VERY light, but by the time we got to Guanaja’s soutwestern tip, the wind was blowing nicely, and we were able to sail right up the coast. It was nice, easy-going sail. I was particularly excited, because despite my being in these waters for three seasons now, I never made it to Guanaja. One attempt in 2005 (with the self-proclaimed “Dutch Bitches” as crew) was called off due to rough seas and major crew seasickness. The second attempt was thwarted when my headsail blew out last year off Roatan, causing us to pull into French Harbour and make repairs, thus ruining our already tight end of season schedule. So, needless to say, it was AWESOME finally seeing some new lands and waters.
We went up Guanaja’s southern coast towards a place called Josh’s Cay. It’s a private Cay owned by a guy named Graham who moved to Guanaja from Grand Cayman 15 years ago. He bought the whole island and built a really nice place on it with a bar, restaurant, some bungalows and lots of free services for yachties, which included free ice, water, and moorings. I’d heard about it from some other cruisers who’d been there, and figured that would be the best place to go while hanging out in Guanaja. And we were not disappointed. I even got to meet Graham, who turned out to be a hell of a nice guy. It was a nice, idyllic way to spend a couple of days in Guanaja.
Then, on the day we were to leave Guanaja, we headed over to Guanaja settlement to finish up some final shopping, go online one last time, and get a look at the town. Despite Guanaja being situated on a large picturesque island, the locals instead chose to build their “town” on a small flat cay just off the main island. It’s a cramped, chaotic little town that has no streets, only sidewalks and all traffic in and out of it is strictly by boat. It was a pretty interesting place to see.
After taking care of our stuff, we pulled up the hook and headed out of Guanaja for our first stop, the Vivorillo Cays. The sail over that first night and most of the day were nothing short of phenomenal. The wind kept blowing steadily from the north, and we were able to maintain a beam reach towards the Vivorillos with no problem at all. Our only problem was that we left Guanaja a little late in the day the previous day, making our timing to get to Vivorillos, about 140 miles away, a little tight for a daylight arrival. This got further complicated by a nasty squall that blew on us just about 20 miles out of the Vivorillos, causing me to put the storm behind me, pushing back a couple more miles. This issue, exacerbated by the fact that the weather remained kinda crappy, caused me to decide to not stop at the Vivorillos after all, but instead just keep going. I can see that the crew was disappointed, but there really wasn’t another choice. So we continued onward to Providencia, which was another 200 miles away.
So for the next day and a half, we ventured onward. The weather remained good for the first 100 miles past Vivorillos. But then, the wind died, and we found ourselves surrounded by some nasty thunderstorms and squalls. We luckily managed to dodge the nasty lightning, but did get deluged by one of the rainy squalls pretty good. The weather remained hazy and strange the rest of the day, and into the night. The wind was pretty spotty, and we ended up needing to motor the last 60 or so miles to Providencia.
We made an early morning arrival into Providencia this morning. The weather coming in was nearly perfect and breezy. We all got caught up on sleep, had some breakfast and headed into the island for a look around. This island is far from touristy, which is a refreshing change, and the people are really friendly and genuine, also refreshing. Looks like we’ll be here for at least another day or two while we assess the weather situation south of us.
So far, so good… 
Comment from: mietsie [Visitor]
Nice to read you are enjoying being on the blue and getting to see new places, it makes me smile, take care,
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