After about 10 days in Roatan, we decided it was time to try to get to Guanaja. Lotte and Pauline were getting a little restless because their time in the Bay Islands and aboard Andiamo was winding down, and they wanted to get as much in as possible. So, we decided that we would head up the northside of Roatan, anchor at a place called Big Bight for the night, and then continue on in the morning towards Guanaja. The east trades were blowing, which meant that we would be dealing with pretty much head-on winds the whole way to Guanaja. This meant doing at least two wide tacks to get us at the right angle with the wind so we can head in to Guanaja.
We left West End in Roatan a little later than I would have liked, about 2-3pm. This gave us about 2 good hours of daylight for us to get into Big Bight’s anchorage, which should have been more than enough. We had a brisk sail up the Roatan Coast, doing a tack off and back onto the coast towards the entrance at Big Bight. When we got close to the Big Bight entrance. I checked our position on the chart against landmarks and a visual map of the coast. It all looked like we were in the right position. I noticed that there were no markings to show the entrance through the reef into Big Bight. The chart showed that the opening in the reef was quite wide, about 100 meters. So I carefully motored in, with Lotte at the bow watching for any reef heads.
The water stayed deep for quite a time as we got closer and closer into the reef. Just when I thought we were “in”, we rubbed a reef head pretty good. We were stuck for a while until we found the deep water just to port of us. I managed to get into that deep water, which looked to be the same deep water area that we were on to get into the bight. When we rubbed up on the reef, I felt that it put a strain on the rudder, and didn’t want to damage it any further. So I opted to turn around and head back out into open water rather than risk hitting something else and risking further rudder damage.
The sun was going down fast, and the last thing I wanted to do was get stuck on a reef in the dark. It was also too late for us to get back to West End with any daylight. So I suggested that we do a night sail offshore, and then head into Guanaja at first light. Considering it was only about 6pm, that meant that we would be sailing for a good 12 hours before getting to Guanaja. Lotte and Pauline agreed, and I set our course. We were going to go northeast of Roatan for about 30 miles, and then head in Southeast towards Guanaja and pass through between the east end of Roatan and Guanaja, this should give us the track we needed for 12 hours of sailing time.
So we headed out into some pretty steady wind of about 16-18 knots. We had our “borrowed” main from Refuge on the mast, and raised it up. Though it was a little small for my rig, it handled pretty well. We were on our track and sailing for what was to be the next 4-5 hours on this course. The further out we got, the higher the seas got, and the wind. For about the last hour of the leg, it turned into quite a bash-fest. Winds kicked up to 25 knots. We dropped the main, and sailed only on the Genoa. Pauline, who already was not 100%, started getting pretty seasick. Lotte also was not feeling very good from these seas. Guess I was just used to it, because I didn’t feel a thing. After doing our tack back towards Guanaja, the girls didn’t feel much better. I was hoping that the new angle would help make things a little easier on the boat, but it didn’t. Plus, we were facing a fierce current heading from the east at about 3-4 knots! This made our forward progress pretty bad. We were only gaining about 2-3 knots over ground per hour. At this rate, we wouldn’t get to Guanaja for another 10-12 hours!
After seeing the condition of the girls, and the fact that we were getting bashed pretty good by the seas, I made the call to turn the boat back and head to Roatan. At least in that direction, we’d be going with the seas, and that would make the ride a lot easier on them, as well as the boat. As much as I wanted to get to Guanaja, it simply wasn’t worth busting our butts and wearing ourselves out to do it.
After about 4-5 hours, we were back along the Roatan coast, heading toward the West End. Since none of us were thrilled about going right back to West End, I offered up the idea of going around to the south-facing side of the island. There were several coves and anchorages that we can check out and relax there for the day. If the weather proved to be more favorable the next day, we can head up to Guanaja via the south side of Roatan, rather than the north. My thinking was that the current would not be as strong on that side. So we passed West End, went around the island’s West Point, and proceeded on to Dixon Cove, which was about halfway up the island. It looked to be a nice peaceful anchorage, home to a few fishing boats.
The cove’s entry looked to be pretty easy on my charts and guides (but then again, so was Big Bight’s). Despite the very sinister-looking reefs on either side of the cove, the west one being crowned by a massive freighter that found its final resting place on it, the entrance was pretty deep, wide and painless. Much to my relief, I’d had my quota of hairy reef entrances!
We set our anchor at the inside end of the cove, and did some swimming, and prepared for lunch and dinner. Pauline swam over to a secluded beach off the boat and hung out there. I guess that meant that she was feeling better. I dove in to check the anchor to make sure that we were set ok. That night, we watched some DVD’s, and crashed early. Everybody was still pretty tired from the night before when we were getting bashed on our way to Guanaja. I turned on the anchor watch alarm on the laptop to make sure that if we dragged on our anchor, I would hear about it. This alarm goes through the boat’s stereo system, and if the boat moves more than 20 meters away from the point I set on the GPS, the alarm goes off.
At some point, one of the girls turned off the stereo, so the alarm would not be heard. This was unfortunate, because not only did we drag that night, we dragged clear across the cove! To the OTHER SIDE! I woke up to use the head, when I thought I’d pop my head out of the companionway hatch to see what was happening. Behind us there were nothing but TREES! Less than 25 feet away from us! I looked outside forward, and saw that we were now about 200 yards from where we were anchored before. Lucky for us, we were the only sailboat in the anchorage, and there was nothing anchored behind us. So we literally dragged almost a straight line to the other side of the cove. The anchor found some good mud to set in as we dragged, and it held again. While I was pretty freaked out at this whole thing, I was also glad and relieved that we set again, and didn’t end up on any shallow reefs or worse, in the mangroves and trees that were now towering right behind us!
After making absolutely sure that we were not dragging any further, we secured the anchor, and went back to sleep. The next morning, we headed out of Dixon Cove. The weather was ok, but not great. There were some heavy swells pumping in from the East, which is the direction we wanted to go to get to Guanaja. We decided to just give up on Guanaja for this trip, and head back to West End, where we would spend a couple more days before heading back to Utila. Going with the seas, it was a pretty easy and fast trip.
So I guess there’s always next time to try for Guanaja.