Where the Hell is Roatan?

Eclipse
Fri 3 Dec 2004 20:36




Asks the front of the T shirts. The answer on the back is "between Utila
and Guanaja". The real answer of course is that they all comprise the Bay
Islands, about 30 miles off the N coast of Honduras, and about 120 miles
east of the Rio Dulce, Guatemala, where we had spent the hurricane season.

Unfortunately sailing east along the Honduran coast is renowned as one of
the worst sails in the Caribbean as it is to windward, in trade winds
accelerated by the high mountains of the Honduran shore and against an
adverse current. Furthermore there are no good harbours apart from those in
the Bay Islands. So we weren't looking forward to the next 300 miles,
especially since we hadn't been sailing for 6 months.

Thus we were quite happy (if a little bored) to mainly motor sail in a
light northerly wind from Livingston, Guatemala, to Puerto Este at the east
end of the western-most Bay Island of Utila. This is a safe harbour with an
easy entrance so we sailed, rather than motored in.

Before setting out we had heard mixed reports about the Bay Islands. One
cruiser we met said it was the most beautiful place he'd ever seen. Others
said it was just a hippie/backpacker hangout, and that Roatan in particular
was dangerous and thievery was rife. But all agreed that the mosquitoes and
especially the sandflies were voracious.

We had a good first impression, though, when we came to clear in, as it
only took 20 minutes and cost 5USD (Guatemala was about 50 USD to clear in
and the same to clear out). Otherwise we weren't that impressed with Utila,
true it may be the cheapest place in the world to get scuba certified, but
there's not much else going for it. As a major diving centre we had
certainly expected the water to be clearer than it was.

So after a couple of days it was on again, with a day sail to Cayos
Cochinos, which is a small group of islands forming a Marine Reserve where
no anchoring is allowed. Fortunately a hotel has put down some free
moorings for cruisers. In high season as many as 20 boats use them, but in
mid November we were the only boat there.


We found the Cochinos to be much more tropic-islandish. The two bigger
islands were high and tree covered, while the six or so small cays were
covered in white sand and coconut palms, so quite pretty if you like that
sort of thing.


 
One of them, the smallest (only about 5 acres) is home to several hundred
people who fish way out to sea in old dugout canoes. There is no
electricity, or, for that matter, fresh water on the island, so they were
all desperately poor but quite friendly. Some of the Bay Islanders speak
Spanish, some English, but with very upper class cultured British accents,
just like the queen - quite strange. We could never tell until we spoke to
them which language we would have to use.

Because of what we had heard, rightly or wrongly, we missed out stopping in
the main Roatan harbours. Instead we stayed in Old Port Royal at the
island's east end. We were the only cruiser anchored in a very safe bay,
with only one house visible on shore. Roatan is suffering an influx of
(mainly American) ex pats and we had passed a long ribbon of big homes
along the water front, just like in Florida. We stayed a couple of days,
basically until the rain stopped - for it had rained on 10 of the 12 days
since leaving Guatemala.

In 1998 Honduras was hit by hurricane Mitch. Ten thousand people died and
much of the country was destroyed. Particularly hard hit was the next
island we visited, Guanaja. Even 6 years later dead trees and destroyed
homes were very much in evidence. But things were looking up. Guanaja is a
pretty island with friendly people, and not much spoilt by wealthy
newcomers.
 


We spent a couple of days on a mooring at Grahams Place on Josh's Cay. This
was a true Caribbean dream island. Better still, it's owned by an American
whose hobby seems to be running a hotel without guests. It was great for
cruisers; we had free water, free moorings, free ice. And since we were
there for Thanksgiving he even supplied us cruisers with a free
Thanksgiving dinner! Definitely a "must visit" place for anyone in the
area.

Unfortunately, the weatherman on the 8am cruisers net on 8188 said that now
was the time to head east as the tradewinds would only be 15 knots. So we
motored back to Bonacca Town for some last minute shopping. The vast
majority of Guanaja residents live on this offshore cay. Even so, it's a
tiny town with no cars or roads, just walkways and canals, like a mini
Venice. Clearing out was as easy as clearing in and at only 2USD was the
cheapest we've found so far. Honduras certainly knows how to make cruisers
welcome!
 


I guess the weatherman was right, as we never saw wind over 25 knots as we
beat for 44 hours to the corner. But it was not a nice sail! Still we did
better than Columbus, who took 4 weeks to sail along this coast. Not
surprisingly he named the final headland Capo Gracias a Dios (Thank
Christ!) once he'd rounded it. We didn't go as close inshore as he did,
instead we headed for the Vivorillo Cays, 35 miles off the mainland. Two
little deserted coconut palm treed islands inside a protecting reef and a
favourite resting place for cruisers and shrimpboats.
 


Next stop, 190 miles south of here, is the Columbian island of Providencia.
Moderate NE trades were forecast for the next few days so we were hoping for
a nice beam reach.
 
But of course that's not what we had...
 
It all started off well enough, maybe even a bit too slowly to ensure a daytime arrival
 in Providencia. However, by late afternoon we were sailing in a big cross sea towards
 an unmarked, barely awash, coral reef which on the chart had the ominous words
"position uncertain". We would be rounding it in the dark, and with no moon,
we made very sure we kept well away!
 
All went well for Jetti's night watch but by dawn it was clear that the weather had changed.
Big black cloud banks stretched from horizon to horizon and the wind was beginning to
gust strongly. As the day wore on the clouds got more menacing and from time to time
big squalls came racing towards us. In one the rain was as heavy as we've ever seen it,
the whole sea flattening and turning white. We even saw a waterspout, fortunately a
couple of miles away.
 
 
In the next squall the anemometer high wind  alarm (set at 30 knots) went off repeatedly,
despite the fact that we were sailing downwind  at 8 knots. Reefs in, reefs out all day
and then about 2pm we saw the high hill of Providencia appeared dead ahead (these days
gps landfalls are always dead ahead - a nice change from days of old!). Nearly there we thought!
 
But we had one last squall to contend with, which was the worst of the lot. One big wave hit us
broadside and everything went flying. Even a cup broke, the first time that had happened since
leaving the UK. Fortunately, as often happens, after the squall passed to wind dropped to nothing
and we motored the last 5 miles into Catalina Harbour at the north end of Providencia.
 
 
This has an easy entrance with lighted buoys (that makes a change!) and is very protected from the
prevailing winds. We anchored in 8ft next to 3 other yachts, determined to have at least a week's
rest before sailing on to Panama.
 
The map below shows the route from the Rio Dulce to Providencia