Back in Roatan for the fourth time
AJAYA'S CRUISE
Phil & Nikki Hoskins
Tue 31 Jan 2012 18:35
|
16:21.32N, 086:26.43W
We hauled anchor and had a glorious sail back to French
Harbour, or to now use it's correct name - French Cay
Harbour. This name change has come about due to a single handed Brit arriving in
the wrong anchorage in Roatan yesterday, fully expecting to see 30 anchored
yachts but only seeing an assembled mass of shrimp boats. He announced on the
VHF radio that according to his charts he was in French Harbour so where were we
all situated? Well, typically, cruisers use the easy to pronounce name and
it sticks from that time on and really we've been anchored in French
Cay Harbour these last four visits but the 'Cay' kinda got dropped off the
name, causing confusion to one arriving gentleman. So we are now
attempting to keep references to our current location as French Cay Harbour and
not French Harbour - sorry for any confusion!
Before leaving Guanaja we refuelled and simultaneously filled
the propane tank, the filling station having a very quick refill service, so we
now carry enough propane to last us another six months cruising. If only it
were always that easy to refill the propane tanks!
  The fuel dock Cay in
Guanaja......... looks remote but
it's..... ...............
just a short distance off busy Bonacca Cay
Arriving back in French Harbour - whoops - French Cay
Harbour we were able to reclaim our original spot in the front row of the
anchored fleet. Surprise surprise, the anchor dug straight in nearly sending the
'Admiral' off her feet with the sudden jerk to a stop as we reversed the engines
to ensure a good set. The next day our friends from the Rio arrived,
'Chanticleer' and 'Southern Mist', thus reuniting the 'Monkey Bay Six'. We
popped over with a few beers to welcome them in and catch up on some of the Rio
gossip we had missed.
  A rare sight - everything flying as we sail
serenely at 7-8
knots Anchored
and here comes another squall from the east - the protecting reef is easily
visible by the breaking seas ahead of the other
catamaran.
The weather since returning here has been pretty awful to
be honest - strong winds with squalls bursting through the anchorage at up to
gale force sending a few of those more tenuously anchored dragging
backwards towards more securely anchored yachts. As many of the squalls
arrive in the early hours accompanied by tremendous cloudbursts it doesn't make
for a great night's sleep but that's the way it is. At least we are able
to divert the icy cold pure rain water into our keel tanks which we use for
washing and cleaning. So it's not all bad. We continue to wait for that elusive
weather window to head eastwards although at least now we have the best of
facilities in the Bay Islands - supermarket, hardware store and good internet.
And now the 'Admiral' is even thinking of taking SCUBA lessons of all
things!!!
|