06 – 12 January 2013: East Harbour, Utila, Honduras
16 05N 86 53W
Lively Downwind Sailing to Move Further
West
We knocked off the 30 miles downwind from Roatan to
Utila in under 5 hours with just our headsail flying.
Rather a rolly trip with plenty of wind but the forecast was promising more of
the same with gusts even higher over the following days, so we took the chance
to move on while we could. Tackling another reef entrance wasn’t looking
too daunting with clear skies overhead, but wouldn’t you know it just as we made
our final approaches a cloud formed from nowhere and visibility dropped
considerably. We made it safely into the huge bay, found a sandy spot to
drop the hook and declared it a suitable home for the next few days.
Wind, Wind and more Wind
For the next 6 days there was little let up from the wind. Accelerated
trade winds were reported all over the Caribbean, with the squash zone off the
top of Colombia producing gale force and 5 – 6 metre seas. Even tucked
away in the farthest western corner of the Gulf of Honduras we
could not escape, although we rarely saw gusts over 30 knots, the seas were
flat, our anchorage comfortable and our water tanks full to overflowing with a
few downpours.
What a Funky Little Place
It was no hardship staying a few days. Ashore was quite a delight, old
wooden buildings lined the main street, some had been updated and renovated,
others lay in their original condition adding a definite “Take me as I am”
flavour to the town. The mainly
backpacking diving clientele fitted in well and the town survives
by servicing their needs. There were plenty of “cruisy joints” (see the
zany gardens above at one of the cafes) to while away a few hours offering
inexpensive drinks and food , great sunset bars on stilts over the water,
hammocks slung between swaying palms ~ certainly a laid back place.
Interesting Health and Safety
Standards
Lunchtime entertainment was provided one day by the local power company (just
as well as lunch took nearly an hour to materialize!). There obviously
weren’t quite enough wires attached to this power pole, so it was time to
install some more. We watched as the van blocked the road for several
minutes (it’s only one lane wide) and unloaded tools, electrical connection
boxes, rolls of wires, 3 employees ~ but no ladder. Then we noticed
one of them walking with considerable difficultly and everything well into
place. He had special shoes on with big hooks coming out of the heels
(imagine a Captain Hook hand), he made his way slowly to the pole, which luckily
was wooden!, and started climbing it, sticking his hooks in as he went. We
were pleased to see that he did clip himself on when he got to the right spot,
but he sure provided quite some entertainment for all the tourists going
by.
A Hike to The Other Side

Cabin fever had us going ashore daily for a walk, we went left as far as we
could, right as far as we could and then we decided to do the suggested hike in
the Lonely Planet across the island to Pumpkin Hill,
a pirates hideaway in another time. There is only one road across the
island, and only one hill ~ how could we not find it?? Still, it was a hot
sunny morning so maybe climbing a hill wasn’t such a good idea anyway! We
kept going north, along the paved road, past dozens of lots for sale, some of
the for sale signs were so old and faded, another developers dream gone
wrong. A couple of houses were nestled in the trees, we wondered if this
was quite what they had bought into originally. Eventually we found the
sea on the northern coast, the rocky shoreline certainly didn’t look to be
welcoming to pirate ships we definitely weren’t at the correct destination but
it was an interesting excursion , great to stretch the legs and see some more of
the island.
The good, the bad and the downright ugly –
how can we clean up all this plastic?
Our Last Time to Head West
At last the winds eased enough to start thinking about doing our final
westward passage for this season. We needed to cover around 80 miles to
get us to the bottom entrance of the Belize Reef, second only
in size to the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. We needed to leave in good
light to get through the shallows off the end of Utila and we needed to arrive
in good light to enter the reef and anchor in the southern Sapodilla
Cays of Belize. In company with Bandit we left early
afternoon and sailed as slow as we could in very wobbly seas headed for
Belize. It was an uneventful night, the highlight being the most amazing
night sky we have seen in a very long time, the stars penetrated the ink black
sky for millions of miles, it was stunning canvas to occupy us through the
night. Daylight broke as we approached the reef.
First impressions – Another Paradise
Discovered