We are currently anchored in French Harbor in Roatan and experienced "drag races" in the harbor last night.  Wind reached 30 knots in the anchorage, and some boats nearby drug anchors.  Needless to say, we were awake most of the night watching to take care we did not partake in the races.

Near our anchorage is the iguana farm where a local has raised iguanas to protect them from the locals, who want them for their meat.  He has about 4,000 iguanas he currently protects and allows locals to come enjoy.

We are waiting for the weather to calm a bit so we can go the 40 miles across to the mainland of Honduras to La Ceiba to pick up our inverter/charger that has arrived from the states.  It takes probably 8 hours to get there.

We decided to head down to West End while he had the east wind.  It was kind of rolly on our way, but it is great when we arrived.

So we both pulled up anchored and headed out of the harbor.

The wind was out of the southwest and the waves were building.  When we arrived at Cayos Cochinos, an island between Roatan and the mainland of Honduras, a gentleman hailed us on the VHF and said he would not tie up to the mooring ball with his yacht in this west wind, so we opted to head on down to La Ceiba and try to make it before dark.

It sure made for a long day.  Of course, the winds and waves were on the nose.  So, it was a bumpy ride.  It was such a relief to get to Lagoon Marina and tie up and actually turn on the A/C. 

Sonny and I crashed. 

Good sleeping!

This morning, we are having the Panda Generator serviced, we had been having some problems with it since we left the Rio. 

Kay went into town to get some routine blood work done.  It is amazing, you go to the lab in the morning and get your results in the afternoon.  The US should take some lessons from the third world countries.

Here are some of the flowers at the marina.  They were beautiful.

Kay is sitting by the pool updating the website, while Sonny is on the boat, installing the new inverter/battery charger that we had shipped to La Ceiba.

Happy Birthday Kodi

                                                        We love you!

We are thankful everything is back in good working order:  Our generator, batteries, charger and inverter.  Power is "everything" aboard a boat.

we left the beautiful Lagoon Marina at 7 a.m. and headed out to Cayos Cochinos, about a 3 hour trip, with Suenos alongside. 

It was a much better motor back, than our trip to La Ceiba. "I just thought we owned a sailboat!" Of course, the wind was again on our nose.   I think we could be weathermen and predict the wind direction......it always is whichever way we are headed.

We arrived at Cayos before noon.

We ate a sandwich, then we (along with Mike and Karyn) trekked up the mountain to the top of the lighthouse. 

It was a pretty good hike up the small, unmarked path.  We got lost several times and had to backtrack.  Kodi, how do you do it?  Everything looks the same.

  Sonny, aka "Tarzan" had fun along the trail.

When we reached the top, we finally spotted the lighthouse.  It was open, so you could climb the 70 rungs inside the small tunnel to reach the top. Claustrophobic?  After we arrived at the top, you climb out on a platform for the most gorgeous view you can imagine.  You could see Utilla, Roatan, Barbaretta, Guanaja, Mainland of Honduras and Cayos Cochinos and all of the islands around Cayos Grande.  It was breathtaking, and I admit, I was holding my breath and holding on tight, being somewhat afraid of heights.  Where is the zip line when you need it?

After we returned to the boat, we snorkeled around our boat and saw beautiful fish along the reef nearby.  Gods creation is just beautiful and we are thankful to be able to enjoy it to its fullest.

 

Sonny is taking a break after cleaning the bottom of the boat today.

Some local children, Manuel and Francisco, came rowing over to our boat selling necklaces.  We told them we did not need any necklaces and gave them some cookies.

What a treat we had tonight!  We called Winfried at a island nearby and arranged for dinner this evening.  He came in his launcha to pick  us up, took us to his island, and served us homemade Cabbage Rolls, potatoes and dessert for $10 per person. 

It was wonderful.  Winfried and his wife, Bridgette are from Germany and great hosts and cooks.

On another island nearby, they were filming Survivor Colombia today.   We saw the helicopters flying overhead our anchorage.

We explored the islands around Cayos Cochinos today.  We took two dinghies, Mike and Karyn (Suenos) in theirs and we took ours. There are probably 16 islands in the Cayos Cochinos area within a five mile area, all pretty much surrounded by reef.  It is said to be the area in the Caribbean most similar to the South Pacific.               

It is still hard to believe we are really here enjoying this beauty. 

The first small island we motored to was Cayo Pulema.  It was so quaint, it looks like something from the Survivor movies.

We stepped ashore and were greeted by  two people.  They said we could not stay on that island because they were film crew for the Survivor Colombia episodes being filmed in Cayos Cochinos now.  Wow!  They were very nice, and we could see their make-shift tents under the palm trees.  We obeyed and departed.

So, we dinghied over to another small island.  It is called Chachahuate 1 .

It is a Garifuna village with approximately 300 black skinned locals living on the island.  They were most friendly and the children were very interested in our dinghy.

We were first greeted by Fostow who makes jewelry from black coral, shells and tortoise shells.  Ladies and children began to gather around us to sell their homemade jewelry.

Then, we visited what appeared to be children's church where a lady led the children in songs and Bible verses.

Our next island was Chachahuate 2.  It is next to Chachahuate 1, but began as a very upscale resort that the Cochinos Foundation put a halt to before completion.  When the Foundation declared the Cochinos a marine park, they would not allow any new hotel or resorts to be built in the sanctuary.  So, this beautiful island, is non-existent for use.  A couple,  Jose and Carla are the caretakers (security) on the island to protect it from squatters.  They were most gracious for us to come ashore and enjoy their  private island.  We ate a snack lunch under one of the palapas.

Enjoying the beauty of Cayos Cochinos

On to the next island.  We stopped at Cayo Cordero.  We immediately noticed pup tents set up and began exploring.  This is the island where the crew for Survivor is staying. We did not see any people.  When we arrived to the other side of the island, we met "Alexander the Great" and his co-worker, Eduardo.  Alexander was ready for hugs and kisses with built-in aroma.  We snorkeled around this island some then, off again.

Next stop, was an uninhabited island.  It is called Cayo Bulfate.  I think it is a protected island for birds and turtle nesting.  It was not impressive.  We walked around it and returned to the dinghies.

We then went on the East side of Cochino Grande to another Garifuna village.  There is a lot of coral, so we motored along the shore, then we returned to our harbor and met several of the cruisers at the Plantation Resort to watch the sunset.

Another wonderful day in Paradise.

Here is a big hug and kiss sent across the water to you.  ♥♥

Sonny was the net controller this morning on the NW Caribbean Net and we asked cruisers to tell how many years they have been with their sweethearts or cruising when they check into the net.  We had one couple check in that had been together for 48 years.  That is wonderful! 

It is a small world!

Because the roads are in very bad condition, a local bus here is in very poor shape, drives very slow, makes continuous stops, questionable whether you will make it uphill, and cheap.  It took us 2  1/2 hours to get to town today.  And, it is not that far.  But, the bus stops constantly.

We are all anchored next to the Float and Drink (a local bar that play the same songs over and over very loud until all hours of the night).  But, tonight there was different music from the cockpit of S/V Queen Mary.

Valentina has big news!

We have a new car!  Well, not exactly.  But, we did buy a used dinghy, but to us it is a new car!  An SUV !

The local shrimp boat came into the harbor and had found a dinghy on the reef near Colombia.  Mr. Kelsey was selling it, asking $1000 for the 11'  MVPL Caribe dinghy, with a flat floor and a storage compartment in the front for the gas tank, anchor and storage.

 We got it for $600.

We sold our other dinghy today for $500 with the cover.

Now, we need to decide whether we want to make a new cover for it or wait for Panama and have one made.

School is out here from November thru February.  It has just begun back this week, after the "summer" vacation, so we watch the children on their way to school.

Some ride on school buses....   

Some have their own cars......     

Life on the water is definitely different, but most rewarding.

 We are going to grill fish today with Mike and Karyn (S/V Suenos).  We used Any's (S/V Deux Pieds from Argentina) famous fish sauce recipe.  It is:

In a bowl combine salt, pepper, chopped garlic and flour.  Dip fresh fish in mix then fry in butter with olive oil. In separate pan prepare sauce:  Cut onions in slices and fry in oil and butter.  Add a little bit of white wine, salt, and evaporated milk.  Add mushrooms, if desired. Pour sauce over fish.   Delicious!

Mike's chartplotter and SSB tuner arrived in La Ceiba, so we were all going to make it a day and take the early ferry to pick it up, then return on the 4 p.m. ferry back to Roatan.

For the 1 1/2 hour ferry ride from Roatan to the mainland of Honduras in La Ceiba, we were on the top deck on the back row.   Felt like we were on a roller coaster and should hold our hands up in the air.

We had called Paul and Linda (former S/V Miramar) who are having a new home built near La Ceiba, to see if we could meet them for lunch while we were in town.

Paul and Linda are wonderful people.  They picked the four of us up at the ferry and ran us all over town  helping us get all of our items on our "wish list".  We found everything!

Then, they took us to the La Ceiba shipyard to see Roberto and Any on S/V Deux Pieds.  While we were there, Sonny was introduced to Brian, a new catamaran owner who was looking for someone to help take his boat to Roatan and eventually Panama.

Sonny came up to me and asked if I would be willing to stay in La Ceiba an extra day and help Brian bring his boat to Roatan rather than return to Roatan on the ferry.

We decided to talk to Brian to check on the condition of the boat, legal paperwork and get familiar with the boat.

Roberto and Any (who also own a catamaran) decided to help also.  So, we all decided to meet at the boat at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

We spent the evening and night with Paul and Linda at their apartment.  It was so good to visit and spend time with them before we head south.  They were most gracious to run us "all over" La Ceiba for our items on our "wish list".  They knew the perfect places to go.  We even purchased our first mangos of the season.

Thanks Paul and Linda....we wish you the best in your new life in Honduras.  Keep our bed ready for us.

After breakfast, Paul and Linda drove us to the boat and arrived at exactly 6 a.m. to meet Roberto, Any and Brian.

We pulled away from the dock at 6:15 and headed towards Roatan.  There was no wind, so we motored the whole way, with the help of the jib.

12:30 p.m. We  safely arrived at French Harbor Yacht Club and Roberto and Any caught the ferry back to La Ceiba and we caught a taxi to Jonesville to Valentina.

We told Brian we would try to find someone to help him get his boat from here to Panama.   We talked to Cora and Allan on S/V Ute.  They seemed somewhat interested.

Later, we were down at the Hole in the Wall and Brian surprised us and came up in a water taxi.  We introduced him to Allan and Cora, and they are going to meet on Friday morning to go sailing.  Hope it all works out.

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"The single commandment of anchoring is

"thou shall create scope."

               -   Reese Pally