Tortugal Dreaming

 

Quarantine Over!

Wow, its been over a year since I blogged! What's happened in a nutshell is we were locked down during early covid when Guatemala closed its seaport. After several months they figured out a way to let in the 100+ boats that normally call the Rio home. We came in a few at a time and quarantined at our home marina. Wahoo, AltaMae and Patience (best friends to go through lockdown with) arrived at Tortugal July 2, after an overnight sail from Roatan. We were out of quarantine on July 16th and flew back to the states on July 24. We were in New Orleans doing our Covid thing until we left on January 31 to fly back to Tortugal February 1. Oh and did I mention I have blue hair!

Garcia

Pablo

Tortugal Pups, just over 1 year old. Replacement for our beloved Jefe. This is a breed found in Guatemala which is a Boxer-Dalmation mix. They sure remind Roy & I of all the Dalmatians we owned.

While we were away two hurricanes blew through Central America. The Rio Dulce is a safe hurricane hole, but even so the rains raised the river so high it was more than 3ft above the docks! Through it all the marina staff kept our boats safe. We couldn’t ask for a better marina. The water is clean enough for swimming. It’s both on the river and sort of in the jungle. The wooden docks where our boats are berthed give a great river view and terrific breezes in the afternoon. But nothing beats the staff here, from the dock team to the restaurant crew and let’s not forget to mention the hotel ladies. The staff seems to think that caring for their visitors is paramount. A nice change from when we’re out sailing and are often on our own.

The jungle walks at Tortugal

Wahoo at home

Roy and I arrived back at Tortugal on February 1, 2021. This was our longest stay in the US since we left New Orleans in early 2012. Due to COVID we spent just a few hours in Houston with John Edward and Laura. It’s been way too long since we’ve had time with them. Normally our return to Wahoo means a month or less of boat chores and then we’re off to do some sailing. This year we’ve been in the marina for nearly 4 months. Most cruising friends either are not coming to their boats or popping in for a short time to check on things and then returning to wherever home is. We’ve spent the time getting lots of ongoing and deferred maintenance done.

Of course, fun times have ensued. New Orleans people have to celebrate Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest. There was a great group at Tortugal for my King Cake and Jambalaya. We even managed a few costumes. We had Pot Luck in the work shed, nightly happy hour gatherings, a trip to the city to meet up with Shelley and Kent (AltaMae) while we went to the dentist and did a little sightseeing. Roy even arranged a lovely Mother’s Day event, and Dreamcatcher Restaurant owner, Liesel, provided the champagne. There were innumerable hellos and goodbyes as friends came and went.

"Festing in Place" on Wahoo

Dinghy drifting under a pink moon

All the mothers at Dreamcatcher's

Happy Hour & Cruisers 

The absolute highlight was the boat-billed herons that we watched for over a week. Our uninformed decision was that we had 3 nesting pairs. It was a Happy Hour ritual to take our drinks and walk to where we could usually see them.

Here's a professional picture

Boat Billed Heron at Tortugal

Lots of maintenance issues where addressed. A "hanging locker" that was only fit to hang infant clothes was  refitted and is now great, a new mattress for the V-Berth was installed and another for the Aft Cabin is ordered. The interior is now completely re-varnished (thanks to Byron and his dock team).  Wahoo got hauled out and had her packing gland refurbished, ouch! Also seacocks got checked. Don’t want those guys to fail when we’re out sailing the ocean blue. She also got her stripes redone and her sides washed and waxed. A complete bottom job will wait until later this summer.

While others exercised more, Roy and I did have our M-W-F routine of boat exercise and stretches. We also walked on the marina trails and through the cocoa and teak plantation that adjoins it. My favorite exercise will always be noodling at sea, thank you to Willie Haskins on SV Liahona-she wrote the book on that, lol). The river is perfect for all kinds of noodling! 

fields of bird of paradise

Cocoa Trees

Teak Mill

Finally we decided to shake out the sails and take the old girl out for a bit. We needed to change out the radar cable which meant a trip downriver to Cayo Quemado to see Tom the rigger and sailmaker. Tom had to pull the mast for that job. We wanted him, rather than the local boatyard to do this. Tom is an expert rigger and we’d certainly rather have him putting everything back together than anyone else. And… now we’re so close to Livingston why not cross the bar and spend what little time is left before hurricane season sailing around Belize. 

The mast is off!

Tom's Shop

When we left it was our turn to say Hasta La Vista to friends and to Tortugal. 

Quedate en Casa

Sunrise arrival, West End Roatan

Stay Home our phones say. We are staying home. Home is aboard Wahoo here in Roatan, the largest of the Bay Islands of Honduras.

The Bay Islands are very different from mainland Honduras. Their different culture, predominantly English, has meant that the government corruption, drug lords and wars which resulted in a near collapse on the mainland did not happen here. Their economy is tourism related and incomes are higher. More stability all around.

The three main islands that constitute the Bay Islands are Utila, Guanaja, and Roatan though there are numerous other small islands in the group. The estimated population is 71,500 with a majority being on Roatan. These islands were initially settled by the Pech Indians, independent from the Maya. They were hunters and fisherman who traded, by means of well equipped boats, with the immediate mainland and as far away as Yucatan and Jamaica. 

Columbus arrived on his 4th and last voyage around 1502. He, naturally, claimed all he saw for Spain. Despite the fact that Spain opposed slavery, Queen Isabella had no problem authorizing the capture of the islanders. They had been described as “cannibals and opposed to Christianity” so she was probably right. Diego Velasquez, governor of Cuba, organized ships to capture and sell the Indians into slavery. From 1516 until 1536 Cuban and Spanish ships attacked the islands and captured the natives. Only in 1525 when Hernandes Cortez marched to Honduras did this begin to stop, when he offered his protection to the Pech Indians. Today about 3500 Pech descendants live in the Northeastern area of Honduras and try to retain their language and culture. 

in Punta Gorda, Garifuna settlement

Garifuna crafts

Like in Belize, the Bay islands became home to English pirates waiting to attack the Spanish gold ships. The Spanish tried to disperse them but failed. For several hundred years the islands were left to whatever natives had survived and the “Freebooters” (pirates). The first permanent settlement was by these Englishmen in 1742. Not until 1782 did the Spanish take notice that there was an English colony directly supporting pirate activity. A battle was forced and the Spanish succeeded, sort of. Not too much changed but in 1788 England abandoned support of all these settlements from the Miskito Coast through the Bay Islands retaining only what became British Honduras. However, when they needed a place for the 5000 or so Black Caribs they needed to get rid of from St Vincent in the Eastern Caribbean they thought of the Bay Islands. So the fiercely independent minded Black Caribs who could never be forced into slavery on sugar plantations in the Eastern Caribbean were dumped on the beaches of Roatan in 1797. The Black Caribs, descendants of Africans who escaped from a slave ship and married into the Carib islanders from the Windward Islands, became the Garifuna of Honduras and Belize.

England paid no attention but eventually more English from the Cayman Islands immigrated. The Bay Islands were administered through British Honduras (Belize) but mostly left to themselves for nearly another century. A bit of a ruckus went back and forth between the short lived Republic of Central America, the US and Great Britain but the people of the Bay Islands considered themselves British and even after an official handover to Honduras in 1861 it wasn’t until 1902 that they began to realize they weren’t British after all. Today some people still refuse to say where they belong. We were talking to a gentleman about wood. Thanks to Walter we love talking about different woods. Anyway, he referred to the tropical hardwood we were discussing as coming from Spanish Honduras! Loved it!

Stormy day in French Harbor

So how did we end up here you ask? Since our arrival back in the Western Caribbean in 2017 we have divided our sailing seasons between Guatemala and Belize. Lots to enjoy in both places. This year we decided to venture beyond the reef. So together with our buddies on Alta Mae we set sail. We left Placencia, Belize around noon and had a lovely star studded overnight sail to West End Roatan. We were anchored and ready for a nap by 10am on February 26. On the 27th, while New Orleans was celebrating, we cleared in with the Port Captain. No thoughts of what was about to happen. Severe weather with high Northwest winds made us sail “around the corner” to the more protected anchorage in French Harbor. We weathered two Northers there and saw winds hitting 40 knots for many days. Slept well with our new, last year, Mantus anchor holding firm. 

 Scenes from French Harbor where we celebrated birthdays, visited an iguana refuge and saw an entire island complete with caged white tigers developed for the benefit of cruise ship passengers.

By March 13th we'd enjoyed the sights in French Harbor and Fantasy Island Marina enough. Time to start our Bay Island Adventuring.

Wahoo & Alta Mae at anchor

The plan was to continue visiting the many inlets along the Southside of Roatan intending to make our way slowly to Guanaja. HaHa the gods laughed slyly. By the time the two hour sail from French Harbor to Jonesville Bight was done the Bay Islands was under a lock down order and cruise ships were being turned away. Tourists started scrambling for flights to their home country and the world had changed. Our next decision was whether to stay put or immediately head back to Guatemala where we keep Wahoo for hurricane season. The information we were receiving was that the Guatemala border was closing in two days to European Passports and a few days later for those with U.K. passports. Canada and the US to follow shortly. It seemed so strange as we cruisers had all been in either Belize or the Bay Islands neither of which had any cases of what was now named Covid 19. We waited a few days as informed sources were saying that new orders would soon reach Raul, the port captain in Livingston, Guatemala, allowing us entry depending on where we had been, not country of our passport. Many, many discussions followed on the Northwest Caribbean Net over SSB, over Facebook and over the local VHF nets. But new orders never came and we were now locked down in Roatan and locked out of Guatemala. Some boats stayed put, some left for Isla Mujeres, Mexico, the last remaining open port in the entire Caribbean; and eventually some boats left for their home countries. So here we are among the boats that stayed put.

Our new harbor - view from the hills above Jonesville Bight

gibnut

bananas, Yea Mon!

If we could have chosen a place to be, I think it would still be right here. To begin with, we were, and still are very well provisioned. Because things are less expensive in Guatemala, especially booze, we fill up Wahoo’s freezer and wine cellar before we even left The River (as Rio Dulce is fondly called by us who stay there). Then in Belize there are things one must get like tamales, meat pies, Dis Da Fu We chicken and Running W bacon, so we tuck a few more things away. By the time we arrived in Roatan our freezer was groaning. But once in French Harbor and again in Jonesville, Warren, a local fisherman, enticed us with yellow tail snappers, grouper filets and lobster tails. Oh My! Darryl, another local guy, brought us stalks of native bananas and coconut water. At one point after swimming a guy came up and offered Gibnut, a delicacy in Belize. Roy couldn’t possibly refuse, so Gibnut was added to our menu. 

grocery shopping in Oakridge

Kent getting fuel

Jonesville Bight is one of the inlets that connects to other inlets and small villages by a series of mangrove tunnels. Created either by the Pech Indians or the pirates, maybe both. These are lovely and they allow safe waterway travel inside the reef. So when the major grocery store, Eldons, is closed we can scrounge around at the little markets each town has. We’ve been able to find all the staples you use up regularly like flour and eggs. Basic veggies are also around if we look hard. Tomatoes, onions, potatoes and green peppers are easy; cabbage, carrots and cucumbers are more challenging. Best of all there’s a small marina here that will sell us RO, reverse osmosis, water to fill our tanks. We haven’t had rain in a month and neither our boat nor Alta Mae has a fresh water maker aboard, so an absolute must. Luckily diesel, propane and gasoline for the dinghy engine is available in one or another of the villages. 

Reflections in a mangrove tunnel 

Before I forget let me say how wonderful the governor of the Bay Islands is. He quickly locked everything down and tested those most vulnerable. We have no cases on any of the Bay Islands and no one is allowed to go from one island to another. No one is allowed to arrive at all. The Governor gives a daily briefing in Spanish and English. It is reasoned, calm, efficient, consistent and effective. What a concept! There is a 24/7 flotilla of volunteers and coastal guards circling the islands with an extra boat stationed in each inlet overnight. 

Ellen, Roy. Shelly & Kent out to watch the full moon.

Today, April 22, mainland Honduras has 510 cases and 46 deaths (5 deaths/million) but they too are keeping everyone at home. Belize hasn’t had a new case in 8 days. They have a total of 14 cases and 2 deaths (5 deaths/ million). Guatemala is doing the best if you look at deaths per million. They have 314 cases and 8 deaths, 77 of the cases arrived when the US sent back sick immigrants. (.4 deaths/million). All of these countries are well aware that their health systems cannot handle what could be coming so they all moved on containment as soon as it became an obvious threat. Should they have moved sooner? Yes, but with the US downplaying what they knew of the virus and the way these countries have been taught to look to the US, it was a foregone conclusion that they wouldn’t have acted sooner. But I can't help but ask who's the s#*thole countries now, who's 3rd world now?

newly painted steering pedestal

clean clothes

Walks, swimming, boat projects fill our days so not very different from regular life aboard. Well other than we can’t sail. It's thinking of the future that's hard. As, it is for everyone, we wonder what kind of world we will find when we learn to handle this crisis. What will our financial life look like? Will we, our friends and family survive? The US seems to be shattering before our very eyes. Definitely, the world order established after WWII will end and something else will take its place. This has happened before but it makes for a very insecure future and many sleepless nights. 

They mean it - stay out! Here villagers from Oakridge and the Coast Guard make sure no one leaves a supply boat.

Here in the harbor at Jonesville there are four boats, all from Rio Dulce. Tulum lll plus another boat from Tortugal Marina, Patience, with Ellen aboard. Now that Eldon’s grocery can open on a limited basis Ellen has volunteered to go once a week for whatever we can’t find locally. Best of all are Kent and Shelley on Alta Mae, sharing problems, small triumphs and happy hours with them has kept us all sane. We couldn’t have better friends to go through a pandemic with!

Come on. 

Take a little trip through the mangrove tunnel.

Been There, Done That and Now For Something New

Wahoo in Placencia Harbor

Eastern Caribbean, Why Not?!

May 12th this year will makes 11 years since we bought the Hunter Passage 42 that we call Wahoo. A few of you might remember we had a 40ft Wahoo that we bought in 2006 with the idea we could evacuate on a sailboat should another Katrina come along. As I’ve said before we were all self-medicating back then. Anyway, back on the 11 year thought...so 11 years of sailing and 8 years of living the cruising life. We left New Orleans in March of 2012 and Wahoo has not returned. The last blog detailed that first 10 years. So what now? We seem to have settled into the North Western Caribbean, though we still dream of going back East. Grenada and that string of islands is a big draw, some of the friends we made are still there. But there are wonderful friends here also. The Bay Islands of Honduras are calling and we hope to get over there in the next week. We’ll spend the balance of this cruising season among those islands.

But after that, what??  

Nothing wrong with what’s been happening. 
Well, with one exception.

We arrived back at Tortugal Marina where Wahoo was resting, on December 14th. Immediately we had her hauled out for a bottom paint job which was overdue as the last one had been in Puerto Rico in 2017. Unfortunately we discovered blisters. This is what happens when water gets trapped behind the barrier coat. This is your protective barrier between the gelcoat of the fiberglass and the anti-fouling paint which repels barnacles and whatever else wants to live on the bottom of your boat. Big blisters can jeopardize the integrity of your hull but these were tiny blisters and not that many of them. Research and the boat yard said there was no problem with sanding and applying a temporary bottom paint. We could deal with the underlying issue when we returned to the Rio in June. Great!

 

Bye Tortugal friends - see ya in Belize!

At Ray Caye

                                                                                                    Enough cruisers were back to make our Christmas holidays festive including good friends on Alta Mae, Cordelia,  Kooky Dance, Jump and Fandango. So we had a Tortugal Christmas and then left for Belize and spent New Year’s, complete with fireworks, out on one of our favorite cayes.

It didn’t take long before we were reminded that it’s still winter and your US cold fronts do reach us. they shift the winds to North bringing cloudy skies, high wind and cooler temperatures then we’re prepared for. We hustled down to Placencia and a safer harbor than the cayes provide. Living aboard in Placencia includes Yoli’s (on da Wata) which is a great cruiser bar, plus restaurants and delicious street food everywhere you look. Fun evenings at Yoli's or aboard often include getting to listen to Dave from SV Cordelia, our sailing troubadour.

We had New Orleans people, Tiffany and Kevin Eyers, come for a visit. They brought gifts for Wahoo and King Cake for us, definitely the kind of folks you want to come back! Luckily the weather cooperated enough to let us take them out to a few cayes. We followed that with a couple of days traveling inland so they got a taste of Belize. 

At the dock in Sapodilla

No women should have to do THIS!

Southwater Caye Snorkelers

Loving Belize and Wahoo!

So many good times, good friends and beautiful places in Wahoo's cockpit.

We are now preparing for a departure to West End, Roatan in the Bay Islands of Honduras. Looks like we’ll leave Placencia around 11am tomorrow, Sunday Feb 23. We’ll sail beyond the reef around 5pm going through Ranguana Pass then it’s 90NM due East. Weather looks favorable which is super important. Notice that Due East track, remember we are in Trade Wind territory and those winds generally blow East to West. To avoid heading right into them we’ve waited for an abating cold front with NE winds that are very light, hopefully under 10kts. Seas should also fall with waves under 3 feet with a 6 second interval making them longer than they are tall. That’s the forecast but you sail with the weather you get not the forecast. So here’s hoping for an easy ride!

Placencia Harbor on a Calm Day