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| Wahoo in Placencia Harbor |
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| 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!
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| Bye Tortugal friends - see ya in Belize! |
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| 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.
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| At the dock in Sapodilla |
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| No women should have to do THIS! |
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| Southwater Caye Snorkelers |
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| Loving Belize and Wahoo! |
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| 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!
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| Placencia Harbor on a Calm Day |
