West End, Roatan to Rio Dulce, Guatemala

We are currently at Tortugal Marina finishing up our projects.  We replaced the back deck, removed the teak and added fiberglass panels, and the ceiling panels inside Ka'imi.  We are enjoying the atmosphere at Tortugal after a disquieting summer.  Our friends are returning and the projects are winding down.  My (Kim's) sister will be arriving in a week so it's time to relax.  I finally have time to update the blog, so we'll go back to Roatan and start from there!

After leaving Guanaja we set sail for Roatan.  We made an overnight stop at French Harbor to do some grocery shopping then headed back to West End for some more diving! One of our favorite restaurants is Bite on the Beach.  It is a long walk down the beach from West End Beach to West Bay Beach, well worth the walk.

My favorite was the white sea bass tacos with coleslaw, beans and rice!  Mike had a cheeseburger and fries and they both went perfectly with our favorite beer Salva Vida, which means Life Saver in Spanish..LOL

The view from the restaurant toward West Bay.

The view from the restaurant toward West End.

West Bay

Our friends Deborah and Chris from Sea Sister flew to Roatan and stayed in this really nice, air conditioned apartment right next to Bite on the Beach restaurant.  We had fun hanging out, and a drank a few (hundred) beers..LOL

In West End anchorage you are required to moor on a mooring ball if any are available.  They did not maintain the mooring balls this season so each cruiser usually went down and added there own lines and safety lines.  We added several. Unfortunately, the Boat below, had it's mooring line snap in the middle of a rainy night.  It passed right between us and another boat and went aground on the reef.  We were awoken by the calls on the VHF radio and quickly got out of bed and dressed.  We lowered our dinghy to help along with other cruisers, but after a few attempts she went back aground. The Marine Park was called and tried to get her off but they went aground.  Rescue was also called but said it was too dangerous to go out and they would come out at first light.  It was a tragic accident and the boat sank by morning.  The only bright light in this is the couple did have insurance.

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They put balloon sacks under the boat and towed her to shore.

Back on the Rio, we figured we would have some fun before we began our many projects.  Donna and John from Tried and True joined us for some bowling in Fronteras.  It is a small bowling alley, Hoodee's Boliche Bowling, owned by an American expat. There were two lanes, cold beer and a lot of fun!

The Marina Staff are always ready to help you..LOL..this is Angel having a little fun with his pressure washer gun!  

Ricardo, also Marina Staff.   The entire staff at Tortugal are friendly, helpful and very nice!

Oscar working on our back deck.  We will show completed pictures of this in another post.  It looks great!

Cheers!  

Guanaja, Bay Islands, Honduras

Ka'imi has been in Guatemala for about 3 months now, and I am just getting around to updating this blog since May. Ka'imi is in the process of getting the back deck done, so we have been very busy. Hopefully the decks will be done in a couple days and we can get the boat back to normal!  

Our visit to Guanaja was really great, but not long enough. We had waited and waited for a weather window that didn't come and we didn't even think we were going to make it this year, but we got lucky and had a two day weather window to get there. Unfortunately, we didn't have the time left in the season to stay as long as we wanted.

Guanaja is 15 miles east/northeast of Roatan and was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1502. There are about 10,000 people on the island, with 8,000 of them living on the small settlement (100 acres) of Bonocca, which is a half mile off the mainland. There are no streets, cars, scooters or bicycles on Bonocca only sidewalks and paths.  Many of the buildings on the island are built on stilts over the water and up to three stories high.  The majority of the people of Guanaja moved off the mainland to get away from the sand flies that are very prevalent when there isn't any wind.

The reefs of Guanaja are beautiful, but the dive spots were not easy to find. We finally took the dinghy out 3 1/2 miles to a little cay and had a great dive. The visibility was not that great, but the coral was beautiful. When we came up from the dive we found that the winds had picked up...A LOT. We had quite an bouncy ride on the return trip. The waves had gotten to be about 2-3 feet so we were bailing water out of the dinghy as we were going.

Below are some pictures of Bonacca.  We went on a Sunday so not a lot of the shops were open. We did manage to find a bar and a bank and someone was going to open their restaurant for us, but we weren't hungry.  The people were very friendly and the kids were having a blast!!

Bonacca

Bonacca

Bonacca

Bonacca

Bonacca

Bonacca

Bonacca

Bonacca

Bonacca

Bonacca

Bonacca

Bonacca

Bonacca

We anchored out at El Bight which is just northeast of Bonacca. It was a very protected anchorage There wasn't a whole lot around there, a couple of restaurant and a hotel.  We explored the island by dinghy and were even able to go to the north side through a canal to Pine Ridge Bight. It really is beautiful.

El Bight

Bonacca, Ka'imi is the boat to the right.

El Bight

El Bight, hummingbirds

We had a wonderful stay and hope to make it back there next season!  We headed back to West End Roatan for the remainder of our time for some more diving!

Cheers Kim and Mike

Burnt Cay, Rio Dulce, Guatamala

Here we sit with a beer in our hand and smiles on our face. It was a great passage! All checked in and ready to enjoy Guatemala. Cheers Kim and MIke

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Back to Guatemala

Tomorrow we sail back to the Rio Dulce in Guatemala for the hurricane season.  We'll post updates when we arrive.

We have lots of pictures to post once we get a good internet connection.

Cheers Kim and Mike

El Bight, Guanaja, Honduras

We finally made it to Guanaja!!!  We thought we had run out of time and weather windows but we made it happen.  The picture below is the El Bight anchorage, Ka'imi is the sailboat to the far right.

El Bight, Guanaja

We explored a little yesterday on the settlement of Bonacca.  It's a cay off the main island of Guanaja that is completely covered with buildings on stilts.  It is pretty amazing.  They are on the cay to avoid the mosquitos on the island.

Bonacca, Guanaja

More pictures later, we need to go check out the dive sites!  Cheers Kim and Mike

West End, Roatan - Road Trip, Jungle Walk and Town

West End, Roatan, anchorage

Still hanging out in West End Harbor, Roatan.  We're still looking for a weather window to sail to Guanja.  We are not complaining the scuba diving is great and there are lots of sites for diving. Luckily the dive shop Roatan Divers held on to the BC (buoyancy compensator) they were selling, and we were able to purchase it.  They are a great dive shop and the owners, Karl and Saaya, are very knowledgeable and helpful!

We decided to skip a day of diving and do a land tour of the Island. We rented a van with our friends Patric and Nicole on s/v Southern Mist, John and Donna on s/v Tried and True, and Alan on s/v Kristiana.  The picture below is a restaurant at the east end of the island, La Sirena.  We drove there and then worked our way back to the West End.  We had some appetizer's and drinks and enjoyed the beautiful coastline.

 La Sirena Restaurant and Bar

The East End beaches were beautiful!

East End Beach

They do not insure rental vehicles here on the island...LOL..so if you break it you buy it.  Mike was a little concerned after seeing some of the roads we had to travel and how the locals drive.  He was a bit worried.

What!!! No insurance!

Some of the roads at the East End of the island were very bumpy dirt roads, which was one of the concerns for travelling with no insurance.

East End Road

Mike relaxed a bit when we got back onto paved roads.

Mike a bit more relaxed.

The road trip gang, Alan, Patric, Nicole, Kim, Donna and John at East end.  Mike was taking the picture.

The gang.

Two more  beautiful pictures of the East End beaches.

East End beach.

East End beach.

Marble Hill Farms is an eco-lodge on the East End and they also make their own jellies, jams and sauces so we stopped by to have a taste.  They were all fantastic pretty yummy.  We settled on the Mutton Pepper Jelly which is very spicy and delicious.

Marble Hill Farms

We had a great lunch at Temporary Cal's Cantina.  The food and atmosphere were awesome! Mike and I had the Mahi-Mahi tacos and were not disappointed.

Temporary Cal's Cantina

Our next land trip was a visit to the Mayan Jungle Canopy.  I had thought it was a jungle walk with birds and monkeys, that were not caged, but when we got there we found that all the animals were in cages and it was a very small place.  We do not usually patronize zoos, but took an exception to see these beautiful animals.  They were very well taken care of, but we would prefer them free!  Below is one of the beautiful Macaws.

Macaw

Donna feeding a banana to a Spider monkey.

Spider Monkey

Nicole being drooled on while this Spider monkey ate watermelon on here head.

Spider Monkey

Mike with a beautiful parrot.

Parrot

John with one of the Macaws.

Macaw

Macaw

Kim with a Spider Monkey and watermelon.  They loved the watermelon.

Spider Monkey

Spider Monkey

Spider Monkey

Spider Monkey

What the heck lady, you got spit ends and they are bad!

Spider Monkey giving Kim hair tips.

Below is a Kinkajou which are usually nocturnal.

Kinkajou

We also ran into our friends Tom and Colleen from s/v Unplugged!

Tom and Colleen s/v Unplugged

This is Woody's Groceries in West End.  It is a not as big as the Eldon's in Coxen Hole, but it is much closer.

Woody's Groceries

Main Street in West End, this was a very slow day there must not have been cruise ships in dock. Usually the streets are packed.

Main Street, West End

West End Divers is a great dive shop.  This is where we get our tanks filled after each dive.  The manager Andy and all the staff are very nice and helpful!  We would highly recommend them if you ever visit the island.

West End Divers

Below is the West End Divers dock where we bring our dinghy to have our tanks filled.  It is super convenient.

West End Divers

One of many street food vendors along Main Street.  You can find very affordable and good food along the street.

Street Food Vendor

You know I had to throw some animal pictures in the post.  The animals here are much healthier than other places.  There are cats in about every shop along the street and dogs ramble freely making friends.

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Lastly a view from Temporary Cal's Cantina, pretty amazing!

Temporary Cal's Cantina

Cheers Kim and Mike