A New Stamp in the Passports

We are now legally in Honduras after a fishless four day Caribbean adventure. We did catch some things - a sad state of the seas - we caught a large piece of polypropylene line and a plastic bag (that looks like it held ice at one point). Early on Sunday, we came into the reef system at Guanaja - the small southeastern most of the Bay Islands. It was a busy Sunday in the harbor off Guanaja Settlement (the town) - also called Bonacca. Lots of water taxis zipping about - very fast and with little effort to dodge other boats and anchored vessels. There is another town on another cay nearby and the taxis seem to shuttle folks back and forth. There is a large shrimp boat fleet here as well. They were in dock both for the upcoming Semana Santos (Holy Week) and because it's a big moon. There was one boat, named "Mr. Gibson" which came into the harbor in the afternoon, then left later that evening. We find that funny, because Dave and Lorna "Gibson" will be joining us here in the Bay Islands next week, it seems that they already have "connections."

Today, Monday, we did the legal duty of going to immigration and the Port Captain. Finding a place to tie the dinghy is a challenge here - as the big "water taxi" dock - where you are supposed to be able to tie for a short time - was packed with large shrimp boats. Together with the incessant zipping about of the water taxis there was no room for a dinghy. We were waved into a fuel dock and told we could leave our dinghy there which we did and then headed to find the necessary legal authorities. It was an easy and inexpensive entry. Friendly, though not overly conversant authorities, gave us 90 days in their country for the whopping total of $6. That's a bargain!!

We're stamped in and then did a bit of cruising around the town which is quite a busy place. Lots of small tiendas and veggie stands. The boat for fresh stuff arrives tomorrow - so other than a few tomatoes and cukes - there was little fresh fruit or veggies to be found. A power outage on the island earlier also meant the fresh bread wasn't quite ready. We went and stood for an hour in line at the bank to get some of the local currency - the Lempira (named after an Indian). You get a fair amount of "lemps" (as they are called) for a dollar (19 L per $1 US). But then again a loaf of bread cost 35 Lempira and a kilo of shrimp (2.2 lbs) cost 1800 lemps.

So after a quick tour through the town, we wanted to head to a different anchorage because a big weather front is headed this way this afternoon and evening. Winds are predicted to be at 30 knots out of the northwest and where we were anchored near the town - we didn't feel comfortable. So we wanted to head to a place called El Bight - a little more protected from the northwest and better holding.

We pulled anchor and headed carefully through the reefs to El Bight. There are about a dozen boats anchored here already and with a big blow coming - giving everyone plenty of swinging room is critical. We found a spot - and dropped the hook. We're a bit on the outside with not a lot of wind protection - but hopefully we'll hold. Some friends from Chapter Two and Chrisandaver Dream (the British couples we did a barb-b-que with on Providencia) are also anchored here.

So we are settled in a new spot, legal, and ready to start exploring a bit over the next few days. We'll stay on Guanaja for a few days and then before Monday, head to Roatan to meet Dave and Lorna.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com