It was our longest passage on this trip (at least so far!) We went a bit more than 600 nautical miles from Isla Linton, Panama to Guanaja – one of the Bay Islands of Honduras. It took us one hour more than 6 full days – or 145 hours to make the passage. We sailed all of it – having the engine on for less than 7 hours to get in and out of the harbors and to charge batteries and make some water at one point. But the sails were up for all of it except the last 15 minutes. We sometimes went at a snail's pace of 2 knots and at other times we were scooting along. The last leg we were actually working hard at slowing the boat down so we would arrive at our destination in daylight. But that proved quite difficult as the final leg was the windiest.
The first few days had the wind from the northeast (the direction we were heading) so that required us really pointing into the wind and "pinching" as much as possible. The seas started about 3-6 feet but calmed as the winds settled a bit over the days. We sailed slowly and even gave old Otis the windvane a try. He did fair - but because we were trying to stay on course very close to the wind, he just couldn't point as steadily as Nigel (the electric autopilot) could handle. In order to keep sailing though, we did end up running about 10 degrees off our course line and after 175 miles or so, that put us 12 miles off course and we had to tack to correct (so we wouldn't run into some reefs where there were plenty of shipwrecks stacked up! That one leg to get back on course took us seemingly forever. And, in retrospect turning on the engine might have been a better choice. But we wanted to sall, so sail we did – going backwards as much as we went toward to the courseline. But conditions were relatively comfortable – the seas flattened a bit and there were clear skies, no squalls and a steady breeze The skies at night were very beautiful – star-filled with a very small moon that set quite early giving the stars a chance to really shine. Those are always the magical sights of off-shore passages.
As we approached the island of Providencia (just past the island of San Andres)- both Colombian owned islands, Michael was on watch and spotted a signal on our AIS system (This is a very cool receiver we have on board. All large boats are required to have an AIS on board that sends a signal out from their ship. Information is then given to our system that tells us how far they are away and what will be the closest point of approach under the current courses. It also (often) provides information like the boats name, size, destination, if it's at anchor or under power, etc.) ) So back to the story. Michael sees a boat on AIS but can't see it by sight. There are no lights on it. He sees it is a military vessel on the AIS and the name is the Colombian Naval Vessel San Andres. They are closing in on us – which is always a bit frightening – especially because they remain stealth and unlit. If we didn't see that it was a military vessel – we would have been quite nervous. We turned more lights on our boat as well as the radar. Once the navy ship saw that we spotted them with our radar and by turning on more lights, they lit us up with a giant, incredibly bright spotlight and called us on the radio. In spanish. They were now quite close to us and even with the bright light blinding us, we could see that it was a military boat. They asked us for lots of information on the radio – boat name, boat numbers, country where we are flagged, departure point, destination, crew names, passport numbers etc. We made it through with Barbara's spanish and it ends with them really looking at all parts of the boat with the spotlight from sails to deck, bow to stern. They ask if we have weapons on board and then after much time and many long pauses, they wish us a nice night and a pleasant sail – shut their spotlight off and disappear into the dark again. Now that gets the adrenaline running.
On the fish front – we are simply failures! We need some good fishing buddies to come aboard and give us lessons or luck or something. We had lines out the entire time, and though we weren't going fish-catching speed very often, we had hoped for at least a bite. We caught some seaweed and a bit of plastic – but that's it! Nada. Nothing. Zilch. Zero.
However, there were fishing boats out along our course. One of the nights towards the end – as we were getting past the Vivarillos reefs – on Barbara's watch – she saw 24 boats at one point. Some seemed to be shrimpers – slowly moving, then changing course – seeming to just harass our course. Evasive tactics were required and under sail, that sometimes gets more complicated. But we made it through the massive collection of anchored and moving boats and got back on course. By the way, generally fishing boats are too small to be required to carry AIS transceivers.
The wind shifted the last few days as did our courseline and that created a downwind sail. The winds picked up as well, meaning so did the seas. The last night we were surfing over big seas as we got pushed along. At night, the crashing sounds of waves is always a bit scary. But we were flying with only our double reefed-main. The seas were too big to keep the headsail from staying filled. Every time we dipped down, the sail would collapse and then re-fill. This is very noisy and jolting so we chose to use the main.
Most nights we were able to maintain our 3 hour on and 3 hours off watch system. The last few, with noisy seas and a very rolly ride, it was hard to find a comfortable spot to sleep.
We had the thrill of being escorted on a few occasions by lots of playful dolphins. They love the big waves and seem to be "surfer-dudes" as they ride the waves right next to the boat – almost as if racing Astarte. A few of the dolphins also have that entertainment gene – they would leap to great heights and twist and turn to show off. One even leapt almost over the bow of the boat. They are so fun to watch and a few of the pods were quite large – probably more than 30 or so dolphins at a given time – many quite little.
Not much other sea life spotted this time. Very few birds and we were hoping to see whales or a whale shark – but no such joy. It was a quiet passage with very few other boats passing by – other than some freighters. Boy does Dole have a lot of boats! Must be collecting bananas and pineapples from Central America.
We got into the anchorage with enough light to sneak pass some corals and shallow areas. Anchored and relaxed for a bit Then we launched the dinghy and went to the island to clear in with immigration and the port captain. Both were very pleasant experiences and cost us nothing (quite a change from expensive Colombia and Panama). We also got some fresh baked bread and some Lempiras (the currency of Honduras). Then we had a wet dinghy trip back to the boat – the wind continues to kick up the seas making us glad to be safely anchored and not still "out there." We enjoyed a dinner out and met some interetsing folks.
Sleep came easily in the calm anchorage with a nice cooling breeze. No watches – we could sleep straight through. We did!
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