Tonight we are on Utilla Island, a part of Honduras
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
At the helm Enroute to Mahahual
January 4th, 2010: Tonight we are on Utilla Island, a part of Honduras. We left Mahahual, Mexico about 1pm yesterday afternoon. It was an interesting trip of strong winds, a little bit of storm, and long lulls of no wind. The trip took about 28 hours. Utilla is a small community, mostly supporting the diving industry. We are actually here to pick up another member of our crew, a nice guy from Austria. We also picked up a guy from Matahual that works with the cruise ship industry to arrange on shore excursions. He is interested in expanding into Utilla and the neighboring island, Rotan. He is actually a pretty good sailor, and I have been picking up a bit from him. We also lost a member of the crew, an Italian that got so sea sick that he left after one night. Tomorrow, we all go to Rotan if we can get the customs agent here to check us through. Basically, we want to check in and out of Honduras at the same time. We passed Belize last night, but did not stop. If you look at Utilla on a map, you can see that it is easier to go straight here, than to go to Belize. The most I saw of Belize were a bunch of fishing boats on radar as we were about 20 miles from Belize city. We had a great dinner tonight. Honduras is pretty much what you would expect it to be. The best part so far was the great wind we got right near the end of the journey. For once, I was not at the wheel, so I was able to stand at the rail and feel the strong winds, high waves, and watch the landscape go buy. It was a great ride. Our new crew member is working with a dive shop here that has a nice dock, so we were able to just tie up right at that dock and go into town. Tomorrow, I am planning on walking in for breakfast and maybe a haircut. I saw a tiny little barber shop tonight, but it was already closed. Rotan should only be about a 5 hour sail. You can barely make it out on the horizon. Rotan is much larger than Utilla, something like 60,000 residents. The plan is to spend a day or two there, then head for Panama. Panama is about five days away. The big unknown is if we are going to have to wait to go through the canal.
I’ve attached a couple of pictures. One of them shows our boat where it was tied up in Mahahual. You can see the cruise ships in the background. Mahahual is pretty much 100% dependent on cruise ship .
Crystal Blue Pier Mahahual
Well, I am sitting out at a picnic table behind the dive shop that is hosting our boat and it is getting pretty cold. I think I am going to go crawl into my bunk and get some sleep. The last email I got from Hal sounds like he does not need me to start work for another month or so, so I am going to continue on the trip for now. I should be able to check back in within the next couple of days while in Roatan. Maybe even make a couple of skype calls.
Later.
Sunrise in Mahahual with Bill P