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February 2, 2007
Location: Allen Point, Port Royal, Roatan
Nautical Miles Traveled: 3.5
On January 30th we left the anchorage at the West end of Port Royal and motored East 3.5 nautical miles and anchored off of Allen Point in the East end of Port Royal. We had considered moving the following day to Old Port Royal but as some strong winds were forecast for the next five days we decided to stay at Allen Point and wait out the weather.
Our first day here was fun. After anchoring we went with Aaron and Lyla (Blow Me Away) and dingied over to Old Port Royal to do some snorkeling and spear fishing. The snorkeling was great! We swam over an old wreck full of fish including colorful angel fish that were 18” long. After snorkeling the wreck close to shore I swam further out over the reef to the drop off, and was surprised to see a really big fish swimming towards me. I stopped and just floated to see what this big fish was, thinking maybe it was a grouper. Nope, no grouper, as it got closer I realized it was a shark. It was a Bull Shark about 10 feet long, and very big in girth. I bee lined it for the dingy and yelled ‘shark’ to the rest of the swimmers in the water. After sitting in the hot sun for a few moments it was time to get back in the water, we still had fish to catch for dinner. Fortunately the shark was no longer in the area (at least we didn’t see it anymore). For dinner that night we had a nice Queen Trigger, very tasty.
The following day Aaron, Lyla and I took a dingy ride through Old Port Royal and found a cut through the mangroves, which took us to the north side of the island. There we did a lot of snorkeling and saw some elusive groupers. Other than that there wasn’t much fish to be found. I did get to see my first Spotted Eagle Ray and I was able to spear two delicious lobsters. After spending the morning on the North side of the island we went back through the cut and did some more snorkeling near Old Port Royal. There I saw my first Nurse Shark, about 4 feet long. The fishing wasn’t all the great, as a matter of fact we didn’t get anything that day.
Today we made it out to the reef off of Fort Key near where we are anchored. The water was full of jelly fish so trying to avoid them made trying to find fish challenging. Aaron did get a Mutton Snapper, a Black Grouper and a Hog Fish. David is making a batch of rice and then we’re headed to Blow Me Away for a fish fry tonight, should be good.
The weather has been wonderful. Sunny, low 90s, and a nice breeze. The last two nights we’ve had winds from 25 to 35 knots but the holding here is great. The wind generator and solar panels has been keeping the batteries charged 100% the last couple days, even with the watermaker and tv running. It looks like the winds and seas will calm down on Tuesday so we’re making plans to sail to the eastern most island of Guanaja then. If all goes well we will try to stop at the Pigeon Cays along the way, it’s supposed to be the best snorkeling in the area.
February 4, 2007
Location: Port Royal, Roatan
Nautical Miles Traveled: 3.5
After having spent a few days in Allen Point we weighed anchor and moved back to the west side of Port Royal. It appears that the weather for the next four days will not be good for traveling to Guanaja, the winds will be high and seas rough. Here at this end of Port Royal our friends Doug and Mary have a house where we are welcome to go and do laundry, and this also gives us an opportunity to access the internet and catch up on emails and update this site.
With the rough seas we haven’t had an opportunity to do any more spearfishing but this has given me time to read more about techniques and learn more about the fish. Our favorites right now is grouper, snapper and hogfish. We’ll have to gather some more recipes to try too.
Yesterday we went with Aaron and Lyla ashore near Allen Point and walked up a nice hill in tall grass. We were told about an old fort that had been built there by the English in 1675 to protect the harbor from pirates. It was nice to get back on land for a short bit but once we reached the grounds we were disappointed. Only a few stones and some mounds were all that remained from the fort. The view from there was quite spectacular, the English no doubt were able to see pirates coming from many miles away. After climbing down the hill we walked the shoreline and took some pictures of our boats, then it was time to head back to our own boats for dinner and a movie. You can see how rough we have it. I’ve had a list of small things to do on the boat for some time now but these frequent invitations to go fish, snorkel or explore are just too hard to pass up.
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Port Royal is one of our favorite places on Roatan so far. The natural beauty here has for the most part been untouched. Only a few houses and two very small resorts dot the shoreline. There are no roads here, only access is by water. Many of the houses here are vacant for much of the year as the wealthy owners live overseas in Europe of the United States. The care takers here for these homes consist of retired cruisers and ex-pats from the U.S. The reefs are frequented by dive boats from resorts further down the island. There are no places here to shop, no stores and only one restaurant at Playa Royal, a small dive resort. Because the tourism industry has not yet reached this part of the island we feel like we’re in a remote part of the. world, and in many ways we are. While the reefs are full of fish and clean the shore is a crowded jungle filled with trees, monkeys, parrots and even bats. Water traffic here is minimal. The only water taxis that make it out this way are usually carrying locals who work in the area. This is a quiet and beautiful anchorage, one of our favorites.
February 7, 2007
Location: El Bight, Guanaja, Honduras
Nautical Miles Traveled: 31
What a day! At 0630 this morning David was at the bow raising our anchor in preparation for our trip to the island of Guanaja, I was in the cockpit controlling the boat under power. Just as David was getting ready to break the anchor out of the ground Aaron from Blow Me Away called us on the radio and told us to look outside the anchorage. When we looked we saw a waterspout only a few miles outside the harbor entrance. We watched as the waterspout grew out of the dark gray clouds and extended to the water and without hesitation we decided that it was best to remain at anchor until the spout dissipated
Half an hour later the anchor was raised and we exited Port Royal with Blow Me Away following behind us as we headed east. Within a few minutes of leaving Port Royal David alerted me to another waterspout forming just to the south of us. This one was much smaller and though it tried a few times it never grew large enough to touch the water from the clouds.
As we settled in on our course to our first waypoint just south of Guanaja we noticed a large squall line ahead of us. I was able to pick up the squall on my radar, the thick rain was only 10 miles ahead of us and was moving slowly towards us. As I was adjusting the radar to get the best picture on the radar David alerted me once again to another waterspout forming to the south of us. I of course called Aaron to tell them as they were sailing just next to us. This had to be one of the most amazing waterspouts we have ever seen. We watched as the clouds gave birth to a small funnel which in a matter of a few minutes grew to maturity, touching the water below and kicking it up into the air. We watched this intense waterspout for almost a full hour before it died and vanished. My focus on the radar went from the squalls ahead of us to tracking this waterspout. It was an easy target on my radar screen. It was odd that the spout was almost stationary or slow moving. For 45 minutes it remained less than 4.5 nautical miles off of our starboard side. 
During this time of watching the waterspout David had noticed a large shape emerging from the squall that was now only 5 nautical miles ahead of us. I contacted the Norwegian cruise ship on our vhf radio to get some weather conditions within the squall. We were advised that winds were calm, seas flat but some rain. Fortunately as we continued east the squall began to dissipate and all we got was some light rains.
The rest of the trip to Guanaja was uneventful. During the last 15 miles the skies clear up and the sun beat down on us, the wind was light at less than 5 knots and the water was relatively calm. We passed the south end of Guanaja then turned north to make our way to the town of Bonocca. As we approached shallower waters it became evident that the water here was much more clear than in Roatan. Seeing bottom in 50 to 60 feet of water was not difficult at all. When we anchored off of the fuel dock in Bonocca the 25 feet of water was stunningly clear, we could even see our anchor at the bottom.
February 9, 2007
Location: El Bight, Guanaja, Honduras
Nautical Miles Traveled: 0
A large dolphin has been swimming around our boat all day today, we found out from some of the locals that he lives in the anchorage and always stays close to the sailboats. It’s unusual as dolphins normally stay within a pod and this one seems to be all alone. Rumor has it that when hurricane Mitch came through the Bay Islands that a marine park lost 12 trained dolphins to the Caribbean Sea. The locals think that this dolphin might have been one of these from the park as he’s very friendly.
February 14, 2007
Location: Josh’s Cay, Guanaja, Honduras
Nautical Miles Traveled: 3
Happy Valentine’s Day! We left El Bight this morning and motored three miles to Josh’s Cay. Graham, the owner of the small island, is a retired American that has built a nice little retreat for cruisers. On his island he offers laundry, free water, a small restaurant and bar and even wireless internet service. He also has his own declared marine park with sea turtles, moray eels, lobster, crab and a large variety of fish.
Later today there’s a Valentine’s Day party ashore so we hope to catch up on news from old friends and make new ones. In the week that we’ve been in Guanaja we really haven’t done a whole lot. Our normal daily activities seem to be finding new fishing grounds, snorkeling, watching movies and visiting with friends. During this time we’re also studying cruising guides and charts as we hope to start heading south in a few weeks.
Because the Bay Islands were settled by the English in the 1600s the official language here is English. It wasn’t until Hondurans from the mainland came to the islands looking for a better life that Spanish was spoken. Because so many Hondurans have now come to the islands it’s hard to tell that English is actually the official language. Most people on the islands now are bilingual, speaking both English and Spanish.
There’s two cold fronts due to come our way, one on Friday and another on Sunday. Since there’s very little protection from the winds at Josh’s Cay we’ll make our way back to the anchorage at El Bight on Friday.
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