Passage from Guatemala to Honduras – They say bad things happen in threes

They say bad things happen in threes.  If that is true than we are ‘in the clear’ now.  What do I mean, well let me start at the beginning.

We were in Livingston the last time we updated you guys.  We anchored up at the mouth of the Rio Dulce to check out of the country and organize a tow over the sand bar at its mouth.

From there we planned to anchor up for the night at Tres Punta, just across the bay.  Than head off, with the predicted wind shift to the west, to the island of Utila off the Honduras coast.

The well laid plans of mice and men!

LEAVING THE RIO DULCE

The tow over the bar should have run smoothly, and would have if I was not distracted and kept an eye on the humans better.

Strike One!

The tow boat operator Hector came aboard the boat and the humans handed him the spinnaker line from the top of the mast.  He handed the line off to the his assistant in the tow boat and it was promptly pulled all the way out of the mast.  The humans were so distracted, they forgot to tie it off.  Do you see what I am working with here!

Second try

Luckily they still had the spinnaker pole line from the top of the mast free.  This time I made sure they tied it off before handing it back over to the tow boat.

Hector guided the humans through the deepest channel over the bar, but still the water got too shallow to pass over.

When this happened he signaled the tow boat paralleling us to pull, and over to one side Spirit of Argo tilted.

With the keel ‘off to one side’ the boat can get over shallower water.

Happy faces now we are over the bar and free from the ‘clutches of the Rio Dulce’.

We were not planning on using the spinnaker on this trip anyway.

TRES PUNTA

We headed across the bay to anchor off Tres Punta for the night and wait for the westerly winds that were meant to start filling in the following day.

The humans took delight in being on anchor at sea again.  Their last bit of peace before ‘it would all go wrong’!

WHEN IT ALL STARTED TO GO WRONG

In hind sight the humans decision to anchoring off the Tres Punta with westerly winds predicted to fill in the following day was not perhaps the best move.  You just know the winds are going to start earlier than predicted and be stronger.

That is exactly what happened!

The humans had put me on a lee shore with choppy waves coming straight at us well before dawn.  Time to leave.

Strike Two

Lifting the anchor in strong winds and choppy seas is not so easy.  The front of the boat gets knocked off side to side as you try to reel in the chain.  Just as the chain got tight over the anchor a rogue wave (a big one) hit the boat on the side and the front section of the bow roller was ripped open before we could release the tension off.

Unfortunately the chain only locked on the remaining edge of the bow roller so there was no way to lift the anchor now.  I got the humans to play out chain again, reset the bridle to take the pressure off the remaining bow roller bits and reassess the situation.

It was horrible and rough with the rising wind directly on shore, but at least the anchor was holding and we were safe for the moment.

We still had all the bits and pieces REMARKABLY.

1st attempt

The humans first attempt was to try to bend the forward section of the bow roller back into shape.  Unfortunately it was very well made and would require more strength then they had to do this.  Mallets, clamps and even a vise and ropes did little.  With no leverage out front they did little more than bend the opposite side in.

2nd attempt

If they could not bend the two sides closer together perhaps they could find a long piece of metal or bolt to rig up between them.  Add a short piece of pipe over the top to protect the bolt and you have a round surface for the chain to pass over.  You are not going to believe it but they did find a bolt long enough.

The pressure of the chain and the bounce of the rough seas were just too much.  The bolt quickly bent and broke under the weight.

3rd attempt

The wind was only picking up more.  My healthy human, working up the front, was getting her feet wet every time the bow dipped in between the waves.  That is when ‘yours truly’ came up with another idea.  Use rope.  I got the humans to string heavy rope across the bow with hose pipe over top for protection.  It looked a bit messy, but worked in the end.

NOW WHAT?

The whole time the humans were ‘MacGyvering’ the question on everyone’s mind was ‘where too once we get this anchor up’?

Option 1

Returning to the Rio Dulce seemed the most logical answer.  We knew good welders and a fantastic machinist there.  The marinas are reasonably priced and still empty.  The only problem was the bar, at the mouth of the river, and anchoring at Livingston to check back in again.  With our jury rig we might get the anchor back up again, but we needed a tow over the bar.   It was not looking good as it was a Sunday.  We radioed boats that passed by from Livingston and all said they saw no tow boats in wait there.  Everyone one we knew and contacted ashore was not answering emails on Sunday.

With little or no chance of getting over the bar we had to look at other options.

Option 2

We head to our original destination, Utila, and anchor there.  There would be other cruisers that might have ideas or tools to bend the bow roller together again.  Perhaps they had something aboard we could use as a temporary fix.  Looking at the bow roller, it seemed highly unlikely that it could be fixed in situ.  It also would need some reinforcement.  Perhaps a welder could add some bars to the sides to strengthen it.  Would we find a welder on the tiny island of Utila?

Option 3

The next island after Utila, Roatan, was a lot bigger.  We suspected they would have at least one or two welders on the island that could help us.  We had been told that the bay on the west end had been declared a National Park and mooring balls were set up for visiting yachts.  This would save us trying to use our anchor, and worse, trying to get it back up again.

So it was decided that we would go to Roatan.

FINALLY OFF AND SAILING

So, with the anchor finally up, we were off sailing.

Once we rounded the point into deeper water the waves eased and we had a ‘cracking’ sail goose winged.  Genoa poled out one side and the main out the other side with a preventer line attached.

We researched the anchorage we were heading too, planned out the route, and all seemed to finally be going our way.  The humans were adjusting well to the new reversal of roles on the boat.  As you know one of my humans had a serious operation.  He was on strict instructions not to engage in any strenuous activity.  So he was relegated to helmsman, his least favourite position on the boat, while my other human was left with all physical tasks.

 Night set in and the winds eased, as predicted.  One of the humans was just settling down below for a little cat nap when all hell broke loose.

Strike Three

A fast-moving squall hit the boat with strong winds, rain and a reversal of wind direction.  The carefully laid out sail plan was all backed and it was hard work trying to get the boat turned.  Both the humans were pretty useless at their new rolls.  Sails were flogging, the boat was heeling over sideways, poles were bouncing around and lines were becoming detached in the mayhem.  You would have laughed at the two humans working away in the driving rain, especially the one in just a pair of underwear.  Less to get dry in the end.

Magically they got the boat settled back into sailing without breaking or tearing anything.  But they did lose another line.  This time the lifting line for the Genoa pole (stay sail halyard) was pull all the way to the top.

We sailed the rest of the way to Roatan with just the Genoa.  This made it a lot easier to reef in the sails when the squalls hit us at regular intervals.  I stayed below out of the rain, but the human on each watch looked a bit miserable and wet in the cockpit.

ROATAN IN SIGHT

With the morning light came the view of Utila on our starboard and then Roatan at our bow.  We could see the squalls now and did our best to avoid them.  We had our three ‘spells’ of bad luck so we hoped that everything would go smoothly for us.

You can clearly see the waves breaking on the reef that surrounds West End.  Thankfully they have clearly buoyed all the entrances through. (See WPs at end)

We got through the entrance no problem.  We than headed past a few boats on anchor in the middle of the bay and over to the mooring ball area to the right.

There are plenty of mooring balls here, but unfortunately no maintenance on them.  We had been warned by fellow cruisers to check the mooring well, but did not expect so few to even have a floating ball any more.

We passed the sailing vessel ‘Kalea’.  Friends Iris and Martin, who we met in the Rio Dulce, were aboard and offered to help us find a mooring.  In the end we found one only after practically dropping the anchor on it.

Yes, the humans dropped the anchor.  And yes, the silly humans were going to have to find a way to get it back up again.  But at least we were safe and sound.

We added a line to the mooring in the sea bed and left the anchor down to deal with later.  Our first stop, after I let the humans have a bite to eat and celebratory beer, was to send the humans ashore to check in with officials.

They dropped the dingy and headed for the main town at the furthest end of the bay.

The town here is very artsy with restaurants, fruit smoothie shops, laundry services and lots and lots of dive shops.  The humans had the option of catching the bus 25 LPs/each (22LPs=$1US) but treated themselves to a taxi for 45LPs/each ($2.25US) as they had no idea where they were going.  Check-in should have been painless, but the immigration guy was off at a meeting somewhere else on the island, and could not get back until 4pm (which meant 4:30pm if you take island time into account).  It gave the humans a little time to brose around the main town on the island Coxen Hole.

Check in was free, but we understand that there is a fee ($3/each or 66Lps/each) for your exit Zarpa.  Both the Immigration and the Port Captain were efficient and polite.  None of the horror stories we heard from Cruisers that had come here ahead of us.  I guess they got themselves sorted out for the ‘high season’.

---

WARNING

Since writing this blog we have heard lots of bribery stories for Utila and especially Roatan.  Either the immigration official or the Port Captain ask for, or insist on, a payment.  Some out right ask for a bribe, others mask it with immigration jargon that baffle cruisers.

IT IS FREE TO CHECK INTO HONDURAS AND ALL ITS OUT LIEING ISLANDS.

Most cruisers feel very uncomfortable arguing with  government official, and we understand this.  Small bribes seem to be acceptable to most cruisers, but sometimes these official ask for $400 to $500 dollars.

If you are asked for a bribe you can try:

Getting the officials name, job title and a receipt for payment.  This might scare him into backing down if you refuse to pay without these.

Ask to speak to the Port Captain about this, if it is immigration, or vise versa if it is the Port Captain trying it on.

If they try the ‘visitors can only stay for 90 days in a C4 country’ reason for extortion.  Point out that you know that this only applies to land based travelers and does not apply to those travelling by sea (Cruise ship clause).

Worst comes to worse walk away.  All the officials are on a rotation and there will be a new set in the following day.  Come in the next day, smile and say you just arrived and would like to check in.  Still no luck?  All the islands are a day sail apart.  Try the next island to check in.

Good luck everyone and I hope to see some constructive comments added to help everyone along.  Back to the blog.

---

While the humans were out they got the details of at least two welders and Belinda, from the s/v Free Spirit, got us a contact for a boat mechanic who also worked with a good welder.  We were sure we were going to be able to get the bow roller fixed.

When the humans finally got back I finally got the best part after a long sailing trip.  I finally got a walk!

I deserve this after putting up with the humans and their misadventures for the past 3 days.  Give me a beach and a coconut and I’m happy again!

---

Waypoints we used to get into West End anchorage

1. N 16′ 17.755 / W 86′ 36.124   lined us up for the pass through the reef
2. N 16′ 17.730 / W 86′ 36.030   takes you through the centre of the buoyed channel
3. N 16′ 17.664 / W 86′ 35.906   takes you to the centre of the bay, well clear of the reef.  You can now turn right and find a nice place to anchor in mixed sand and turtle grass.

At the time of writing the marine park was not maintaining the mooring balls.  Use at your own risk.  Check them completely and perhaps add a safety line to the sea bed pin.

West end anchorage is unprotected in a strong north to west wind.  it is best to move to another anchorage if these conditions are predicted.

The shallowest point we saw was 2.5m just as you pass through the channel.  This is where breaking seas would be especially dangerous if you left departure from this anchorage too late in a strong north to westerly wind.

Hope this helps.

---