21 December 1995 Isla Barbareta to Port Royale, Guanaja
Only four more sleeps to Christmas. As usual, I haven’t bought Glenys anything. I don’t know what to get her, but I’ll be panicking when we get to French Harbour! Grey, overcast day but it stopped raining and started to brighten up at ten o’clock. We did school work in the morning and then motored down the coast. It was still overcast, making it difficult to see the reefs in the flat light.
We went into Port Royal through a channel in the reef by Fort Quay and picked a spot by a scrubby beach – it would appear that there are no nice beaches in the Bay Islands. The harbour is massive, being about 2 miles long and ½ mile wide protected by a reef to seaward. There are only 3 other boats in here, but this is apparently the place to spend Christmas, with about 20 boats expected.
Glenys and I went for a dive on the south side of Fort Cay. We picked up one of the “Bay Island Aggressor” buoys, which is a live-aboard dive boat. It was a fantastic dive with vertical walls. Barry and Carol from “Pipe Dream” came over to say hello. We had a quiet night.
22 December 1995 Port Royale to French Harbour, Guanaja
We motored down to French Harbour. It was a beautiful clear day. As we went along the coast, we kept half a mile offshore so that we would be well clear of the fringing reef, but able to check out all the small harbours on the way. Most of the “Bights” are crowded with fleets of shrimp boats and houses on stilts. Unfortunately, it’s not the right season and there are no shrimp about. A couple of the harbours are unpopulated, so we might visit them.
We anchored in the lagoon to the east of French Harbour and dinghied into the Yacht Club. I’m glad we didn’t go into the Yacht Club Harbour – it’s a toilet! We checked out the supermarket and then walked into “town”. A strange place, very spread out. Dirt road, small shops selling dubious food, and not much else. We wanted to eat outfor lunch, but couldn’t find anywhere suitable – the places that looked like restaurants/cafes were either too small or too grubby. There weren’t any signs to say which were restaurants, so it was a bit unnerving.
We ended up back at the Yacht Club having burgers – I had pastrami on rye – is this a Honduran delicacy? We had 3 beers each, so I was exhausted in the afternoon when we went to the supermarket. We had a quiet evening, punctuated by the huge explosions from the fireworks that the locals keep setting off.
23 December 1995 French Harbour to Port Royale, Guanaja
Squally night with big gusts of wind. One boat dragged and ended up on a mud bank. I’m amazed that he dragged because the sea bed appears to be sand and silt and good holding. No damage to him (except his pride!)
We motor-sailed up to Port Royal and anchored among the other 17 boats. It was fairly windy so I put up the windsurfer and had a blast. There was another guy out – Rupert (and Judy) from “Khaya“. He has a BIC Electric Rock and a 6.5M² sail and he flies along compared to me on my hulking 3.2 Calypso and 5.5M² sail. He very kindly gave me a go on his board – awesome. I’m being held back by crap equipment, but Glenys says “it’s not worth bothering to get a new sail now.” Sigh!
After lunch, the boys and I went “exploring” in the dinghy while Glenys wrapped the presents. We went back to Glencora after an hour, but we were shoed away. We went to visit “Kalida”. I took Brett wind surfing which he enjoyed, then a bit of clarinet practice. Only two sleeps to go!
24 December 1995 Port Royale, Guanaja
I went over to “Kalida” at nine o’clock and spent the morning going through OW theory and the final exam. I was doing a “compressed” Open Water course – absolutely against PADI standards of course! Derek has been teaching Alison to dive and wanted me to do a quick check out and award her an OW certification. I agreed to do one Confined Water followed by a short dive. She did well, so I gave her an OW certification. On our way back from the dive, my outboard packed up – overheated because there was no water cooling again. We had to get rescued.
Glenys was a bit grumpy with me for leaving her alone on Christmas Eve, but cheered up after she had been out to a carol singing “Raft-Up” that had been organised at four o’clock. I stayed behind on Glencora with Craig. At half past seven, after dinner, Terry from “Winter Hawk” came over and asked us if we wanted to go over and watch a video. Is the Pope a Catholic? The boys settled down to watch “Home Alone”, while Glenys and I polished off another bottle of wine with Terry and Susan.
25 December 1995 Port Royale, Guanaja
Christmas day at last! I was awake at seven o’clock, but everyone else was asleep until eight o’clock when I started to rattle the kettle and say “Ooh, it’s Christmas day” in a loud voice. The boys did well and had enough toys. Mum and Dad had a thin Christmas. Glenys got me a tea mug and a tee shirt. I got her a pretty hammock which I had bought in desperation a few days ago in French Harbour. It cost $20US –it will be interesting to see how much hammocks are in Guatemala.
At about eleven o’clock, I started to look at the outboard. As I suspected, it turned out to be a corroded key on the impellor. The problem was that I had a hell of a job getting the gearbox unit off the outboard. When I did get if off I realised that I couldn’t get it back on. I ended up splitting the bottom of the engine apart and scraping out a tube that had become furred up. We were due at the Christmas dinner at three o’clock and at quarter to three, I finished assembling the engine. Thankfully, it worked and we arrived just in time (with filthy finger nails). What a way to spend Christmas morning.
The Christmas dinner was very good with loads of meat, vegetables and sweets. One of the boats organised a “Mystery Present” game which was fun. Each boat was asked to bring a “treasure of the bilge” wrapped up. Everyone was given a playing card and they then called out the names of playing cards. The person who had that card went up to claim a gift. There was a bit of a sting in the tail, in that not only could the “winner” claim a prize from the centre, but they could elect to swap their present with someone who had already taken a present. There was much light hearted stealing of presents from friends - in particular, a Bay Leaf plant was very popular and changed hands several times.
Brett had his eye on a very large surfboard-shaped present wrapped in sail bags. Everyone knew that he wanted it, so they all started to pick it up as though to try to feel what it could be. They then chose something else, but every time Brett’s heart was in his mouth. Eventually it was his turn and he went up and played the game by looking at some of the other presents before grabbing the surfboard. It was great to see his face as he dragged it back.
My pleasure was slightly tainted by some American bitch who said “they send the kids up so that no-one will take the present off them!” I was very tempted to give her a piece of my mind, but decided that she wasn’t worth the effort. We had a good day and I was in bed at eight o’clock!
Brett received a pen knife from Santa and he’s so thrilled with it. He has it on a cord around his neck and even wore it to bed! Craig took his battery operated, walking, roaring elephant to bed with him.
26 December 1995 Port Royale, Guanaja
Slow start to the day. I did some maintenance on our regulators and then took Brett water skiing on his new surfboard – he has incredible, natural balance and impressed everyone in the anchorage. After lunch we went and did a dive, which was good. I was relieved that the outboard got us out to the dive mooring and back again. I filled 4 tanks. A pleasant Boxing Day.
27 December 1995 Port Royale to Caribbean Bight, Guanaja
We took our time tidying up, putting the windsurfer away, etc. We then motored around to Caribbean Bight which is pleasant and deserted, apart from a few houses. It was an overcast day with intermittent drizzle. We haven’t been getting beautiful sunshine like we had in the West Indies but at least it’s cool at night – a bit more hugging in bed (if we manage to get Brett to sleep before we do!)
We had the ubiquitous tuna mayonnaise sandwiches for lunch – tinned tuna of course – none of that horrible fresh fish for Brett!
After lunch, we went for a dinghy ride along a canal which took us to Bodden Bight. Not much of interest in the bay, but the canal is very picturesque – about 8ft wide and goes along a tunnel of mangrove trees. Occasionally, there is a dock set out on a spur to the odd dwelling. The houses are built on stilts either over the water or next to the shore. Everybody moves about on the island in dugout canoes by paddle or 3ft wide, 20ft long boats powered by 15hp Yamahas.
It is very difficult to get ashore other than onto someone’s property, and with the dearth of beaches, we feel like we’re trapped on the boat sometimes. It was too cold to go swimming when we got back to the boat, so we read and did our own thing. Glenys now spends ½ -1 hour a day working on her cookbook. I try to spend an hour on the clarinet each day. I filled 4 tanks.
28 December 1995 Caribbean Bight to French Harbour, Guanaja
Beautiful sunny day for a change. Glenys and I went for a dive and managed to catch a 2½lb lobster. After lunch, we motored around to French Harbour and anchored among eight other yachts that have come down from Port Royal. I went into the yacht club and sent a fax to our accountant to find out about our non resident status.
I filled up 4 jerry cans of water. Glenys went off to look at the Fantasy Island Resort – OK she said. On the way back the outboard started to smoke – I’m going to have to look at it again – I hate outboards!
29 December 1995 French Harbour, Guanaja
I started to work on the outboard at eight o’clock. Water was coming out of the telltale when I ran the engine at high revs, but it started to overheat on tick over. I deduced that there must be a leak in the power head gasket between the exhaust chamber and the water cooling chamber. I checked the pump impellor first and that looked to be in good condition and not slipping. The pump body liner looked OK too, so I stripped the power head off. It took me five hours to remove the gasket with a razor blade, clean up both mating surfaces and reassemble it with gasket sealant. It was still the same – oh miser!
It was pouring down with rain and we had to go to the shops, so we risked a trip to the yacht club. We made it! I discussed my problem with “Kalida” and “Khaya” and the consensus was that it was either a waterway blocked in the cylinder head or the pump. I borrowed a variable speed drill and used it to turn the prop shaft – surprise, surprise the pump didn’t work! I put another impellor in and it worked fine. The other impellor looks OK, so it’s a mystery. I probably needn’t have taken the power head off, but at least I know it’s done properly now.
30 December 1995 French Harbour, Guanaja
Another miserable morning. There’s a weak trough over the area bringing unsettled weather and westerly winds. There’s a cold front expected in Belize on the 3rd January. We’re depressed and sick of this weather. We were going to go to Cochinos, but will wait until tomorrow because the anchorages are exposed to west winds.
I changed the engine oil and filters and Glenys did school work. We discussed our plans and we both agree that the Bay Islands are a bit boring, no beaches and we never get off the boat. We decided that we will cut short our stay here and go to Guatemala about the 7th January. After lunch, Glenys and I did a dive, which we aborted after an hour because a very persistent Remora kept trying to suck onto us - it really freaked Glenys out. I filled 6 tanks.
Glenys dropped our laundry off at the Yacht Club and bought some fireworks for tomorrow night. The GPS has started to play up again. I suspected that it was the power supply and swapped the DC/DC converters with the VHF radio. The GPS still won’t hold its Almanac data but at least it finds its position OK – after a 20 minute satellite search.
31 December 1995 French Harbour to Isla Cochinos, Guanaja
The strong cold front is still due in Belize on the 3rd. It’s expected to carry on to Nicaragua before stalling, so that will be different from the ones that we’ve had so far – they have been stalling and dissipating over Honduras. We decided to scoot over to Cochinos and spend a couple of days there.
The bloody GPS wouldn’t work – it kept resetting and crashing. I took it apart and found that the lithium battery that I replaced (at great expense) in St Lucia, in June, was totally flat. I removed it and the GPS finds its position again but won’t hold the Almanac data. I’ll get a new battery in Florida and sort it out ready for the trip back to Europe.
We motored over to Cochinos. On the way over, we tried to find a dive mooring on a sea mount about 5 miles north of Cochinos Grande. We couldn’t see anything even though the sea was glassy calm. I found out later that the mooring buoy is 30ft underwater!
Isla Cochinos Grande is beautiful. Verdant vegetation and palm trees on the beaches. There is a small dive resort with very friendly managers, Holly and Lewis, who have been working in the Caribbean for 10 years and living on their boat “Our House”. We went for a dive, which was OK, but poor visibility. I filled 4 tanks. We went to the hotel for a beer before dinner and set off some fireworks for the boys. A miserable American complained about the boys setting off bangers outside the restaurant while they were trying to eat dinner – Happy New Year!!! We retired back to the boat for our dinner!
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