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What you can do or think you can do, begin it.  For boldness has magic, power and genius in it.   Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

March 1, 2007   El Bight, Guanaja 

Time is marching on and as we wait on a good weather window to head southeast to the islands called the Vivirios just off the eastern coast of the mainland of Honduras, we prepare for the journey.  This leg will be approximately 160 miles and will take us roughly 30 hours of so to make it there.  The problem is the winds have continued to blow from the east southeast averaging 20 knots, and at night gusts of over 30k, which is the direction we need to go.  One of the first lessons we learned long ago was how important it is to wait for a good weather window.  There is no sense in going out there just to get the shit knocked out of you!

Laundry is another thing that accumulates and our only option here in Guanaja is to do it onboard.  One bucket and feet for the washer and another for the rinse, then hang out to dry on the lifelines.

Charts are looked at and the route is planned.  I put the waypoints into the GPS chartplotter so the navigation part is done.

Jacklines are brought out of storage and put to use again.  Jacklines are heavy duty webbing that run the length of the deck from bow to stern on each side.  When we go offshore, you must clip on to these when leaving the cockpit.  No one is allowed to fall overboard.  Not an option.

Every item is stowed properly down below.  All bottles are  stowed in cloth bags (thanks Randy for all the crown royal bags!) so that you don't have to listen to an orchestra of bottle rattling.  Very annoying when trying to sleep.

Check the fuel level and top off before we go. Fuel filters and fluid levels are checked.  Propane tanks are full (our stove uses propane).  Provisioning lists are consulted and a couple of dinners are prepared beforehand.  The galley can be a miserable place to be when the weather is rough, so having food that is easy to prepare is essential.

It's been awhile since we have seriously sailed and the last passage we did was back in December when we sailed from Belize to Honduras.  We try to prepare as best we can and our sea legs are out of shape we know but will be ready.  It is what we have to do. 

March 8, 2007   Passage to the Vivirios

The day has finally arrived to make our passage to the Vivirios, a set of three islands 160 miles southeast of Guanaja, but still in Honduras.  Weather gurus on Bruadair and Winterlude, Damon and Jan, have kept the anchorage informed on the wind and wave action happening out there.  Yesterday, we experienced a very unlikely strong southwest wind that had the whole anchorage on standby since this anchorage is not protected from the SW.  It blew steady all day but blew itself out late at night.  The plan was that if the winds had died down during the night, then we would go.  The wakeup call at 5AM came early, and we awoke to a calm NW less than 10knot wind.   There was four other boats in our little flotilla, Bruadair, Silkie, Sailabout, and Winterlude.  We upped anchor at 6AM, and with the mainsail raised, we motored out of the cut and into the deep blue. We set a course on a bearing of 104 degrees, and Aaron set out the fishing lines.

One hour out, the sound of a fish reeling on the line, and the shout from Aaron "Fish On", spurred us both into action.  He put on the fishing belt and grabbed the pole, and I slowed the boat down, grabbed the gaff pole and the bottle of rubbing alcohol.  As Aaron reeled in the fish, and as it got closer, we could see that it was a dolphin.  Yippee, one of the best eating fish.  Aaron brought him aboard and with little fight left, Aaron poured a little rubbing alcohol in his gills to kill him fast, then released the hook.  Time for a Kodak moment, then since the seas were so calm, Aaron went ahead and cleaned the fish.

 At 11:00am, we tried hoisting the asymetric, (the big black and white sail in our boat picture).  This sail is used only in light air, that is less than 15knots, and is made out of a lightweight fabric similar to a parachute.  It takes us about 30 minutes to set it all up, and by the time we were ready there wasn't enough wind to keep it full.  So, we motored on.

At 1:45pm, our second attempt at raising the asymetric was successful as the winds had increased to around 10k and out of the northwest, just aft of beam, perfect conditions for this sail.  We shut the motor off prior to raising it and enjoyed the next 3 hours of pure sailing seeing speeds inbetween 6 - 8 knots.  The smiles on our faces were huge!

 At 4pm, we checked into the SSB radio schedule  with the other boats in the flotilla; everyone was doing well.  Bruadair was making way on the rhumbline while the others were heading a bit north preparing for the shift in the wind to the northeast.  The winds were increasing and indeed shifting, so we doused the asymetric quickly without getting it wet. Quite a feat I must say!

We set the jib, main and mizzen and sailed on beautifully at 6 knots on a NE 15k wind until 8pm when the winds died to less than 10k and our speeds dropped to 3knots.  The iron genny was turned back on, and chicken and rice soup was served up for dinner.  Aaron went down to our cabin to sleep, since I had the first watch.  Damon on Bruadair had his radar on and kept me informed on the squalls that would appear out of nowhere and the fishing boats that were unlit.  It's a bit unnerving when you know there is a boat out there with no lights on and nets out!  Our radar, unfortunately, had been a victim of a lightning strike when we were at Mario's marina in the Rio Dulce back in August.

On we motorsailed and took turns on watch every 3-4 hours.  Aaron checked in with the other boats on the SSB at midnite and all was well.   Good news.  The flotilla was more spread out now with a few miles inbetween each other. 

As the sun rose and Aaron woke up, it was time to roll in the jib and make our way towards our waypoint.   So we tacked with just the mainsail up and slogged on into the swells and the wind.  We had 5 more hours to go and this was the worst part of the trip.  At 1130am, we set anchor just right behind the reef in 12 ft of the clearest  turquoise blue water.  Another boat was here, a catamarran called Sea of Time, and they welcomed us to the Vivirios.  Bruadair arrived at noon, and the other two made it in safely at 3pm (Winterlude) and Sailabout at 430pm. Silkie, the only catamarran in our flotilla, averaging a speed of 10knots sailing, just flew on by the Vivirios and headed towards Panama. 

We celebrated with a couple of rum and cokes and a swim.  Dozens of starfish and the biggest sand dollars I have ever seen were just below our boat.  Then it was time for a nap.

We had made the 160 mile trip in 29 1/2 hrs, sailing just 7 1/2 hours of those.  The rest was motorsailing, but we believe that we are one of the very few who have had the chance to fly an asymetric on this leg.  Overall, it was an awesome trip, and glad that we had waited patiently for a good weather window.  There were two boats that had left Guanaja before the cold front had passed thru on Monday and for their impatience they encountered 35k plus winds and seas of 15 ft.  One of the boats experienced a crack in their hull and was taking on water and had to turn around and head for the nearest anchorage.  The other, a trimarran called Tricerion, stayed with the disabled boat to the anchorage.  The next day they continued on and made it safely to the Vivirios at 4am on Friday, with the radio help of other cruisers helping them in safely.  So, patience is a virtue and it seems that every boat out here has had there one bad storm story to tell.  It is a lesson you don't forget.  You just don't mess with Mother Nature!

March 12, 2007  How do you spell paradise? Vivirios 

Wow, this is truly an awesome place to be and it is what we go cruising for, an idyllic tropical paradise, complete with a beautiful reef to snorkel, abundant fish life, and three small islands; uninhabited except for the local fishermen who hang out here in there makeshift shacks for two weeks at a time.  Then it's back to the mainland of Honduras for a few days.  Each day these fisherman have come by our boat wanting to barter their fresh catch of lobster, crab or conch.  We bought 4 crabs for $10, then 8 lobsters for some food, canned vegetables and 3 beers.  Best deal around!

Did we mention the beautiful reef to snorkel? It's the prettiest we've seen, huge elkhorn and staghorn coral, and an abundance of fish life.  The hunter gatherers have been in a feeding frenzy and our freezer is full of Hogs and Dogs!  Hogs being hogfish and dogs are dog snappers.  I don't know who comes up with these names, we just kill'em and eat'em!  Aaron had a recordbreaking spearfishing day, bagging 6 snappers, 2 groupers, 1 hogfish and 2 lobsters. He is the master!  We gave away most of the fish to the other boaters anchored here, so everyone enjoyed a fresh fish dinner. I decided to try spearfishing and on my first try speared a snapper and then went back for seconds. Official fishkiller, now!

One of the three islands is a bird sanctuary and we ventured out for a day walking around the entire island and being in awe and wonder of the beauty of nature.  There were hundreds of frigates, a rather long-winged black bird, riding the wind.  The males have a strip of pinkish skin on the throat which is blown up like a bright red balloon when it is time to impress a female.  Well, I was impressed!  The baby frigates have white heads and breasts.  Most of the other birds were yellow footed boobies.  I know, I know, who named them?  Well, the spanish word for booby is bobo or dunce as at one time it was easy for hungry sailors to approach these birds and grab them for food.

We have enjoyed sundowners onboard Sea of Time, with Evonne and Martin, who are from Holland.  And of course, there are the sundowners aboard Blow Me Away, and since we are the biggest boat in the flotilla, with an ice machine, the parties just naturally come home.  A conch festival was in order since Bruadair, Damon and David bought a bag full of already cleaned conch from the local fishermen and Winterlude, Jan and David, had bought some also.  Both of them were virgin conch preparers so I gave free lessons to David and Jan as to how to prepare the conch. Most importantly, beat the hell out of the conch to tenderize it. Jan made conch seviche, while David and I made conch fritters and cracked conch.  Greta and Gunnar on s/v Sailabout, who are from Norway, (yes they have a great Norwegian accents and a great sense of humor), came over also to enjoy the conch smorgasbord.  Greta and Gunnar have never had conch and didn't know what it was since conch means bankrupt in Norwegian.  Well, the poor people here had conch for dinner!

March 15, 2007   Passage to Providencia, Columbia

On March 13 our little flotilla of boats decided to make our way further south to our next stop, the island of Providencia, Columbia, 195 miles.  As we all were preparing to leave, a waterspout came down and formed in between our boat and Bruadair's.  It took an immediate turn and hit Bruadair on the bow and pitched their boat from side to side.  They were lucky that it didn't have time to form and after it had gone by, Bruadair's wind gauge read a reading of 45k.  Leaving this paradise was not easy, we would of loved to stay longer,  but the weather window was perfect, so when the weather says go, we go!  Sailabout left first since they are the slowest of the group, taking out at 1pm.  The rest of us left at 3pm, Bruadair followed by Winterlude, and then we motored out and set sail on a course of 120 degrees, raising sails and enjoying a NE 15k wind.

   Sailors are a superstitious lot, us included, so we gave a toast to King Neptune in wishes of a safe passage.

As we watched the sun set, we began our watches, rotating every 3 hours, put a reef in the mainsail and sat back to enjoy the ride.  A radio schedule had been previously set on the SSB, so that our little flotilla could be in contact with each other all the way, just in case we got out of range of the VHF.  Every 6 hours, we all checked in and gave position reports.

Living on a slant takes it toll on the body muscles, as you are always having to steady yourself.  The simplest task such as getting a drink of water is a monumental effort.  Having to move yourself carefully and slowly down the companionway then standing at a 45 degree angle you carefully slide the cupboard and hope that the other glasses do not fall out in doing so, doing it quickly then filling it up with water.  Now, with the glass in hand, you have to make your way back up the ladder, using only one hand, and sit back down in the cockpit. You gulp down the water and find in no time it needs to be filled again. Ugghh.  Never mind the efforts it takes to make a meal or go to the "head" (bathroom, since drinking all that water) I am exhausted and tired in no time.   After a passage, you will find many bruises on the legs and arms, we call these endearingly "boat bites".

After 32 hours, we were just off the island of Providencia, but it was 1AM, and another rule that we follow, is that we do not enter a harbor at night.  So, we hove to, which is backwinding the jib and hardening up the main.  In doing so, the boat levels off and you just drift at about 1 knot.  As soon as this happened, I fell asleep fast.  It was as if my body finally could relax. At 3am it was time for my watch, and as I stared up at the sky,  I saw the southern cross constellation for the first time (I understand now why I came this way) and looking over at the other side, the big dipper.  The Big Dipper, I think, is the better constellation of the two.  At 5AM, I woke Aaron up and we began to motor towards the seabuoy marking the channel into Catalina harbor.  Bruadair and Winterlude actually made it in first, as we had drifted 6 miles out.  Sailabout was much further out and anchored in the bay around noon.  With our Columbian courtesy flag and the yellow quarantine flag flying, we made our way down the channel.  It is well marked with red and green buoys, with lights that work. (haven't seen that in a while).

The island of Providencia (heaven) is beautiful with tropical greenery and with mountains surrounding Catalina harbor, it is one of the prettiest we have seen.

  We set anchor at 730am, and did a few boat chores, radioed the port captain that we had arrived and waited patiently for the officials to arrive.  We took a well deserved nap and at 3pm, the officials boarded our boat and welcomed us to their island.  Mr. Bush is an agent that you have to go thru to get your papers in order, and he speaks very good English.  The other officials, the port captain and immigration and the doctor all spoke Spanish very well, very little English.  Within 15 minutes, the paperwork was done, very efficient, and they were off to the next boat.  I lowered the yellow quarantine flag and what do you do when you have successfully entered another country, (number 5 so far), and a safe passage completed?  I get the magic bullet (small blender) out and make pina coladas.  (one for each hand, just as the song says).  Bruadair and Winterlude came over as soon as they were checked in to celebrate our passage.

We all dinghied ashore, and walked the town, finding clean streets, friendly people, and 3 well stocked grocery stores, an internet cafe, but no internet.  Maybe manana (tomorrow).  It's always a hit or miss.  The ATM was located and money drawn out, 300,000 Columbian pesos is equal to $130 US.  The exhange rate is 2300 pesos to the dollar.  So, we bought a couple of drinks, costing 6000 pesos.  Hard to get used to! 

 March 17, 2007  Happy Birthday Jessica (Aaron's daughter)

We are happy to relate that Jessica and Jeff are expecting twins in June, in addition to the four children they already have.  They live in Kansas,  where we are originally from, (and the rest of our families as well)  and of course, we miss playing with the grandkids and are so excited with the arrival of two more.  We are truly blessed to have such supportive and loving families back home. 

Providencia is such a cool place.  The island people take such pride in their communities, with homes that are well taken care of, sidewalks adorned with lamps and benches, friendly people who assist you,  and beautiful scenery on land and water, that we are truly enjoying our stay. 

Grocery shopping is always one of the first things done when making port.  It is always fun to see what things you can buy and what surprises are found.  The big surprise here is the total amount in pesos you spend.  For example, we bought 2 bags containing fresh veggies, a 12lb. ham (Aaron is so excited about this find, he loves ham and beans), fresh bread, milk (UHT long lasting milk that comes in a box),  yogurt and some other items, and spent $110,000 pesos.  It is mind boggling!

We walked around the little town of Isabel and then crossed over the bridge to the little island of Catalina where a wide sidewalk follows the contour of the island shore and at one end a stairway takes you to the statue of the Virgin Mary, who overlooks the harbor.  It is a magnificent view and on the other side is a nice beach to take a swim.

A daytrip excursion was to rent motorbikes and take a tour of the island.  There is only one road, making an entire circle, and with our friends Greta and Gunnar on Sailabout, we rode out of town on a moped we called Flame!  We found the nicest beach with a restaurant/bar named Roland's, where we spent most of the day. Upon meeting Roland, he greets you with a warm hello, welcome, my place is your place, beautiful day, give thanks.  Roland took such good care of us, along with his Mom, Dellia who cooked us a delicious grilled fish with veggies and coconut rice.. All us ordered rum drinks which came served in a coconut.

March 23, 2007   Day passage to San Andreas

After a good weeks rest, and all the boat chores done for now,  it was time to move on south.  We found a lady named Barbara, who lives next door to the Bamboo Seafood Restaurant, (excellent dinners) to do our laundry, mostly sheets and towels.  We dropped it off and picked it up the next day, all nice and folded.  This service, which I am glad to pay for, cost 35,000 pesos, or about $15 US. With clean sheets on the bed, a little provisioning, and NE winds of 15k, we upped anchor at 530am, (still dark), and cautiously made our way to the channel and out.  It's only 55 miles to the next stop, an island also owned by Columbia called San Andreas.

 Our flotilla now consists of just Bruadair and Winterlude.  Sailabout, (Greta & Gunnar from Norway) left on the 21st and headed straight to Colon, Panama.  They bought their boat in the Rio Dulce and plan on sailing it to Australia within a year, sell it and return to work.  Quite a hiatus for a year!  Two of their kids are flying into to Tahiti to meet them in June. We will miss these two as they have brought many smiles and laughs and fun memories aboard Blow Me Away. (beware of a brew called Aquavit).  By the way, their dinghy is quite unique.  It is painted like a dairy cow, black and white patches, even the motor, so we call them our Norwegian cows.

As the sun rose around 6am, we motored on, since their was little wind, once we got out there.  The seas were calm actually, a nice NE swell about 7 seconds apart. Since our heading was 195 degrees, what wind there was and the seas were on our aft port quarter which makes for a smoother ride.  We got rained on by a couple of squalls early on, and the wind picked up each time they passed us by.   At noon, the wind had increased to a steady 10-12 knots, so the asymetric was once again hauled out of storage and raised.  We managed to keep it aloft for two hours and enjoyed every minute of it.  It is so peaceful when we are just sailing along and this sail is so beautiful to see full of air.

 We had just recently watched the movie "Wind", starring Matthew Modine and Jennifer Grey, a story about the Americas cup.  Jennifer's character, a smart one, made a sail called the "womper" which was their spinnaker, a new design and their secret weapon to win the race.  Well, we now call our asymetric, "the womper".  We had hopes of catching up to the other two, Bruadair and Winterlude, who had left earlier around 4am so they had a good head start.  Sorry to say, the wind died, and the womper came down, and we motored on.

As we made our approach to San Andreas, the island holds a real city with hotels with more than two stories tall, and more buildings we have seen since Cozumel. 

Oh boy, I hope we can find a really good pizza place and oh, what about a chinese buffet!  We miss those chinese buffets, hot and sour soup, crab rangoon, and a wide choice of entrees.

 We anchored just off of Club Nautico, the big green rooftop, in about 20ft of clear water at 4pm.  I hailed the Serrana agency on VHF 16 and our little group met Rene Cardona and his wife and the Port Captain Rodriquez at Club Nautico in order to check into the island.  You have to pay an agent to do this, around $40 and buy a tourist card $11 each.  This payment is due when you check out and receive your zarpe, which is an important document when checking into the next country. (you can't leave without it)

March 30, 2007   Siteseeing in San Andreas

The sights and sounds of San Andreas will keep you entertained 24 hours of the day.  This is a vacation destination for many Columbians from the mainland and elsewhere too with many activities to keep them busy.  The hotels are all inclusive, (any new hotels built, have to be 5 star), food and drinks are included in the total package.  The anchorage where we are is busy with jet ski's, windsurfers, kitesurfers, kayaks, which try hard not to collide with our boat, and tourist boats taking vacationers out on the water.  As we look out of our cockpit, the tourist boats come cruising by with blaring music and with bored tourists at the beginning of their trip or partiers and dancers having a good time when they come back.  Our favorite is the catamarran with the dancer and the same music each time they begin.  We even have changed where we anchored when we first arrived to get out of their way, but the catamarran searches us out and gives us a drive-by each time, sometimes 3 times a day!

We decided to rent a golf cart for the day and tour the whole island.  This is a bigger island than Providencia, but Providencia is prettier.  The group of us, Jan & David (Winterlude) and Damon (Bruadair) and us climbed into our ride and with Aaron driving the five of us around, enjoyed the sights.  The other side of the island is void of beaches due to the lavarock, but there are numerous scuba diving spots.  We stopped at the tourist attraction called the "Blow Hole".  Well, being from the boat "Blow Me Away" we just had to see this.  On a high tide and with large waves, there is a small cavern where the water rushes in and with enough force will burst upwards out of this hole some 20ft inland.  Today was not our lucky day, but we got the picture.

Moving on, we headed next to the laguna in the middle of the island.  But on our way, we passed an unusual site.  Having our curiosity piqued, we stopped and took a closer look.

The operation was an effort to make sugar cane into syrup, juice and for medicinal purposes, (rum?). It was a scene from the 1930-40's.  A man fed the sugar cane stalks into the crusher and as the horse turned the wheel, it crushed the cane into liquid which was then captured in a bucket.  When it was full, they poured it into the vat slowly cooking it. Wow!

Back on the road, we ventured up the hill and not knowing what to expect next as we cruised down the street, a womans voice cried out, "laguna aqua dulce" and pointed and waved us to come back.  So we did, and that is how we met Beatrice, our guide for the next 2 hrs. She hopped on the front of the cart, and away we went.  She explained that this was the real San Andreas, that the tourist part of the island is just that, for tourists.  Her little town of Barrack, where she knows everybody, and was once the star basketball player in high school, was a friendly community, with practically everyone we passed, waving hello.  Beatrice, 42, also works at the beauty salon, and makes extra money being a guide, but only one tour a day.  That is a rule, so as, each guide gets a share of us gringos $. We passed by the oldest living person on the island, 102 yrs old. Not to old to wave hello from her porch.

We parked at the entrance, but she told us to follow her to see the oldest fig tree.  In the woods a ways, we came to a huge laceiba tree, but 2 of its branches had fallen during Hurricane Beta a few years back, but it perseveres.  Beatrice explained that we must take off our shoes and hug the tree to feel the energy.  Good energy, feel it from the ground up! So, there was alot of tree hugging goin on!  (liberals)

After we were tree hugged out, we resumed the tour to the lake.  On our way, we came across the infamous, "blue lizard" a native species.  He posed for us. I'm surprised that there isn't a bar called the "Blue Lizard" and T-shirts that display this unusual creature! Walking towards the lake, (a small one, and in Kansas we would actually call it a "pond") we were on the search for crocodiles. " You must be "very ,very careful when approaching the crocodiles".  Beatrice pointed out the tree called "the stinking toe". Why is it called that? Because the pod that it bears smells like a stinkin toe! And right she was.

Okay, back to "croc hunting", we walked around on both sides of the lake, spotted a grey heron and then a white one, a few chickens, which Beatrice says that they feed the crocodiles with so they will stay happy where they are and not come into town!  And then, there in the shadows of a tree, you could see a croc's head and eyes! Look carefully! The sighting of a baby croc was an added bonus!

Well, all this exciting croc spotting made us thirsty croc spotters, so we paused for a beer.

The final stop of Beatrice's tour, was a view from the highest point on the island, and overlooks the sea.  It is called the "seven colors of the sea" because on a sunny day you can see the seven different shades of blue. And again, she was right on.

We dropped Beatrice back off at her salon, gave her a donation for her time, and she gratefully said thanks and said to touch the rock, (which is making your hand into a fist and touching each others knuckles). Touching rocks, we bade her farewell and drove away from "old and real San Andreas".

March 31, 2007  Happy #3rd Birthday to Miss Ellie

Today is special, it is our granddaughter's birthday and we send her hugs and kisses and happy thoughts for a fun filled day.

To celebrate, we decide to go swimming, since Miss Ellie loves to swim.

  There is a small island less than 2 miles away where an underwater zoo, called the aquarium, has been introduced.  Local tourist boats have fed fish and rays twice a day, 10am and 4pm.  We just had to experience this for ourselves.  We dinghied out there, parked it on shore then with masks on we waded out in about 3-4 ft of water.  A pontoon boat operator was handing out squid and conch to their passengers, and promptly at 4pm, about a dozen rays came swimming up to us. Everywhere you looked underwater, there was a ray, various in sizes. The tourists stuck their hand out with the squid and a ray would come by and take it.  Gently, of course.  It was kind of unnerving at first, the rays would swim around your feet, in search for food, but very docile.  I bent down to touch one and it was very soft, but not cuddly soft. After viewing the rays, we waded over to where another crowd was forming.  Lots of fish were coming in for their afternoon feeding, bermuda chubs (they came along ways), grunts, porgies, a few snappers, and other tropical aquarium fish.  Thousands of them, so many that they churned up the waters and it became a feeding frenzy.  We ducked out early, not caring to see the sharks who were no doubt next in line.

We went in search of pizza and found a place, ordered a large with lots of toppings, and when it arrived it wasn't what we had anticipated, scant servings on the veggies and no pizza sauce and a very thin thin crust.  Ordering out usually means being surprised at what you get because it is rarely what you think it will be or what you are used to receiving in the United States. And this was no Pizza Hut! (oh, and that chinese buffet I was dreaming of,  it is still in my dreams!)

Bruadair and Winterlude left this morning to head to Bocos del Toro, Panama.  Winterlude (Jan & David) are flying back to Illinois for their daughters upcoming wedding.  So, our paths have parted, the little flotilla that started in Guanaja with five boats on the 8th, have now dwindled down to just one, us.