Everyone who has followed our blogs knows how Dorothy and I love Colombia. We still dream that after we are done sailing we can spend time in Colombia and travel this beautiful country and spend time with our adopted daughter Kelly, her husband Freddy and Luciana there beautiful daughter. Providencia is the last part of Colombia that we visited and for this reason it was very hard to say goodbye. The problems we had together with other cruisers about the temporary import of our boats in Providencia had a lot of negative effect on our mood. We got assistance from the Custom and Immigration Agent in Santa Marta our friend Jonathan who spoke on the phone to the Agent in Providencia and vowed for us. Providencia is a great island to enjoy if you want access to basic supplies you need and at the same time be on an island with beautiful reefs, scenery and very nice and friendly people without a lot of visitors. The only limitation we found was the lack of public transportation. You can rent very easily a scooter or mule and taxis are cheap. The weird thing is that along the only road around the island you find at regular intervals very nice bus shelters but there is no bus service.

In the past it was a very nice 195 miles sail from Providencia to a group of very low lying islands called the Vivorillo Cays, but a recent increase of pirates attacks and several boats being boarded and robbed of all their valuables including boat equipment like chart plotters and radios it is no longer recommended to make this stop. This leaves only one option to go to the Bay Islands of Honduras and that is to sail directly to Guanaja that is the most easterly island which is a 420 miles sail and will take about 80 hours (3 days and 3 nights). But the route I designed would bring us still very close to the Gorda Bank where most of the attacks took place. So we had a meeting with Jacques and Annet from s/v Panache and Paul and Lori from s/v Imagine Squared and decided to sail together.

Sailing together is always difficult since every sail boat has its own characteristics including speed and behavior in different wind angles. So we established a few rules how to stay close preferable in view of each other and during the night with radio contact. In the dangerous area we did not use our navigation lights and discussed our position related to our rhumb line to hide our absolute position. The first day the sea was very rough and several crew members got sick, but the sailing was great. In the early morning hours of the second day we had a very big squall with a lot of wind and Island Girl passed for the first time with only the “stay sail” and the main sail the 9.0 knots speed limit! After the squall passed by the wind stayed strong but we could set all the sails and Island Girl took the lead from s/v Imagine Squared as we passed them at a speed of 9.2 knots. We took some nice pictures of Imagine Squared while Lori took pictures of Island Girl under full sail.

It was a great sail until sunset when we had to make a close to 90 degree course change to the west and at the same time the wind disappeared but the sea became very rough and confused. To save our main sail from flapping in the wind we took it down but in the process a block of the mainsheet broke and our very heavy boom started slamming from starboard to port at an incredible speed. While Dorothy held the boat as good as possible with the nose in the waves I caught the boom and tied it down with two boom preventers. It was one of the scariest things we have done since we are sailing. Without the main sail and the very limited wind we could not sail anymore and started the engine to fight into a very strong counter current close to the coast to continue to the west to the Bay Islands. Imagine Squared sailed more north to find the strong east to west current and Panache followed us without using their engine. So we got separated and we arrived in Guanaja on Saturday morning at 9:00 while Panache and Imagine Squared arrived close after midday. We anchored in front of the settlement and had sufficient time to get a Sim card for our phone and clear Immigration and Port Control. We did not have to pay a penny for this service and this was the first time ever since we started this trip. In other countries we paid for this clearance up to $300.00.
Guanaja is one of the Bay Islands of Honduras and it is about 43 mi off the north coast of Honduras. One of the cays off Guanaja, also called Guanaja or Bonacca or Low Cay, is near the main island, and contains most of the approximately 10,000 people who live in Guanaja. The densely populated cay has been described as the Venice of Honduras because of the waterways that run through it. No roads just small narrow alleys without any type of wheeled transportation except wheelbarrows. The other two main settlements on Guanaja are Mangrove Bight and Savannah Bight. Smaller settlements include East End and North East Bight. These settlements have a road and it is reported that in these settlements there is a total of about 40 cars. We were wondering why so many people live so close together on this small island which is called the settlement, but we found it out as soon as you enter the main island: “Bugs”. The people live on the small island to be away from the mosquitoes and sand flies you find along the coast of the main island. Higher up on the mountains this problem is less but there are no roads or trails so it is not easy accessible.

The primary source of income for the islanders is fishing and shrimping which is done with a very modern fishing fleet now moored since the fishing season is currently closed. Tourism is confined to a handful of small resorts that cater to divers, snorkelers and adventure travellers. The island's warm, clear waters support an extensive coral reef that is part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef and second only to the Great Barrier Reef off the coasts of Australia. Currently, there is still access to fresh water on Guanaja, and several waterfalls can be seen.

English is the first language of all native islanders regardless of race, and Spanish is spoken second, whereas mainland Honduras is primarily Spanish-speaking. This comes as a result of the island's past as a British colony. With the steady influx of mainland Hondurans migrating to the islands an increase in Spanish has arisen.

In late October 1998, most of the buildings and homes on the island were destroyed by Hurricane Mitch. The islanders have since rebuilt, and although there are still repercussions to the economy from Mitch, tourism has been recovering. The majority of the mangrove and pine forests, which were destroyed as a direct consequence of the passage of the hurricane sweeping across the island for two days, are slowly making a comeback.

It was nice to anchor in front of the settlement since it was only a short dinghy ride to shore and have access to the stores, fuel station and other services we needed. However, there is a very heavy traffic with fast moving pangas that ferry many people from other islands and the mainland to the settlement. This makes the anchorage a little rolly during the day and does not offer a good protection to the predicted wind of up to 40 knots. So after two days we moved a little north/east along the island coast to a much protected anchorage called “El Bight”. To reach this anchorage you have to pass a big rock called “Dunbar Rock” on which a large white dive resort hotel is built. The holding in this bay is very good and that is what we need since we got a period of very strong wind even with predictions of gusts up to 40 knots. As soon as you get with the dinghy out of the protection of this bay the water is very rough and it is difficult to get somewhere without getting soaking wet.

However, yesterday Thursday April 27, 2017 it was market day in the settlement. It is the day that a boat with supplies comes in including fresh produce and fruit. Everyone living on the main island comes to the settlement to do shopping and get together in the restaurants to catch up with each other. We went early in the morning when the wind was not too strong and returned with all our fresh groceries, produce and meat back to “Island Girl” and it was a slow going with these short and high wind waves. After we stored our supplies we went back to the settlement for lunch in a local restaurant in the “Vietnam district” together with Jacques and Annet of s/v Panache. The way back to Island Girl was even more difficult and we were happy to be back on board. The wind became even stronger during the night with gust over 35 knots so we were happy when it was daylight, but we face another 3 days of this very strong wind and we will hunker down for that time.

We could not leave the boat the water was too rough to use the dinghy and I donot like to leave Island Girl behind on anchor in this kind of weather. But we had sufficient maintenance to do to keep us busy. Just before we left Providencia our generator stopped after running for about 50 minutes and we were not able to start it anymore. After arriving in Guanaja I worked an entire day to get the problem fixed but the generator would only work for 15 to 20 minutes. So we expected that the safety sensors tripped and closed off the fuel supply. Jacques came to help me while in the meantime he brought his Honda Generator to keep my batteries charged. He fixed many problems but none of them solved the problem completely until we came to the conclusion that we had air bubbles in the fuel line so we tightened all the hose clamps and it seems that that did the trick. We also had a problem with the navigation lights and that took another day to fix.

In the bay where we are anchored an oil tanker called Mayan Princess is beached, but still floating on the stern. Probably due to the strong wind the tanker turned and was now lying against a dock with some nice buildings. On Saturday morning a very nice and large fishing vessel called “Island Lady” which we called the mother of “Island Girl” towed the oil tanker away from the dock. It was a spectacular event and we were on the first row to see it all. The tanker was purchased by a local fishing company to ferry fuel directly from Venezuela to Guanaja to reduce the cost of fuel for the local fishing fleet.

It the afternoon we had lunch at a very nice bar/restaurant called “Manati” which used to be a hotel before it was partly destroyed by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. It is owned by a German who lives already for years in Guanaja. The food was somewhat underwhelming but that was compensated by the ambiance. On the second floor in an old bathroom a Boa Constrictor was digesting an iguana half its own size and the day before part of the tail was still outside the jaw of the snake.

Back on Island Girl the wind picked up again and the weather guru of the Caribbean “Chris Parker” predicted that this would continue until Monday. So today Sunday April 30, 2017 I can post this blog, finish my administration and hope we can make some trips tomorrow to enjoy more of this beautiful island.