Finally I started feeling better and accepted the fact that my Fisher Panda Generator cannot be repaired with our tools and parts. Like I wrote in my previous blog Jacques of s/v Panache loaned us his Honda generator so that at least we can keep our batteries charged and our watermaker running to keep our water tank filled. So it was time to start doing some fun things. Jacques and Annet visited Roatan some time ago and knew some dive sites which we could do just with our dinghy. So we took our first dive just in front of a nice resort called Coco View Resort. The dive was along a large wall with a lot of fish including a large grouper and a green eel. The coral along the wall is very beautiful and we had a lot of fun. The next day we took a dive along the outside of the reef. This was a kind of drift dive since Jacques and Dorothy followed us with the dinghy and waited for us when we came up again. This dive was again along a wall but larger and sometimes you could not see the deepest part. The special thing with this dive was that a turtle swam along with us and even allowed us to touch her/him. The turtle was not afraid of us and Annet even swam with her/him holding its shield.

Our plan was to sail on Tuesday to a group of islands only 8 miles off the coast of the mainland of Honduras called Cayos Cochinos. Monday we did some last shopping and buy gasoline for the dinghy and the Honda Generator. The wind on our trip to was very light so we had only a maximum speed of about 4 KN. Even s/v Panache with its very nice spinnaker could not sail much faster.

The Cayos Cochinos or Hog Islands are located on a wide, shallow continental shelf, 8 miles off the mainland of Honduras. The island group is made up of two large islands and thirteen small cays. The larger islands are named Cochinos Grande and Cochinos Pequeño and both are hilly and are covered with some dense tropical forest. The island group is part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System and is recognized by major worldwide organizations a key section of the Barrier Reef that needs to be preserved and in 1993 the government of Honduras designated this island group and the surrounding sea a Marine Biological Reserve. No anchoring is allowed and only mooring balls are available in the sheltered bay on the west coast of Cochinos Grande. There are no roads and no vehicles of any kind in the Cayos Cochinos.

The Cayos Cochinos enjoy a rich biodiversity and are also known for its different kinds of coral, reef fish, plants, birds, reptiles with some unique species like the Pink Boa Constrictor. The sea surrounding the islands is visited by whale sharks, sea turtles, dolphins and other migrating species. It is said that the islands are excellent for snorkeling and diving; however, although we had a good and fun dive we have been on better sites.

We visited several islands where the Garifuna live but did not give information about their interesting roots. The Garifuna are mixed-race descendants of West African, Central African, Island Carib, and Arawak people. The British colonial administration used the term Black Carib and Garifuna to distinguish them from Yellow and Red Carib, the original Amerindian population before the Africans intermixed and those deemed to still look Native by the British. Those Caribs who were deemed to look Native and had a less African mixture are still living in the islands of the Lesser Antilles. The Island Caribs lived throughout the southern Lesser Antilles, such as present Dominica, St Vincent and Trinidad.

After many revolts against the French and after the Treaty of Paris, Britain gained rule over Saint Vincent and the British deported the Garifuna to Roatán. Five thousand Garifuna were exiled but, weakened by captivity, about half or 2,500 survived the voyage to Roatán. Because the island was too small and infertile to support their population, the Garifuna petitioned Spanish authorities to be allowed to settle on the mainland in the Spanish colonies. Since April 12, 1797, the Garifuna people have been living in Central America, where they speak the Garifuna language. The Garifuna people mostly live along the Caribbean Coast of Honduras, but there are also smaller populations in Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. There are also many Garifuna in the United States, particularly in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Houston, Seattle, and other major cities.

We visited one of the islands with a Garifuna community of 90 people called Cayo Chachahuate. The island is nothing more than a strip of white sand on a flat reef. The island used to be larger but Hurricane Mitch took about 150 ft. away from this island. The people live from fishing and during the season the population grows to about 200. Now the people live from little “restaurants” for day tourists who come over with fast speed boats from Roatán and cruisers like we. The meal was simple but very tasty and it was fun to visit this island and observe their simple lifestyle. One very small school, one fresh water well and a shared bathroom for all the inhabitants.

On our way back to the boat we stopped at the Turtle Bay Eco Resort to make an appointment for a boat dive. The resort has small houses on its property for the 13 employees and guests. They try to live of what is available on the island and grow a large part of their own food. The resort was an old plantation and they try to restore as much as possible of the entire old infrastructure. The dive masters and instructors do not get paid except for the dive tips, but get with a 4 month contract free food and lodging. The people are very nice and our dive master Shae Callahan showed us around telling a lot about living in isolation on this island.

The next day Annet from s/v Panache and I took a dive with the boat of this resort while Jacques and Dorothy joined us to snorkel on the dive site. It was not one of the most exciting dives I made, but we enjoyed it and it was fun to dive through a tunnel in the coral.

The mooring fee to be paid to the park rangers is high and a little weird: no fee for the boat captain, but the boat fee is the same as the crew or passenger US$ 14.00 a day or US$ 23.00 a month. In other words if you stay longer than one day you better pay for a month like we did. We stayed 3 nights and then due to lack of wind motor sailed to Utila.

The anchor holding in Utila is very bad and for the first time in this 4 ½ year trip we had to use 2 anchors after we slipped on one anchor. Utila is the last island we will visit this season and next week we will sail to the Rio Dulce in Guatemala.