We arrived in Roatan on June 2, at 0845 am, fully exhausted and sleep deprived. The day before our arrival was perfect winds and no seas to speak of. It was my kind of sailing day - boring. At 1700 hrs, the wind picked up to 27 knots and seas came to life. At the same time, the autopilot started screaming and going 30 degrees starboard for no reason. I woke up Steve and he tinkered with it a bit and said that it is in fact - out of commission. We have to hand steer. I've never hand steered in these conditions: 8 ft. seas, 27 to 35 knots wind, in the dark with only the compass to guide us. The weather prediction for tonight was light and variable - hmmmm..
For 12 hours, I tried to keep Steve awake through chocolates, coffee, tea. At about 7 am, the wind died down to 10 knots and the seas laid down so I took over driving. When we finally anchored, I made hashbrowns, bacon, toast and coffee. I took a quick shower and took a nap and didn't wake up until 4:30 pm. Steve dove down to check the mooring ball and he deemed it safe so we pulled anchor and tied up to it. Two days later, we dragged 200 yards and woke up in the middle of 5 sailboats - we luckily didn't hit any of them. We anchored for 2 days and then moved to Fantasy Island Marina for $20.00 a day including electricity!
Checking into Honduras is painless. We spent $20.00 for taxi to take us to Coxen Hole where immigration and port captain cleared us within an hour. We then went to the grocery store and were pleasantly surprised to find a lot of USA goods for a reasonable price.
Our days here are filled with activities. We've done the island tour: they took us to beaches and shops; Steve went scuba diving with 6 other cruisers: twice by themselves and paid once (2 dives for $56.00); Snorkeled; zip lined (2 miles, 250 ft above the ground) and partied 4 nights a week with wonderful cruisers of SV FoxSea (Vicky & Bob); SV Panache (Annette & Jacque); SV Ocean Star (Alice, Steve & Walter); and of course Jerry - the marina's harbormaster.
We love our new home.
Currency is Lempira: 1 US dollar is 20 Lempira
Local Beer is "Salvavida": $18.00 US a case of 24
Language: Spanish and lots of English
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We woke up in the middle of a lightning, thunder and torrential rain squall at 6 am. There's supposed to be scattered squalls lasting to about 30 minutes so we weren't sure if this rain squall is a sign to reschedule our departure date or to beat this system coming from Panama.
In the end, we left at 0915 hrs - our first squall (just tons of rain) lasted about 20 minutes at 1500 hrs.
About 50 miles off Isla Providencia, we noticed a shipping vessel named Auriga J heading towards us. SABEN: Auriga J, Auriga J, this is Saben. Auriga J: Yes, Saben SABEN: We are a small sailing vessel about 6 miles away directly in front of you. Can you see us? Auriga J: No, I don't see you. SABEN: Look in your radar. Auriga J: Oh, I see you now, I'll alter course. This huge cargo ship passed us 2 miles stern. By Friday, we were offshore Honduras - the closest landfall is about 70 miles away. Steve: Honey, there's a panga with 5 shirtless men approaching the boat fast. Me: OMG! Are they armed? Do they look dangerous? Are they pirates? Steve: I don't know. Just come up here. Me: Should I bring thye spear gun? The flare gun? To scare them off? Steve: Just come up here.
So I came up unarmed and saw the panga with 5 men on board - we stared at each other then they left. HmmmÂ... must be because I haven't slept a wink and did not comb my hair or washed my face?
We are 110 miles away from Roatan and should be there by tomorrow noon.
I can't wait!!! 15 59.990'N 84 26.510W
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Our plans are indeed set in jello. We checked out of Isla Providencia and got our zarpe (exit papers) to leave Sunday, May 25, but Steve came down with the flu. I don't know where he got it but it was pretty bad - cough, etc.
SoooÂ... here we are still in Providencia and the weather slowly deteriorated. After taking a few unknown capsules and pills from the local pharmacy, Steve's finally starting to sound okay. Yesterday, we were trying to dodge Mr. Bush because we've already checked out of the country but on our way to our dinghy after walking Angel, here he was. He's very recognizable because he wears this thick black framed eyeglasses and his eyebrows are really bushy (Mr Bush?? Get it?). He told us that we should have already left and we explained to him that we were all set to go and Steve got really sick. He told us to leave today or we'll have to check in again. Meaning another $140.00? Since he didn't give us a departure time, we'll just tell him we're leaving late tonight if we see him in town again.
In looking at the weather's 3 day forecast and my captain's health, we'll most likely leave here about 6 am tomorrow. Angel's done her last walk hopefully enough to last her 3 ½ days and the dinghy's been stowed. We had a few drinks with our neighbor, catamaran Â"TikiÂ" (Fred & Michelle) to say good bye - we're set!
Next leg is 400 nautical miles, 80 hours or 3 days & 8 hours. We are so not looking forward to this crossing. Our heading from Isla Providencia is towards Goda Cay (15 4.5'N, 82 23.5'W) then turn left towards Vivorillo Cays then eventually Guanaja or Roatan, Honduras.
Keep us in your prayers, Marie, Steve and Angel
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We left Panama May 9, 2013, 0845 hrs. After dodging all the anchored shipping vessels outside Colon's breakwater, we were able to safely sail out of Panama. The seas were unsettled, the rain was pouring and the radar showed spots of incoming squalls. The wind blew 10 to 15 knots but the current against us pushed Saben back from its usual 6 knots to a mere 3 knots. We then decided to motor sail for awhile.
The seas never settled but the wind picked up to a steady 15 to 23 knots for 2 days with some burst of 28 to 38. In unsettled weather - it's very painful being thrown every whichway with occasional slams loud enough to believe that we smashed into a freighter. Even with the help of our seasick medication (stugeron), we were all helpless (including Angel.). It takes so much energy just to get out of bed and walk to the cockpit to start your 3 hour watch. Our usual 3 hrs on and 3 hours off watch schedule works okay but my attempts at making a decent meal failed. The crew survived on crackers, oranges, almonds and ginger ale. It took effort to hydrate ourselves because maybe - being in Seattle for almost 2 months spoiled us.
After almost 50 hours, we were so happy to see Isla Providencia . The wind was still gusting to 25 knots but it also sped up our arrival. We got in around 0900 hrs May 11. After we anchored, I immediately fried some bacon, hash browns, toast and eggs. Like most cruisers, bacon is a way of celebrating each port arrival - and of course the hot coffee.
The few days we´ve had here is fun! All the friendly people sowelcoming. Mr. Bush, the agent greeted us like we´re family. We rented a golfcart for 90,000 pesos 'about 60 dollars to go around the island and check out secluded beaches. We had seafood and cerveza ' the only ones in the island is Heineken, Miller and Milwaukee ' go figure.
On Friday, May 24, we{ll leave Colombia to head for Roatan, Honduras. It will be a 80 hour crossing ' 400 miles. There is an island ' Vivarillos to stop and cut the trip in half but Honduras is not a safe place. Theres piracy, muggings, killings, etc. So we take a deep breath and get ready for the long crossing.
Keeping our fingers crossed,
SABEN
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There are different types of cruisers. Some sailboats almost never turn their engines on, some have rigid schedules going from point A to B bypassing great cruising grounds (we always enjoy stuff), some makes sure the wind/weather is just right for a great sail (we sometimes do this) - either way, we've become the unique cruiser that we are. We do our own thing, stick to our own schedule (set in jello) and motor any time we feel like it.
Tomorrow, we plan on getting underway finally out of Panama after 10 months here and head for Isla Providencia in Colombia. If the weather (wind) is directly in front of us, pushing us back and wasting fuel, we'll turn left and hang out at Chagres River until it (the wind) veers off a bit to give us a little boost for this 290 mile (2 days) crossing that Angel and I are not looking forward to doing.
We will miss a few things at Shelter Bay Marina - a) Carol at her store; b) the hot (no air condition) gym; and c) the big screen tv at the cruisers lounge. The restaurant used to have good food and service until a fleet of about 200 US army guys moved in next door. Now you have to wait about an hour for your food and the prices have gone up quite a bit. Why is the US army here? We get so many different answers that we gave up asking. The helicopters fly all hours in the morning doing their practice maneuvers. The one good thing it brought to Shelter Bay is the chapel service on Sundays. The minister and his assistants did a great job cleaning the chapel and made us feel so welcome.
So adios Shelter Bay, John (harbormaster), Chris (restaurant manager), Frank (the electric meter guy), snooty bus driver (name unknown), and sweet Lopez (Kuna worker). We have checked out of the country and seen the Port Captain who issued us our exit papers (Zarpe) required for our next destination. The immigration has stamped our passports - we are ready to go.
No internet access for a week!
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