We are Terry & Fiona Hill. We set sail from Peel, Isle of Man in August 2016 in our Rival 38 Boat. This blog is about our journey, where we sail to, what we experience and how we live, and all that goes with it!
Suddenly it’s Christmas Day! Terry and I exchange gifts.
Terry’s gift from me was a hand knitted woollen hat made by one of my sea swimming friends back home. A woolly hat? Well, the plan at home was to sail to America, and colder climes for which a snug woolly hat would be the perfect gift. However, the USD and £ exchange rate was so poor we abandoned that plan, too late to unwrap and buy a new gift. It’s the thought that counts!! He was pleased nevertheless. Terry gave me a beautiful ring. Hand made at home by Harley Kim who creates rings from silver spoons. In this case, my ring was made from a spoon with the end of a viking ship, I’m quite lost for words, it’s gorgeous.
We had planned a quiet day, as the water around Sisu was too murky from yesterday’s rain, we pootled through the mangrove canal and then into one of the “fingers” of our bay.
Our friend Ed’s bar The Hole in the Wall was open!! Huzzah!
We scootled back to Sisu, got changed, rang our families, wishing the all the best, so good to catch up with them and then scootled back to Eds.
There was already a party in progress, a family from Nebraska were celebrating their daughter’s 27th birthday.
We were in some eclectic (including a modern pirate) and fun company for the afternoon, as is often the way when plans change. It’s fair to say it was rather a boozy afternoon, we stuck to beer and avoided the rum going around!
After the American family left, just about managing to get into their lancha, things moved down a notch, Ed changed his excellent music choice to something a bit more laid back and kindly gave the few of us still there a serving of his delicious conch soup. I really don’t like conch, but this was just a whole different game, tender and more than edible.
Ed also has a pet Capuchin monkey called Chewy. This cheeky blighter has the run of a good quarter of Ed’s deck at the bar, tethered by a long lead with a hidey hole in the flags above our heads and access to a water bucket and food, he is so smart that Ed has had to rethink where he’s tied as the monkey has learnt to untie dinghys or lanchas and set them adrift!!
We called it quits whilst we were ahead late afternoon then spent the evening with a Christmas dinner of potatoes, veg & sausage which I had cooked in the morning, rounded off with Pannetone and tequila. Merry Christmas!!!
Time to move on. Only 6 ½ nm, a couple of hours away. There we’ll stay till probably after the New Year.
Terry & I do huge shop at Eldon’s supermarket. The plan is that we buy enough to last us through our time at Cuba, roughly for 3 months. There is very little indeed in the way of food available in Cuba, so we need to provision up to the hilt. The shopping consists of some perishables for the next few days plus tins, pasta, rice, etc and obviously chuck in some beer, wine and rum to keep up Captain and crew morale! We also made a quick trip to Ace Hardware for cheap reading glasses, we seem to have broken so many already, plus some bits & pieces.
We are literally shopped out at Eldon’s and collapse over an iced coffee in the supermarket. Then we pile it into the dinghy, head back to Sisu and pile it all onto the decks.
Fitting all this food into various lockers, cupboards is a logistical exercise on a boat. I keep an ipad list of what we have and where it is. This system works as long as I remember to update it when we remove and use up the provisions. The theory being next time we provision up I know exactly what we need plus, when we come think about laying Sisu up, I can then see exactly where we are food wise to start running it all down again! It’s surprising how much beer we go through and we’re not crazy with our indulgence, but if you consider, say, maximum 3 beers each, per day, and we provision for even a couple of months, well, you do the maths, or math as Americans say…. And wine, even a glass a day, 4 glasses per bottle (if I’m careful…..), well thank goodness for space in the wardrobe for bottles!
We end the day with a snorkel off the reef, and are fortunate to see a large ray glide past us. A reward for a busy day!
The following morning brought squalls. We made some water whilst we could, Jonesville is a working harbour so the seawater isn’t always clean enough to do this. Having hoisted the dinghy up onto the deck the night before, we packed up the circus, hoisting the anchor. The chain during the winds which had blown through the Cay had wrapped itself around a dead coral head. This could go two ways, we motor carefully round the coral head, unwrapping the chain, or we get stuck. Fortune smiled and as under Terry’s instructions at the bow, he slowly winched the chain up as I helmed her round the coral head. Phew….
A lovely couple of hours up the coast to Jonesville, I helmed under a blue, breezy sky, chickening out taking her through the narrow gap in the coral reef, handing Sisu over to Terry! We were last in Jonesville in 2019, it’s a cool little place, very sheltered from weather fronts and has the added bonus of a few really good and great people. Having anchored there before doesn’t mean we are totally familiar… as we motored around to where we had previously anchored, I realised we weren’t actually moving. “Terry, ummm…have we stopped? “ We had. In a breath, we had run aground. Bugger. There is a shoal in the bay marked by sticks, what hadn’t been apparent on the Garmin chart plotter was the second soft sandy shoal close by. Later checking on our Navionic chart showed this shoal. We tried several manoeuvres, reversing off it. Nope. We rocked Sisu side to side. Nope. Terry swung the boom out on the port side with our largest full water container dangling off the end to nudge the hull off the shoal. Nope. We were aware of being watched by a couple of other boats. There’s always a bloody audience. We still had one trick up our sleeve. To dinghy out drop a kedge anchor to Sisu, and winch her off. A local guy had also been watching and came out in his lancha and offered assistance. We happily accepted and Terry got into his lancha and together they went round to the bow, gently pushing Sisu whilst I reversed. Success! This is not an uncommon occurrence apparently… Thanking him we motored off and anchored in the bay pretty much where we had in April 2019.
The water was clearer now than it had been back in 2019, we could swim, the day just got better and better!
Later that afternoon we dinghied the short distance to Trico Bar, and met up with a solo sailor, Casey, who had, for the time being, made Jonesville his base. As we got our beer, Casey smiled and said “Got stuck did you?” This is a sentence that we would hear a handful of times over the next day or so!! Well, you’re not a proper sailor till you’ve run aground, we’re definitely proper sailors!
After an excellent meal at Trico Bar of shrimp burger & fries we rounded the day off with a rum in the cockpit knowing Sisu was safe.
Over the next few days Casey became a good friend. One morning we took our dinghies round to Oak Ridge in the next bight and he showed us where the store, bank, and fuel docks were.
We also found a new bar, On The Rocks, run by a young guy Harlon, which served excellent food and he even had 4 house rabbits and a baby turtle he was hand rearing in a sieved bucket tied to his dock, regularly feeding the little turtle shrimp that he had chopped up to baby size pieces, you just never know what you’re going to find here!
A cruiser friend had recommended an app called Ding. It’s an app to load more data onto your phone where you may not be able to get to, for example, a Claro store or outlet. Here at Jonesville, we’re pretty much out in the sticks, so this was a good opportunity to see if it worked for us. It works and even better we can send data to someone else’s phone.
During our beer o’clock beers at Trico it’s been noticed that we swim around the boat. Nothing gets missed here! Casey and a couple of his friends warn us that there are at least two crocs in the bay. Oh damnation!!! I ask how big are they, when were they last seen and so on, I really don’t want to stop swimming. It seems that they haven’t been seen for a while and tend to hang out in the mangroves. Rather like fishermen telling stories of their catch, the size of the crocs varies between each person. I weigh up the odds and decide that realistically a croc wouldn’t want to be near a harbour with the shrimp boats coming in and out regularly, we’re close by the boats, so I decide to continue swimming and just keep an eye out.
As it turns out, I’m prevented from swimming for a few days as the weather turns foul and we have a day of torrential rain on Christmas eve and the water surrounding us turns a turgid brown full of branches, wood and general crap washed out of the mangrove canal across the bay. Swimming will just have to resume when it clears, I’m not risking food poisoning from the mucky water or finding I’m sharing my morning swim with a croc companion!!
French Key is handy for many things, three of which are Daniel Johnston’s Monkey and Sloth Sanctuary, AJ’s Monkey & Sloth Sanctuary and Arch’s Iguana & Marine Park. We visited Daniel Johnston’s in 2019 so a visit to AJ’s was on the must see list whilst we’re here.
Arch’s Iguanas are close by us, and Sherman Arch the owner and former boatbuilder, allows sailors to visit his park for free, a very kind gesture. We could also leave our dinghy at his dock whilst we visited both parks.
Sherman has been running the park since 1980, taking over from his father, following in family footsteps, Sherman’s son is also involved. A passionate ecologist, Sherman also rescued some Tarpon fish from a building development site a few years ago, incredibly their stretch of water was in danger of being land locked, so Sherman caught as many as he could, brought them back to his park, created a contained marine home for them along his dinghy dock, they are huge!
As we walk up the steps to the iguanas, nothing really prepares you for the sheer number of iguanas Sherman has, today he has over 4,000! Large, medium and small, green, brown and orange, the yard where they wander freely is a mass of iguana. The guides hand us large leaves to feed them. My word, iguanas certainly shift when they catch sight of these leaves.
We’re advised to let go of the thick stalk before the iguana works his or her way up it, they’re not vicious, they just love their food! There’s baby iguanas too, kept in a nursery till they are two years old, then they join the grown ups.
Prehistoric to look at, they are truly fascinating, you get a sense that they really haven’t changed much at all since they first roamed the planet.
A short walk away is AJ’s monkey & sloth reserve. Entry is just $15 pp and worth every cent. The young guides are knowledgeable and care deeply for the animals and birds in their care. The cages and reserve is clean and well run with three or four guides handing us over to a new guide throughout the reserve. First of all there is the guinea pig enclosure.
As children Terry, myself and my sister, had guinea pigs, so it’s fair to say we still adore these piggies. The enclosure is a carpet of small brown, black and tawny pigs! The reserve rescued a very small number, having been assured they were all boys, in a short space of time, it became very apparent they weren’t all male but pregnant females. Naturally they gave birth and as guinea pigs can become pregnant just 6 hours after reproducing, well, nature took it’s course and the result is many, many pigs! In fact they have trouble counting them as each time they do a count, by next time the numbers have increased!!! They are seriously cute.
We were then handed on to our next guide. As if guinea pigs aren’t glorious enough, the next enclosure we entered was the sloths, three sloths in fact. At first it’s tricky to spot a sloth, it’s not as if they move fast, but they are so well camouflaged amongst the branches and leaves of their tree.. We were introduced to Flash and Turbo together with their Mum Victoria. Flash and Turbo are 4 and 5 years old, Dylan our guide carefully draped, and indeed it’s like being draped in a warm hug, Turbo and Flash onto our chests.
We could feel their claws ever so gently gather purchase on our bodies. I think it’s the closest experience to total bliss we can have. It’s not too crazy to say you feel their zen enter your spirit and lift your soul. We were told that whilst it’s difficult to sex sloths, all becomes apparent in time, well, it would with a sloth…… As male sloths mature, they develop a brown and honey coloured stripe down their backs and indeed Turbo and Flash now have these stripes clearly marked on their backs.
They take some time to process food and don’t poo very often, (a common problem with sailors too) their urine has no smell either, both these toilet habits help keep them safe from predators. As they cannot run or walk at all easily on the ground they need all the help nature can give them. They are strong swimmers though, their claws being very effective through the water.
It was very, very hard to hand them back, but we managed it and moved onto the Macaw and Yellow headed parrots. Boy, the yellow headed parrots are a 180 degree experience from the yoda like sloths. Within seconds of Dylan letting us into the cage we were wearing green and yellow fluttering, noisy birds!
On our heads, our arms, backpack, anywhere they could land, they did! We were given sunflower seeds in our hands to feed them, surprisingly we were never pecked and I loved the vibrant energy of these pigeon size birds.
To remove a parrot from our arms and hands we would place our hands next to a wooden ledge which ran along one side of the cage. The birds would roll and tumble themselves onto the ledge, I was reminded of the traditional circus tumblers in their bright leotards, performing somersaults as the birds completed their roll with a feathery flourish, quickly regathering themselves upon the ledge and before you know it, they’re back on your head and body in a flash, Ta Da! Drum Roll please! So cheeky, Dylan had a right job trying to encourage a parrot to let us out, the parrot simply turning himself around and around the door catch as Dylan tried to brush him gently off, they are total show offs!
Next up, the Scarlet Macaw enclosure. These birds on the other hand, literally, are like the upper class neighbours of the cheeky oik yellow headed parrots. Dignified upon their perches, their incredible plumage gave them gravitas and elegance. When carefully given one to hold you felt you were off to promenade somewhere. You certainly respected their beaks, my word they are big! These are such utterly beautiful birds, sadly they are often caught and kept in dreadful conditions, these parrots have all been rescued and now enjoy a long and happy life ahead.
We were joined by another guide, the next and final enclosure contains Capuchin monkeys.
We were advised to remove ear rings, back packs and empty pockets, hold your camera tight and leave anything which could be taken by these small black and cream expert pickpockets. Fagin would have been a wealthy man with Capuchins instead of his street urchins. We had to enter into a “Capuchin air lock” before the main enclosure. Instantly, these cheeky chaps jumped onto Terry and were ferreting in Terry’s top pocket.
I swear one was used as a distraction whilst the other dipped into the pocket. Finding nothing, a couple of monkeys rapidly climbed down him and pulled out his shorts pockets, hoping to strike lucky. I didn’t escape, for such little monkeys they land on your head with quite a thump, their prehensile tails firmly wrapped round your neck whilst they explored your t shirt or any opening which could contain something worth thieving! It was hilarious. We were given more sunflower seeds to feed them, perched on my head a monkey delicately peeled a sunflower apart for the tasty seed.
I was picking out sunflower shells for the rest of the day….. After we’d been thoroughly “picked over” it was time to leave. A guide acted as decoy whilst Dylan open the monkey air lock, in a flash, one monkey a girl, was in the air lock, she’s renowned as a would be escape artist and the guides know their monkeys well, she was coaxed back into the main enclosure with more seeds. What a super experience, we weren’t rushed at all, able to take our time through the reserve and given so much information about each of the birds and animals, they really know the individual characters too, if you ever visit Roatan, Aj’s monkey and sloth reserve is a must see.
We motor sailed from Cayo Cochinos in bright sunshine to Roatan just 4 hours and 23.5nm away. The beauty of the Bay Islands is the short distance between them, we can Island hop. Our anchorage was French Key. A first time entry for us, and like first time entries into anywhere, a little twitchy till we’ve done it. French Key was no different. Port and Starboard buoys marked the entrance into the anchorage. Buoys can be hard to spot, often sitting low in the water, poorly marked, missing, removed for repair, or too choppy to see them or there can be other buoys around confusing the issue. Frequently not as they appear on the chart or plotter!
We had to find the port and starboard buoys marking the narrow channel between reefs on either side plus, once through them, we had to avoid coral shoals. Fortunately we had bright sunshine so could see the areas to avoid, as shoal spotter, I’ve become adept at helping Terry steer past and through the brown areas of water, for just under the water are coral shoals and head which can rip off a keel. We slowly entered the bay, past the marker buoys, the starboard one had hardy any green paint left on it, as I say, these buoys can be difficult to locate and this was a good example. Being unfamiliar, we missed the starboard turn into the channel and found ourselves in the little working harbour. A quick turnaround and there was the channel into the anchorage. When everything is new, it’s so easy to miss the obvious.
A reef runs across the length of the bay which absorbs most of the sea’s energy. However, in high winds this anchorage can be exposed, and the holding is sea grass and rock. Not the best in poor conditions. We drop anchor, testing our holding by revving as hard astern as we can. It’s always nice to switch off the engine and just sit for a while, gauging our holding and checking around us to see how all the boats will swing. We were near Little French Key, a resort with a chequered history.
It’s rather dismal looking now, yet tourists are ferried to and from it. We are not permitted to enter the resort, and it’s sad to see wild cats pacing round an iron cage. How much is true I don’t know, stories of it having been under seige in the past, the marina opening then closing, takeovers, it’s a murky history. Today it seems to be open again, previously tourists were allowed to swim with the resident jaguar, there were stories of animal abuse, true or not, we don’t know. Today the jaguar has been swapped for a swim with a mini pig. Looking towards the resort, there’s a sense of tawdry tackiness and to be honest, it’s uncomfortable to see
French Key is an excellent place to provision, do laundry (bliss) and explore. Hoisting our dinghy off the deck and outboard from Sisu’s stern we grab our shopping bags and dinghy over to the Roatan Yacht Club where we can leave our dinghy to go shopping at the large Eldon’s supermarket just across the road.
This is luxury! It’s not always this convenient for shopping, we frequently get a good workout lugging bags of shopping, beer cans are heavy but an important part of any shopping trip. Eldon’s is an American store and contains everything we need for provisioning, it’s big! I feel a bit overwhelmed at the choice.
The shopping list is discarded as I ooh and ahh at the sheer range of goods available. In the Isle of Man we have a small town called Colby, it’s amusing to see an American cheese of the same name!
Shopping done, we have the logistical challenge to get our shopping back across the road, down the steep driveway to the Yacht Club and into the dinghy, then ensure there’s room in the dinghy for us and the shopping haul. Today will be the first of many shopping forays. We simply can’t carry it all by hand. We’re not allowed to take a trolley ourselves, but at Eldon’s there is a team of cheerful young teens who cart our shopping for us. It’s a great exercise for them to practice English, make good tips and the whole job is fun for the three of us as we learn about each other on the way to our dinghy, where they live, where we live, our ages and so on.
We miss our sons and each shopping trip we get a different “proxy son” for a little while to chat to and fuss over! Although the reality is they are now far to old to fuss over.
The Roatan Yacht Club has a restaurant and best of all, a laundry service. Regular readers know we normally wash all our stuff by hand. At home the washing machine is taken for granted, when we’re on Sisu the humble washing machine is a thing of status, to be bowed before and worshipped. To lie in freshly laundered, sweet smelling bed sheets is sublime, to be savoured before the salt air and high humidity takes effect, making the sheets just so slightly tacky to sleep between. I pull together every single manky item to be washed, two bags full. It’s funny how lighter in weight the freshly laundered clothing and bed sheets are when we collect the washing bags. Honestly, it’s true!
We overdid the sun and job list and didn’t hydrate enough, we’re knackered and feel slightly nauseous. It’s so easy to be duped by a breeze in your face, making you feel cooler than you are. We call it a day after these jobs, packing away the provisions can wait till tomorrow. We’re in bed by 8.30pm!
18th December 2022
In short, today was one of those days that bit us in the bum, the cruising dream versus the cruising reality. A windy choppy start made for an invigorating pre breakfast swim around Sisu!
As we were running low on water, Terry began to run the engine prior to starting the water maker. Bugger, the high pressure water hose broke, causing water to leak into the bilges. We had a spare hose, hurrah! Any work inside Sisu means major upheaval, boo!! We surrender to the forthcoming mess.
Sections of the floor boarding have to come up (and stashed somewhere in the saloon) the engine casings removed (also to be stashed somewhere in the saloon) and I see from my diary the ensuing repair work is described in a very, very unladylike manner.
The day was pretty much a lost day to us both, I holed myself away to write up my diary in a cramped corner away from the lifted floorboards, wooden engine casings, tools, hose etc, dug out my earplugs to block the sailor’s cursing from the engine area and made regular sympathetic and encouraging noises to help the job along. My turn would come when it was time to clean up, we share the workload……
On the positive side, it’s best we find this problem now, rather than when we’re at sea. Again, my diary describes our mutual feelings in very succinct Anglo Saxon. Words far too coarse even for this blog.
The repair work done, Terry’s down a superb job, water made and the decision is made to dinghy to the Roatan Yacht Club and enjoy an overpriced burger and fries washed down with equally overpriced gin and tonics. On these days, it’s a case of to hell with the boat budget!
At 07:35hrs on a flat calm day we hauled anchor and set off for Cayos Cochinos. These Cays are 30 km northeast of La Ceiba on the north shore of Honduras.
Comprising two small islands, Cayo Grande and Cayo Menor plus 13 even smaller islands. They are one of the most important parts of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef system, its waters and environment have been protected as an ecological marine reserve since 1994.
With not enough wind to sail, we hoisted the main for stability and motored, straight away we were visited by a small pod of dolphins! They didn’t hang around for long, a quick check over us then powered away to resume fishing. During our motor sail to Cayo Cochinos we were visited by two further pods, the same ones, I don’t know, but what a treat!
To protect the reefs boats are only allowed to stay in the small bay of Cayo Grande on a mooring buoy. To our dismay, the three buoys, 2 empty oil cans tied to a mooring rope, were already taken. Damn…. A French catamaran was already in the bay, anchored. A boat on a buoy we’d met in Utilla shouted over to us that it was ok to anchor too. We later found bases for mooring on the seabed, and suspect there were previously a couple of other buoys, we had been advised there were at least 5 buoys available, now only 3 are left.
The size of the bay dictates the volume of boats able to stay in the bay, there was room for us. The following day a boat left, so we quickly bagged it!
We got straight and had a swim, bliss. Overhead pelicans flew and dive bombed for fish. It was sooo quiet after the noise of Utila.
Before long a lancha pulled up alongside us, with the Park Ranger and two young soldiers in full heavy combat gear and guns. They must’ve been roasting! The Park Ranger welcomed us and asked for the park fee, US $92 for one month.
Over the next few days we snorkelled along the cliff edge of the bay. Dubbed “The Aquarium” there were so many fish we actually couldn’t see the fish beyond the shoals of small fish swimming in our midst! We even saw a couple of lobsters huddled under rocks, something we’ve not seen before. The reef along the cliffside is in good shape too, a range of fan corals, stag coral, brain and many more.
Cayo Grande can be explored ashore too.
There are several houses here and a very small Garifuna community a couple of bays further round the Island. We spent a morning ashore, tying up our dinghy at the dock of a small family. The Park Ranger, his two guards and their lancha was also tied up alongside. We asked permission from the house owner to leave our dinghy whilst we were ashore. Sure, no problem. The Ranger asked us if we were going to look for the Rosy Boa. The house owners young son, understanding a fair bit of English, chortled at our expressions. Boas?! He laughed, “Boas, yes the boas!” The Cayo Grande islands are home to Rosy Boas and indeed as we walked along the sand of the bays I kept seeing tracks.
Pelican tracks. Little wader birds tracks. Human tracks. But there was often a set of tracks, rather like some had been rolling a small wheelbarrow, a wheel like track with ridges either side….. I had my suspicions….
We continued climbing up narrow jungle paths, clambering over rocks into a second bay, up through more trees and carefully finding our way down rocky outcrops to a third bay further around the Island.
When the going got too tricky we reluctantly gave up and headed back. Next time we’ll take the dinghy!
A young lad was out in his little canoe with his playmates. His two dogs, they had a rare time, at one point he tied a second canoe to his own, towing one dog whilst paddling his canoe with his crew, the second dog!
A few days later we dinghied round the island to the Garifuna community. The Garifuna certainly have style, each little wooden or daube house was gaily painted and plastic bunting was strung between them, lining the streets.
The Garifuna were friendly, greeting us as we walked through past their homes. One fisherman was fibreglassing a hole in his lancha. He and another fisherman were trying to turn the hull onto its other side. Terry offered help. With a big smile, the fisherman accepted Terrys help and they all shook hands after.
I saw a large painted information board, featuring the birds and creatures which live there. Ah ha, a coiled up Rosy Boa was painted on the board.
A man was sat on a low seat at the edge of the sand was watching us. Near by him, on the sand were more, a lot more of the tracks I saw a day or so previously back round the other side of the Island. I pointed at the tracks. “Excuse me, are these boa tracks?” “Oh yes man, they belong to the Rosy Boa” I pointed to the painted board. “This snake?” “Oh yes, they come on the sand at night”. I said that I didn’t want to find any! There were boa tracks everywhere on the sand!!! We thanked the Garifuna and with a “You’re welcome man” we left them to their very peaceful life. They have a very simple life and certainly close to nature, bit too close for us though!
All too soon, a combination of running low on supplies, this was only meant to be a reconnoitre trip, and weather forecast dictated we move onwards. Our Park permit runs to the 23rd January 2023. We plan to return and explore Cayo Cochinos again, maybe find the elusive boa!
The Lionfish, according to NOAA, (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Assoc) is a carnivorous fish native to the Indo Pacific and now a flourishing invasive species in the Atlantic. This flash, flouncy showstopper can harm reef ecosystems due to it being a fierce predator, competing for food and space with already overfished stocks such as snapper or grouper, they also feed on small crustaceans. They have no known predators, reproduce all year long, a mature female releases roughly two million eggs a year! They have 18 venomous spines, the venom lasts for days and can cause extreme pain, sweating, respiratory distress and even paralysis. Not so pretty now are they! We have seen these in real life along the Belize island reefs, and bounties are offered for their capture, whereupon they are cooked and served up in bars and restaurants in an effort to reduce numbers.
At Mango Tango Lionfish is served up in a variety of ways, including tapas. One evening Terry & I dinghied up to Mango Tango and ordered the tapas. I’ve never tried Lionfish but as I generally like fish, I gave it a go. The tapas comprised a garlicky creamed spinach dish with flatbreads, a seafood type of curry dish, Lionfish cerviche and large Lionfish fingers! Oh.my.word. Lionfish is absolutely delicious, we’re converts! The white flesh is flaky, firm and very delicate tasting, rather like cod. I’ve found some fish can taste too, well, fishy. I don’t know if it was down to how our fish was cooked, but if you see Lionfish on the menu, give it a go. There is a rather wonderfully simple reef conservation catchphrase “Eat ‘em to beat ‘em!”
The following few days saw rain, torrential rain! We stayed on board, there’s always boat jobs to do and with the rain beating down on the decks we’ve no excuse. Terry replaced tired electric fuses and fuse boxes, I cleaned and wrote up some blog.
On Saturday 10th December I see my diary says “what a bloody night – we never slept” . Succinct… That night was filled with high winds, rain, thunder and lightning. I love a good storm, but this was getting rather too close, fortunately our counting between seeing the lightning and hearing the thunder was several seconds and didn’t decrease to where the gap indicated that the lightning was travelling towards us. Our issue was the concern that our anchor or indeed someone else’s anchor may drag due to the high winds and swell. Terry set the anchor alarm, but all through the night we alternatively popped our heads up through the hatch to check out where we were in the bay, the holding is seagrass and sand, so our concern was quite genuine. Taking a bearing from the disco lights on shore from the seemingly nocturnal backpackers bars we could gauge whether we had moved. At long last morning arrived, we were fine, but a nearby boat had dragged and had had to re anchor further along the bay. Suffice to say, that day was a slow one with an early night! At 6pm we rewarded our endurance and Sisu’s anchor holding by enjoying a couple of gin & tonics (£2.80 for two large ones) plus a superb BBQ dinner at Trudy’s bar, Terry chose the ribs, huge, smothered in bbq sauce and not an ounce of fat or bone, just tender, delicious meat, I chose half a bbq chicken, which was huge!
The sides were twice baked potato, pasta coleslaw and just perfect veg. Beer too obviously. Totally stuffed, we then had an early night!
Sunday 11th December. Our very good friends, Neil & Helen McCubbin plus their friend Heather Tyler arrived in the s/v Milvina from the Rio Dulce, Guatemala. They were enroute to Panama and called in for an overnight stay at Utila. So good to see them. Once they were happy with their anchor holding, we gathered up our snorkel gear and set off in our dinghies to explore. We tried to dinghy through the canal which splits Utila in two. We discovered that technically, yes it’s a “canal”, but really, we should know better, it’s a canal cut through the mangroves! We motored optimistically through the mangroves, Terry and I took the lead, Neil, Helen and Heather wisely followed behind. (Follow me, I’m right behind you!) The mangrove canal ever so gradually narrowed, we chugged on. The canal narrowed further, we began to manually assist our dinghy past the mangroves roots, ducking as the mangrove branches every so gradually became lower. We decided to call a halt. We could see ahead of us the “canal” wasn’t widening out, in fact, we were reaching the point where we wouldn’t be able to turn around at all! We called back to Neil and we made the wise decision to turn whilst we could. With some pushing and bending of the fortunately flexible mangrove branches and hoisting the outboard up out of the brown mangrove water Neil shimmied their dinghy the right way round, we managed it too and beat a hasty retreat! Funny how it felt like we had motored for quite some way, yet on the return we were in the safety of the bay before we knew it! We dinghied further up the bay and found some excellent snorkeling to round up the afternoon. That evening we caught up with each others news over another excellent fish and chip dinner at Trudys. The following morning we bade our friends farewell as they continued their sail down to Panama and a proper canal!!!
We’ve discovered Camilla’s Bakery! Fresh baked olive bread, wholemeal loaves and all manner of cakes to choose from. We will be wearing a path out to her little bakery. We bought a manufactured wholegrain loaf in Fronteras before we left, it’s still soft and free from mould two weeks later, goodness knows what’s in it, I’m going to see how long it lasts just out of curiosity. We will enjoy Camilla’s additive free home baking throughout our stay here! Utila is quirky, including advertisements for local businesses!
Further boat jobs, Terry replaces a disintegrating bow roller and anchor light whilst I cook up a stir fry for this evening. I prefer to cook early morning, to cook at night in the galley transforms the living area into a sauna!
The rain continues, so after a brief trip ashore we stay on board.
During a lull in the downpours, I offer to bail out the rain filled dinghy. Ridiculous idea, but I’ve a low boredom threshold. Terry peers over the side of Sisu just as the rain restarts to find me bailing out as much as the rain is filling the dinghy. It made me happy, so there!!! It’s fair to say that I’m not good with relax mode, regular blog readers will know that Terry has even given me boxes of mixed up nuts and screws to sort out in order to keep me quiet and busy…….
With so many dive schools and backpackers, there are several laundry services here in this little town. We visit Emily at Ravens Laundry, I ask “how long will a laundry take in case we have time to do one before we leave Utila” Emily grinned widely “As long as the sun shines, we can do it in a day!” We handed over two big bags. Later that day we saw our laundry hanging from the building they lived in! Next day we collected our laundry, beautifully washed, folded and smelling utterly gorgeous, bliss! All for L400 approx £13, worth every single penny, inside our boat smells divine. If we don’t have access to a laundry, and that’s normal, we do our washing on the boat. It’s not a pleasant sight. I swear. A lot. Terry usually makes water at the same time, and I use some of this. We have to be so sparing with our water usage. Showers, for example are 2 to 3 squeezy bottles for two of us to wash hair and shower, that really is all you need. For laundry, inc bedding, we fill buckets, add the merest hint of detergent, swill it round a bit, as you can imagine, it’s not much of a wash…. Then haul the sodding, sodden washing out of the buckets into a bigger bucket to rinse, again using the least amount of water possible. Then haul out the spin dryer from below, and gradually put lumps of washing through the spinner, this does work well, though at present due to covid, we haven’t used it for at least two years, I’m not sure it will still work! In the past I used to have to hand wring all the washing, a real bicep builder at which point I swear continuously. Having tied up washing line all around the rigging I pin out the washing. I say pin out, I use the large bag clips as ordinary clothes pegs are useless, the washing simply blows away. More swearing and cursing ensues as I handle the bed sheets which have now effectively become a sails and at times, become so full of wind that the bedding can move the boat!! It’s fair to say I don’t like washing day. Neither does Terry as his wife becomes an angry, swearing, hair tearing fishwife, cursing him, the boat, the life, you get the picture. Wine poured at a safe distance and administered to this ferocious spitting she beast often placates. A laundry service is a marriage saver.
4 Dec. We decided to try and explore the reef which extends part way across the bay, the dive boats head out there so it must be good. However, the sea was fairly choppy with a good stiff wind, we reconsidered as the conditions left us pretty exposed, dinghying into the bay we found an interesting spot with plenty of fish, our first snorkel of the season with pretty Angel Fish and stripey Sgt Majors. There’s always boat jobs, Terry made fresh water with the watermaker . In an hour Terry can make approx 200 litres, and to not have to use it for laundry is bloody marvelous!!!
5 Dec. After several days of the local Bank ATM not working “come back tomorrow, it’ll be working then” ah, but which tomorrow? Tomorrow finally arrived!!! We joined the queue of locals, backpackers and holidaymakers. Whilst waiting in the bright sun we all began to people watch and chat. Will the money run out? Why is that person taking so long inside the ATM box? Where are you from? From a passing motorbike rider to a friend in the queue “Hey man, what are you waiting in the queue for, you ain’t got no money man!” Hoots all round! Singing even… one grizzly old chap came out waving his little wad of notes to the shared amusement of the queue sang & danced a jig “I’m in the money, I’m in the money!” He got a big laugh! Even waiting for your turn at the ATM is fun here.
It’s fair to say Terry loves motorbikes, I possibly come second, well, motorbikes don’t answer back or give cheek….
Today he got a motorbike fix, albeit on a 150cc Honda. At Ronees Rentals, cue drum roll….. this insane amount of horsepower is yours Sir, all day, on a small island, with a 20km speed limit…for….US$35! Sold! Climb aboard, feel that power! We did and joined the two wheelers that hardly blast along the main street. We climbed up a narrow road heading out of town, we got overtaken by a tuk tuk, local knowledge gave him the edge, he knew the potholes and ruts. A few raindrops were felt on our bare heads, we didn’t have helmets, no one does here, bicycles even have the ability to overtake with these speed limits. We did a quick u turn back to a cafe we saw, we know by now that a few raindrops become a deluge within seconds. Over big steaming mugs of coffee we spent the time during the downpour watching a number of iridescent blue and green hummingbirds flit and flirt with each other through the pretty cafe garden, perching on branches and taking sips mid flight from the sweetened water feeders hung from the cafe rafters.
Once the rain stopped we set off again out to the North coast, about 15 minutes away! We last visited Utila in 2019 so some of the roads we had previously cycled on were familiar, the long straight to the Airport, with it’s small single storey building and single airstrip and the “main” roads. The Honda however could take us further afield, or if Terry had had his way further “infield”, upon seeing a wide area of red earthed single track farm road which had become deep rutted muddy sludge, I dismounted and trod through the mud and let Terry have fun off roading the bike instead!
One place we simply had to visit was The Utila Chocolate Company. We followed the numerous hand painted wooden signs hammered onto tree trunks at the side of narrow roads, a sign turned us into an even narrower path, overhung with fat bamboo branches, the path looked like it hadn’t seen attention for a while, surely not up here? With a couple of revs we continued up the rough path and indeed, we found Chocolate heaven!
A large painted house greeted us. The ground floor was the factory. Inside the turquoise and fairy lit greeting area we were given a tour of the “factory”. The young girl giving the tour, told us of the whole process going on in the kitchen where we watched through a window.
Everything is handmade here with 100% Honduran ingredients, in small batches, the organic chocolate beans are stone ground, the nibs ground down, the chocolate percentage mixed, the bars are handwrapped in domestic tinfoil, and wrappers printed all on site. There are 17 varieties, the names of the bars relate to features in and around Utila island. For example the Nutty Gecko bar, milk chocolate with peanuts. The peanuts are handroasted here too. Geckos are found all over the Island. The dark chocolate Tortuga bar, a tortuga is a turtle, or the 70% Duppy dark chocolate, a duppy is Islander for a spirit or ghost, the bar features a pirate. A portion of sales go to Jaspers animal shelter. Well, we bought several bars! As there are 17 varieties, our guide gave us 17, yes 17 samples! Absolutely amazing flavour. Not too sweet like modern mass produced chocolate, this really is the real thing. Incredibly, the chocolate being so pure doesn’t melt easily, no reason not to buy and bring back to the boat! Not only does the factory sell chocolate bars, we could buy their chocolate liquers, some named after dogs, or how about brownies or a range of ice creams?
Or….the ultimate, Death by Chocolate.
Obviously, we chose that. Chocolate milkshake, with a shot of their own Zuu liquer, Brownie pieces, whipped cream and… a cherry on the top! Reader, we started with enthusiasm, by two thirds through we struggled, it was huge!
Honestly, it was a struggle but we just about got through the chocolate over indulgence! With our bag of chocolate and feeling a tad sick, one of those shakes between us would’ve been sensible, but where’s the fun in that, we set off, gently burping chocolate liquer as we bumped back down the rough path! Well worth a visit!!
We rode on to the North and East coasts. Parking up, we walked through the grass to find…a cove full of plastic debris.
Piles of multicoloured plastic, flipflops, crocs, bottles, bottle tops, containers, plastic shards, a rainbow of ocean destruction spread along the shore line, with the water lapping at edge of the beach washing up more of this foulness.
Some good natured souls had been bagging up the debris but clearly it was like emptying a well with a thimble, as fast as the plastic was being bagged, the sea returned more.
This scene and that which we see at many places we sail to is not the fault of the islanders. They are very conscious of the problem, in fact we heard a someone in local business saying they now stringently filter out micro plastics from the water they use, this is shocking! Plastic is being washed ashore, carried on and in the oceans from around the world to be deposited on the next land it reaches. It’s desperately sad and a fact. The problem starts right at the top, the producers of plastic, mostly single use. The coffee lid on your takeaway coffee? Your cocktail straw? Your takeaway box?
We now monitor the islands and places we sail to, taking photographs and making notes. We make it clear that the island eg Utila is beautiful and the people care deeply about their island and their own plastic usage, the plastic which washes up is beyond their control, they are sad and angry about the situation, they take action, beach cleans are carried out. So what we are saying is, be conscious of your choices, do you need that single use piece of plastic? Contact supermarkets, takeaways ask them to reduce and change their packaging. It can be done. As we sail from place to place nowadays we see carpets and islands of floating plastic. It is horrifying. We are destroying our planet, our creatures which dwell within the polluted oceans, we can bring about change, but seriously, time is running out.
I’ll finish this particular blog on a good note.
I hope Terry and I have given you pause for thought. On our way back to the main town, still gently burping chocolate (which by the way, it took us days to face a piece of chocolate!)we came across a garden edging a small secluded cove. In this garden were a number of sculptures. Mighty, raised thrones of driftwood faced the sea, a hopeful heart was strung from a tree, driftwood people gazed out to sea in the hope that one day, they wouldn’t see any plastic.
There was a driftwood open doorway looking out towards the waves, just the place to stand and contemplate the future.
This area was peaceful and so beautiful. Far from being morose, there was a sense of fun, this is what can be achieved with the natural elements that wash up from the sea. We chatted to the man who creates these artforms.
He cleans the cove each day, collecting the driftwood, for some of the larger pieces of wood, he takes a dinghy and floats them round to the cove!
His days are certainly purposeful, and that’s how we felt, we can help, be it collecting plastic from our beaches, tackling the manufacturers and pushing to prevent waste packaging, then let’s do it, now, it’s not going to happen in our lifetime, but perhaps the generation after our generation might see some benefit? The alternative is unthinkable.
sisu journey 