(On the other hand, should I call it the Oasis Blog?)
Saturday, November 25, ‘07
Well, friends and neighbors, as most of you already know, we escaped the magnetic pull of the Rio Dulce river region which has captured so many cruisers over the years. However, I am getting ahead of myself, so I will start at the beginning…
The Rio Dulce area as a whole has it all. Friendly locals, nice marinas, and the cost of living is still a bargain! We were also, in what we considered the flagship marina of the whole river! So why leave, you might ask.
We also wanted to be able to jump off the boat into clear water. Chase lobster and catch fish worth eating. The water in the Rio has 2-foot visibility at best. It also was too warm to be refreshing. The ‘Majarro’ and Roballo (local for Snook) were OK, but just not Dorado! Moreover, the thought of eating fish out of the river so far down-stream is not very appetizing. Therefore, we ate a lot of chicken and beef. Enough “Cheese-burgers in paradise”, we want Fish Tacos! The regional cuisine is very bland. I guess we miss Tex-Mex! All that said, next Hurricane season we do plan to be back there. After three or four months, we will be ready for a dockside fix!
Our first hurdle was to un-hook from the power grid, which we did the day after a delicious Thanks Giving feast at Mario’s Marina. What followed was a great lunch of leftover turkey and dressing, hugs all around and then the marina crew towing us away and casting us off into the river. We superstitious cruisers consider it unlucky to start a trip on a Friday! Therefore, our plan was to visit Mike and Sherry at their Texan Bay Marina and have more leftover turkey.
The Gods must have thought we were violating the Friday Rule because we had not even gotten to the Golfete (a very wide part of the river) when rain and wind hit us right on the nose! We tossed them some money to appease them (another superstition) and explained that we were only going to Texan Bay. Shortly thereafter, we saw the most beautiful sight, a perfect rainbow stretching clear across the horizon. The Gods, it appears, were indeed appeased! We motored through the arch as if it was a gateway to the beginning of our trip. That night spent in Texan Bay was calm and clear. The almost full moon bathed the area in a silvery light. What a way to begin a journey!
We still had some issues with clearing out of Guatemala. It seems our boat extension papers were in process but not in our possession. We were in effect illegal. Really only two months overdue, but that could be a problem, as we wanted to cross the Livingston Bar with a 2.43 high tide and a full moon which would occur Saturday at 7:30 PM. Talk about cutting it close! Well, we did have a contact in Livingston, or at least we thought we did until we tried to call him! After calling five different phone numbers, all wrong, we gave up on Julio. Our other ‘go-to guy, Roul (5510-9104), was there for us and cut right though the red tape! For only Q 250.00 ($33.33) and $10.00 each for a new stamp in our passports and we were legal again! The whole process took about 20 minutes. We had a nice lunch at the café Bahia Azule and went out to visit fellow cruisers Gary and Susan of Pacifico and review our exit strategy. (Susan painted the Oasis Palms on our transom.)
Our thought was to start about an hour early. That way, if we did go hard aground, the incoming tide would still lift us free. Great idea, but we still bounced a bunch of times so waiting an extra 15 or 20 minutes might not have been a bad idea. There was some wave action and the approximately 2 to 3 foot waves were actually dropping or bouncing us over the bottom, which also meant that we were getting lifted over as well! As in all ‘good’ landings and we must have had at least 15 or 20, we did sail away. So as ’they’ say about landings,” It is a good one”! After an un-eventful sail across the bay to Tres Puntas, we find ourselves alone in Ox Tongue Bight and planning our next jump. Yate’ Pacifico left at 10:00 AM the next morning for Belize. We figured to go around the point in the next day or so and will update you soon.
Monday Nov.26 ‘07
We are still in Tres Puntas waiting on the weather. It is deceptively beautiful here, but depending on which source you believe, there is either a major front or just a squall headed this way tomorrow. Therefore, we plan to head around the point on Wednesday, winds permitting.
P.S. Tuesday @ 9:00AMThe storm brought 10 to 18 MPH wind and filled our dink with nice rainwater. It is time for a nice bath! See you later.
Since no story would be complete with out an admission of just how dumb we really are, here it is!
Shortly after the marina crew towed us into the river, we discovered our depth sounder was not operational! Depending on how blasé you are, this is either very important or just an inconvenience. My feeling was that since there were not any parts in Fronteras anyway we might as well try to fix it as we head down the river toward the highest tide and the fullest moon available for the crossing of the ‘Bar”! Jeanie’s was somewhat on the more conservative side as you might have figured out by now! We wiggled more wires and cleaned the transducer of any growth to no avail. Still wanting to make the high tide, we called our friends on Pacifico and arranged to follow them out of the river as they also draft six ½ feet, the same as us. In addition, their plan was to go to Tres Puntas that evening, perfect!
I convinced Jeanie that we could get into Puerto Barrios, a major port just 10 miles south of Tres Puntas, without a depth sounder. If nothing else, we could simply follow a tanker in and anchoring right beside it! Jeanie finally bought into that idea as any parts we needed would have to come from there anyway and we could save many expensive taxi rides.
Therefore, having everything sorted out and a plan in effect, we started down the river and with not much else to do except hold the old Oasis in the middle (read deepest) part! I got to looking around and noticed a little switch hiding under the depth gage! I just moved it over a notch and Click! Oh, for crying aloud, it worked! Sigh of relief and Jeanie is now a much happier camper! I guess that after 5 months sitting at a dock we had forgotten how to turn things on!
We still tell each other “I love you” every day that keeps us turned on!
Wed, Nov 28th Noon
Enough rock & Roll! The Admiral Sez “GO”!
In direct violation of rule #1 or is it #2? It must be rule #2 as Rule #1 states that the Admiral is always right! We decided to do an over-niter to Utila, as we could not make Puerto Cortez, our next planned destination, before dark. In addition, Rule #3 states that there will be no pulling into any unfamiliar anchorage after dark!
Our original plan was to simply harbor-hop slowly across the top of Honduras. Beginning with a 38 mile jaunt to Puerto Cortez, Then 18 miles to Puerto Escondido and possibly going another 50 miles to La Ceiba before going directly North to Roatan. This would by-pass Utila completely as we had not heard much good about the place. The anchorage is wide open to the South-west and dinghy theft being just two reasons. Well, the day after the front came through, a serious rolling came into Tres Puntas and when the current picked up and set us sideways we began to look for alternatives. By leaving at noon, we could not get to Puerto Cortez or Roatan. We were just too far away so, that is how we find ourselves in Utila. It being 98 miles (a 24-hour sail), that allowed us to arrive during daylight hours. Now, it is only 30 miles (6 or 7 hours) to Roatan and if this calm weather holds, we will be weighing anchor first thing in the morning. However, that is just the plan tonight; let us see what tomorrow brings?
Problems in Paradise!
Oh, crap! The head packed it in just after we started our trip around Tres Puntas! Not a deal killer as it still pumps out. The pumping in of the clean water is the part that quit. We will haul buckets to flush until we can get it looked after in Roatan. I think it is an impeller, but could also be a switch. Tried to call Wilcox Crittenden (the mfgr), but our phone is acting up! Oh well, another thing to research in Roatan.
Roatan, Honduras
Friday Nov. 30, ‘07
Life is very good when your plan comes together. As you can tell by the heading, we made it to Roatan. Jeanie got us up at 4:00 AM, and a good thing she did, as I was really sawing logs! I guess the 24-hour crossing took more out of me than I thought. I had a morning nap and an afternoon nap but I still would have slept through starting time. We figured to wait ‘til sun-up, but the moon and our foredeck light made pulling the anchor a breeze. By 5:00 AM, I was on my second cup of coffee and we were turning east out of East Harbor, Utila. The seas were gentle and we had about a 10 MPH breeze on a broad reach clear to our turning mark at French Harbor. We had the hook down and were exploring “Fantasy Island Resort” by noon. Had wanted to have lunch there, but at US $25.00 each, we went back to the boat and ate Ham sandwiches!
After lunch, we decided to explore the Roatan Yacht Club marina and ran into Tom of the ‘other’ Oasis. We were neighbors at Mario’s in the Rio. He was a wealth of information and we will probably end up staying at the RYC for a while. The marina would not be our first choice except that it is a bargain! No one has figured out quite why, but the owner of the marina was shot on the way home from dinner one night! For the last 6 months, since the shooting, the marina has been going downhill! Not that it was a five star marina before the shooting, we are told the owner ‘had plans’, don’t we all! I am sure the estate will find a buyer for it soon. Then it too will cease to be a bargain!
Moreover, speaking of plans, I had plans to catch many fish while sailing from place to place. So far, my efforts this whole trip have resulted in a goose egg! Either the fish are a lot smarter in the Caribbean or I have lost my touch over the past 20 years! I have tried the lures that worked for us in Mexico (I never throw anything away!) and, the ones that came with the boat. Kevin (the seller) told me he did catch fish with what was aboard so I will keep trying. We really did not want to thaw out the chicken and steaks just yet!
Wednesday Dec 5th ‘07
Roatan Yacht Club aka French Harbor YC
Yes, we find ourselves tied to a dock once more. Tom and Jamie used the old take away close on us, telling us that two other boats were heading this way, for the one last available slip. Since 1st come 1st served is the norm, and we being the closest, we got here 1st! The rent is low, only $220.00 and that includes water, power, cable hookup for the available five channels of TV, and free wireless internet!
On the downside, we have to climb 52 (I counted them) steps to get to the clubhouse to use the internet! Did we tell you that this was a mountainous island? The internet also suffers from the same problems that seem to prevail in most of the third world countries. The first being the occasional power outage where nothing is working. On the other hand, just working slowly because too many folks are overworking the system. This makes for a lot of exercise carrying our laptops up ‘just to see’ if a good connection can be made.
We have heard conflicting reports about the water being drinkable so are going to have to pre-filter it before it goes into the tank. We also intend to disinfect it with bleach. Being as how filthy the harbor is we decided to put biocide in the water-maker. Under normal circumstances, it needs to be run every 3 or 4 days to prevent a build-up of growth on the membrane and any oil or silt would hurt the membrane!
Other shortcomings include, but are not limited to, any hot water in the shower. The shower has not been cleaned in at least 6 months! Moreover, the locals tend to throw all their trash into the water around the marina. The EPA would have a stroke!
All that being said, we love it!
