One of the biggest fears a boater has when returning from an extended trip (short of sinking) is to find evidence of an advanced ant or termite infestation. We came home to a debris pile on our new back deck! Seems some wood-eating ants got into our back door frame. Of course living in a jungle does not really prepare you for shock that ‘something’
is eating your home. Moreover, that was the first thing we saw upon our return from our recent bus trip to Roatan as “back-packers”.Well, backpacking is not the exact verb as we can fit most of our stuff in a collapsible ’Igloo’ cooler on wheels. With an extra wheelie cart for mask, fins, & snorkel, it is about as lite as we can pack. We planned to return home, heavy! Heavy with things we could not buy on the river, like Miracle Whip
In order to get from here to there, we needed to
travel on two bus lines and transfer twice. Then a ferry ride to complete the voyage. We left the Rio on a Fuente Del Norte and went about 15 miles to Morales where we boarded a Maya Del Oro, which is an upscale FDN. After a 4 hr run to San Pedro Sula, we took a Hedman Alas thru to La Ceiba. The next day, we took the ferry to Brick Bay and a short taxi ride to French Harbor where John of “Diamond Lil” was waiting to carry us on the last leg of our trip. It is normally a ’lumpy’ dinghy ride, as part of the way through an opening to rough water before we are nestled in the calm lee of Fantasy Island.
Therefore, it was, with clear water, Fantasy Is., and beautiful weather, that Murphy settled in as well. You know, that “what can go wrong, will go wrong at the worst possible moment”. Now, John and Mel have been ’dealing’ with a few more problems than normal, with the Starboard engines transmission out, they were essentially a single engine boat that was difficult to control. Added to that, their gen-set motor threw a rod through the block, which meant there was no A/C current to run the electric stove! It really shows the true “cruisers’ spirit to have company when the stove is out of commission.
Fortunately, there was a propane cook top that Jo
hn has totally mastered and featured delicious meals from shrimp fajitas to fluffy pancakes. A solar panel took up most of the battery-charging job with only a little motor running at the end of the day to take up the slack. The motor/transmission problem only would affect them during docking procedures and since they only intend to anchor, No problema!What? you say, Murphy has already been aboard for some time! Well, he wasn’t quite done! The next most important area aboard, especially with two extra persons would be the head. Sometime during the middle of the night, when else, that ‘little’ leak became a big one. Mel caught me the next morning with a mop in my hands! Seems that there had been a little leak for some time, the extra weight of my fat butt just pushed it over the edge! You can read Mel’s much kinder version at
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-428070
Email is a marvel and phones are nice, but there’s nothing better than just hanging out and catch’n up with old friends and all too soon, it was time for Diamond Lil to carry Mel down to the West End where she had to w**k the weekend at one of the better restaurants. We made plans to catch up with them later as we were also invited aboard “Rock& Roll”.
Russ and Janet were enjoying all that French Harbo
r has to offer. That included morning’s SCUBA diving the marvelous reefs, afternoons filled with card and domino games around the pool at Fantasy Island and evenings of pot luck dinners as well as Russ and Janet’s BBQ techniques. Even though this picture might be sent into one of those magazines ’inviting a caption’ , it was just simply the only way to keep the Magma BBQ going in the wind while we cooked pork chops. Moreover, speaking of wind, the Trades were happening in full. Most nights we had 30 to 40 mph winds! We were not worried however as Russ has had his anchor down a long time. In fact, they had weathered a 45 + mph storm just the week before we arrived.Contrary to Ben Franklin’s 3-day rule about fish and company, we
were delighted to have just one more night aboard. We really enjoyed our last night at French Harbor with good friends, great food, and lively discussions as we watched a beautiful full moon rise over Fantasy Island.By mid morning, we had said our Good-bys to Rock & Roll and were shopping in Coxen Hole. Always on the lookout for any taste treats, we cannot get in Guatemala. Things like Miracle Whip, BBQed beans, mild salsa (not made in New York City!), Amaretto coffee creamer and Smucker’s Mint chocolate syrup are always on our list. When you can find “IT
”
, we buy all of it! We enjoyed a night in a little bungalow at the West End of the island and had some more time with friends John & Mel. The next day we were off to the ferry and the trip in reverse except with a much bigger load.
The Ferry ride was as smooth as glass! And we made our “Primero Classe” Hedman Alas with plenty of time! We must have had 6 feet foot room with fold down footrests, drink holders, free breakfast sandwich and a soda! San Pedro Sula is not our favorite town. So it was good to have flagged a cab down at 5:00 AM so we could get out of there on the early bus. The Maya del Oro was nice, but not a Hedman Alas. We were at the start of the line with Fuente Del Nortes so at least we got good assigned seating. It was catch as
catch can at the crossroads bus changeover for the connection into the Rio. The cute little kid sitting next to Jeanie gave her, his cold! Welcome home!
We were in time to save our door from the ants with a little Terro ant poison, which did the trick.
The shopping dining and camaraderie were all worth the trip. We are back in the river and relaxing in our little home on the water.
