Good at the start
My last entry had us leaving Isla Mujeres with a promising weather report. Hah! Didn’t happen. We are now in the unexpected port-of-call of Roatan, Honduras. We had not planned to visit this beautiful place. The water is gin-clear and the landscape is exotic. We are in a place called French Harbor Yacht Club. A great place with really nice and helpful owners. We are at a dock because I need electricity to effect repairs.
It was another hard sail out of Mexico. The wind was on the nose the entire time. Southeast winds are rare in this part of the world. It was not as strong as the hit we took in the Yucatan but it blew hard. It rained just as much as in the Yucatan if not more. The boat was soaked. All our clothes were soaked. To cap off the situation, we had developed another serious leak. The bilge would fill to floorboards in a couple of hours if we didn’t pump. The boat was trying it’s best to sink. We also had the pressure water system fail and we lost two of our three tanks of water. I found it ironic to have too much water coming down on us, water coming in from the sea, and too little in the tanks.
We decided to yield to the forces and go to the closest place to patch up. We had no detailed charts and we knew nothing about Roatan. We arrived at the island Friday night and tried to ease in under GPS. There was no moon as it was raining. We got close but in the dark, we felt paranoid to enter the harbor. The harbor choice was based on the knowledge there was an airport there. We figured there would be customs there. Therefore, Friday night was spent hove-to offshore, in a rolling seaway and rain. Saturday morning, our luck changed. We got into harbor and easily cleared through customs. I had to go to the airport to clear in. While waiting for Customs to finish their paperwork, I fully expected to see Hunter and Meredith in the ticket line buying plane tickets home.
Once settled in, I discovered a depth sounder through hull that leaked badly. The centerboard pin contributed an equal amount of water. I will fix those. Meredith scoped the town for repair materials. She found a fully founded hardware store but it was closed on Saturday. She also scoped the internet for marine forecast. I found it no surprise that rain was predicted for most all of next week. Hunter and I are going to scope for foul weather gear. We didn’t think we would need any since we were heading for the tropics.
We feel great after a good meal and hot showers. Except for the inordinate amount of cuts and bruises, I feel normal again. We are fairing better on the details. Everyone has come up with ideas that make on-board life easier. Meredith re-organized the stowage. Hunter re-appropriated a laundry bin for a water jug-carrying device and discovered other bi-uses of equipment. We can get to stuff now and life is becoming easier except for the ingress of water. Can’t wait to get back out there.
More tomorrow on Roatan. It seems to be a neat place. It is very inexpensive here.
::: This is tomorrow. I let Hunter use my computer and after, I couldn’t get a inet connection to post the entry. That is OK. He stands watch like a junkyard dog. Couldn’t do without him. Anyway, I spent today kissing the bilge, trying to stop my centerboard pin leak with underwater epoxy. I am making progress. I would like to tell you about Roatan but I have been doing nothing but work on the boat. Ask me right now if I would change places with anyone in the world; not a frickin chance!
09 Deciembre, 2013
Roatan
Honduras
Reliant/Relianto
From the dock.
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