Last days in Guatemala; saying goodbye to long time sailing friends Adventure and Zephyros and newly made friends Intle Breeze. The farewell was made lighter by Hugo and Ellen from Adventure accompanying us for a couple of days to the most idyllic anchorage in Río Dulce, Cayo Quemado
Cayo Quemado is a secluded anchorage of connected lakes in a mangrove jungle which we explored by dinghy. Fisherman’s houses, minuscule one table family restaurants and the charming hotel Isla Dulce decorate the shores and cater to the passing boats. A cruiser’s paradise!
After some relaxing days and hull cleaning we torn ourselves from lovely Guatemala and sailed down the river back to sea for an overnight short passage to the Bay Islands of Honduras.
They Bay islands of Honduras are constituted by the three main islands of Útila, Roatán and Guanaja and further smaller Cays. We had never heard of these islands before and they are indeed quite small and mostly unknown to Europeans. Roatán, being the largest is the most developed and receives the most tourists, from USA and Canada. Útila, on the other hand, is a laidback, hippy island with some dive shops and shabby bars. Their population is originally English speaking, derived from other Caribbean British colonies, both or European and African ascend. However, lately, Honduran people from the main land have been moving into the islands in seek of better jobs in the tourist industry causing some (language) frictions with the locals.
We spent most time in Útila where we drove around on a motorbike. We visited the Iguana Conservation center, dedicated to the conservation of the Swamp Iguana, endemic to the islands and now under threat by the degradation of the mangrove swamps and a growing racoon population.
A short sail took us to the Cays, a group of small islands surrounded by coral reefs where we did some nice snorkeling. It had been a long time since the Bahamas!
Most of the Cays are uninhabited, but Rock Cay is fully built with wooden houses in bright colors right on the water. Many houses have an attached boat house, and every family owns a motorboat with which they constantly come and go between the islands.
And then… a sudden change of weather
A storm with lots of rain and strong winds was due to hit the islands and would make our anchorage rather uncomfortable and less safe. Already in the rain we motored against the waves to Roatán where we took refuge in the Roatán yacht club.
We were very fortunate to have friends of a friend who are living for more than 20 years in Roatan who picked us up by car and showed a bit of the island, still in the pouring rain.
We wanted to stay some more weeks in the Islands, but a good weather window to go direction Panama seemed to be upcoming.
So we left for Guanaja, the most easterly of the island to checkout of Honduras. From here we will start the long and difficult leg to Providencia in Colombia and later on to Panama.