Utila, Honduras

What a cool island Utila is!  There is only one road that follows the waterfront.  Everything is off of that road, which is mostly dive shops, followed by bars, followed by restaurants!  The average age on Utila must be 25 and most are either backpacker/divers-to-be or dive professionals. 

It was very easy to clear in here.   The Port Captain and Immigration are right next to each other and it is very inexpensive to clear in (read a few US dollars, at most). 

Our guidebook, dated 2006, warns of security issues in Utila, namely that restaurants will let boat thieves know when you are ashore so they can come out to your boat and take what they want.  We were there for about a week, went to shore almost every night and didn’t have a problem.  Most of the time, we were the only boat in the harbor.  But, we also have a dog that barks at every passing boat, which helps a lot.  I asked around and have heard differing opinions, some say it is totally safe, some say the boat thieves and restaurants still have a partnership.  I’m not sure which to believe, but I do know I wouldn’t want to miss this great island. 

Walking down main street, you are greeted to a flurry of activity.  Many young Americans and Europeans, barefoot, guys without shirts, girls in just their bikini tops, many with dreads, stroll down the street in between dives.  Utila is one of the cheapest places in the Caribbean to get one’s dive certification.  We scoped out Bush’s grocery store which was reasonable well stocked considering it is on an island.  We later learned Mermaid’s mini mart and Marvin’s store toward the end of town had more reasonable prices.   We ate lunch at a cute restaurant, Munchies, which had an outdoor patio that overlooked an iguana hill.  But best of all, they offered milkshakes!  We wandered around town a little bit more and then headed out to our boat to cook some dinner on board.

The next morning was a lazy one on the JoJo as we enjoyed hot coffee and tea among our beautiful surroundings.  We finally got motivated around noon and took a walk up to the Jade Seahorse.  It is by far one of the coolest bars/restaurants I’ve seen.  It is owned by an artist who took 25 years to complete this masterpiece.  It has seating areas on the ground as well as in a tree-house and all the sitting areas and platforms are connected by bridges, walkways and tunnels.  When you walk in, you think you are in something out of Alice in Wonderland!  Everywhere you look are colorful glass, beads, broken plates and whimsical items such as little castles, plastic bananas, different figurines, and anything you can imagine into plaster along the “walls”.  You really have to see it to believe how incredible it is. 

Maria and I went to Paradise Dive Shop on the waterfront to inquire about filling our tanks to go out for a dive or two.  We met Michel who was more than happy to fill our tanks for us for $5 each and to give us unlimited information about the island and the dive sites.  Diving Utila is great because all the dive sites have numbered buoys that you just tie your dingy up to and away you go to an incredible dive.   Our first dive was at Moon Hole.  The visibility was pretty good, even though the wind had started to kick up.  It was a pretty shallow dive, about 35 feet, but boy was it beautiful.  The reef is in great condition with tons of soft coral and lots of colorful fish.  A turtle came over to us and was pretty fearless and let us get pretty close to him and even followed us around for a little while.  We also saw a big school of squid, which are so cool because they always  swim backwards when you come at them and change color!  It was a great dive, and only for $5 – who could beat it?

The next day we did another dive, this time at Black Coral Wall.  It was another great dive.  As soon as you descend to the top of the reef, there are numerous cleaning stations where lots of fish gather around.  Then we dropped down to the wall and dove along it, admiring all the coral, neon sponges and fish life. 

The rest of the time in Utila was spent just hanging out, relaxing and enjoying the island.  We took a dingy ride into the mangrove lagoon, which was cool.  There were quite a few houses that were along the edge of the lagoon as well as a few dive shops. 

We rigged our hammocks on the foredeck under an awning and spent quite a bit of time relaxing in paradise.  

Maria and Harold at Munchies

The town dock

Mural made out of all bottle caps

Jade Seahorse

At the Jade Seahorse

More Jade Seahorse

Harold was so impressed he bought a tank top

Food-colored chicks for sale!

Beautiful reef

Maria swimming with her friend

Why do they call them happy cookies? hmmmm....

Mexico to Honduras

The passage from Mexico to Honduras was not without some excitement!  We left Cozumel and tried to head toward Honduras, but we had  a strong current right on our nose.  So, after not making much ground for a few hours, we decided to head toward mainland Mexico to escape the brunt of the current.  As soon as we got close to shore, the current let up and we started making good headway under sail and motor. 

Nancy waiting for the squall

Unfortunately, the wind soon died and we ended up only motoring.  It was a good thing though, as the skies became dark and then almost went an eerie green color.  We knew we were in for a whopper of a squall.  We battened down the hatches and everyone got inside just as it hit.  The winds must have picked up to a good 45-50 knots, the rain was coming down in sheets and was sideways.  The seas heaped up quickly and there was lightening all around us.  Maria had her GoPro camera on her head and was filming just when a huge KABOOM and a flash of lightening hit just behind us instantaneously.  She thought we got hit, but after looking at the video later, we could see it clearly behind us.  But it was hair raising nonetheless.  The squall lasted about an hour and sucked all the wind with it.  So, we continued to motor for the rest of the night.    

Maria keeping Niko from rolling all over the place

Without a lot of wind and 4-5 foot seas on the beam, it was a bit rolly.  We welcomed the few hour reprieve from the roll as the Cayo Chino banks cut back the swell.  Once we cleared it, the seas continued to roll us, but we altered course a bit as the wind picked up and we could set some sail, not enough to turn off the engine, but enough to stop the rolling and to give us an extra knot of speed.  As we passed Belize, we opted not to stop and to press on to Honduras.  It was about 3am when we passed light house reef on the outside and didn’t want to wait for light to enter the reefs.  Also, we didn’t want to spend the money to clear in and thought it best to continue to the Bay Islands.  We only had 18 more hours to go, so why not? 

We were heading towards Utila, the western most island in the chain.  We had read they had great, inexpensive diving and a real party atmosphere.  We thought it sounded great!  We were afraid we were going to get in just after dark and didn’t want to risk the reef entrance at night and were starting to get bummed out that we would have to float around all night until first light in the morning.  Luckily, the wind picked up and we were motor-sailing at 7-8 knots.  We made it into the anchorage at Puerto Este around 6:00.  We had about an hour and a half left of sunlight and there was enough light to see the coral heads on the bottom.  The guide book said the holding was poor but we had no problem sticking our Rocna anchor on the first try.  In fact, in the morning we were right over it and the water was so clear that I could clearly see that it was really dug in.  Good thing, a few days later the wind started to howl!

Cozumel, Mexico

Harold and Nancy enjoying the sail

We had a nice motor sail down to Cozumel.  The wind was blowing about 15 knots out of the east, so we had a nice beam reach.  We hugged the coast, and I mean HUGGED the coast in order to stay out of most of the current.  I’m pretty sure we could have reached out and touched the beach at some points!  We went south all the way down to Playa del Carmen and then took a 90 degree turn towards Cozumel.  There is no real anchorage in Cozumel per se as it is an open roadstead.  We anchored just north of the ferry terminal in the late afternoon.  We decided not to go into town until the next day and instead cleaned up the boat and enjoyed some sundowners.  The following morning, we poked our head into the Capitania del Puerto (Port Captain) office just to let them know we were here.  They were very nice and told us to start the clearing out process two days before we wanted to leave.  We weren’t going any other place in Mexico and someone had told us that we could not clear out of Cozumel, so we were relieved to hear that that information was incorrect. 

Playa del Carmen

After taking care of those formalities, we walked down the very touristy main street.  There are more silver shops, diamond shops, clothing shops, Senior Frogs shops and restaurants  on one street then I’ve seen in a long time.  It was information overload!  We had a nice dinner and some margaritas of course, and went back to the boat.

The next few days were more of the same.  We found a good bar, the French Quarter, that had an all-day happy hour and good internet, so we would pop in there for one drink and get some internet stuff done.  We ate at a few good restaurants, explored the streets, admired the souvenirs and listened to some good music in the main plaza.  We found a coffee shop that made the best Chai Tea I’ve ever had!  We also met up with some friends we met in Isla Mujeres, Kim and Jamie, who live in Cozumel  and had some drinks with those guys and caught up. 

Clearing out in the rain

I cleared out, which wasn’t too bad.   We had to walk back and forth between the Port Captain’s office, the bank and Immigration a few times.  The Port Captain has to give you a form to give to the bank, and then you pay the bank and they in turn give you a different form to give to the Port Captain.   Well, the Port Captain gave me the wrong form, so had to walk the 10 minutes back to their office to get the correct form.  Once that is done, you have to go to Immigration for them to stamp another form.  Then back to the Port Captain’s office to get your Zarpe (clearance document) and then back to Immigration to present the Zarpe so they will stamp your passport!  Oh, did I mention it was raining the entire time and didn’t want to get gouged by the taxi drivers, so needless to say I was pretty soaked.  The only one more miserable than me and Maria was our soaking wet dog Niko, who we decided needed some exercise before we left the next day!

We ended up not leaving the next day, as we thought the weather would be better the following day.  Luckily, the Mexican officials give you 72 hours to leave after issuing the Zarpe, so it wasn’t a problem waiting it out.  We spent our time drinking Chai Tea, writing the blog, checking and re-checking the weather.  We were planning on leaving on Sunday and knew there was a weak tropical wave going to hit Honduras at the end of the week.  Nothing major, but didn’t really want to be out in 25-35 kts of wind if we could help it.  We were planning on Q-flagging it for a night in Belize if we got tired, otherwise it would be a straight shot to Honduras. 

We also spent the rest of our pesos on another hammock for the boat (now we have four…can never have too many hammocks).  We also got very colorful hand painted ceramic sink for the head.  It will have to wait to be installed later as we will have to recut the countertop so it will fit properly, but it will be beautiful when it is in.

The next morning looked pretty good, so we hauled up our anchor and headed south.

Isla Mujeres, Mexico

The Island of Women

We had a decent sail from Havana to Mexico.  We sailed from Havana down the west coast to about 30 miles south of Cabo San Antonio and then crossed over to Mexico.  We were trying to put the Gulf Stream on our beam, but we think we turned just a bit too early.  As we got about 10 miles from the western edge of the stream, we had to point into it and the 4 knot current slowed us down.  In the stream it was a bit like a washing machine as the seas were confused, but as soon as we got out of it, our speed picked up by 2 knots and the seas smoothed out.   We got into Isla in the early afternoon and had no problem getting our anchor to stick.  We had decided on the passage over that we were going to treat ourselves to a good meal when we got there, so we got JoJo re-stowed after the passage (there is always stuff that flies around, sail covers to be put back on, etc),   showered, and went off to find some steak!  We were all craving red meat!!

Colorful Souvenirs

Isla Mujeres is a really cute little town.  It is a bit touristy, with what we called “restaurant row” and has lots of souvenir  shops selling hammocks and colorful pottery.   I think their biggest business, however, is renting golf carts to the tourists! 

We scoped out a great place to eat and started with a monster salad, complete with goat cheese.  Josh settled on a cheeseburger, Maria had a steak and mashed potatoes, and I had a steak fajita with lots of peppers and onions.  It was so good!  And, of course, we had to try a margarita! 

The next day we started our clearing in process (took a total of 4 days!).  We also saw our friends Scott and Jada on Seadition that we had met in Cuba.  They were at the El Milagro Marina.  We hung out there and got caught up with them.  Over the next few days, Maria helped them out with their hydraulic steering and windlass issues.  They in turn cooked us a great dinner and hosted a big pot luck in which about 30 people showed up. 

Cruising on our golf cart

While we were there, Maria got an email from her friend Julie who just happened to be over in Cancun.  We talked  her and her friend, Kristen, into coming over to Isla Mujures.  We met them for some margaritas, took them out to JoJo, went for a dingy ride and then came back to JoJo where we cooked them up the last of our Cuban lobsters we had frozen.  It was a great day!  The following day, it was our turn to venture over to Cancun and hung out with them at their hotel…the RITZ CARLTON!  It was amazing!  We lounged  in the pool all day and then went into the locker rooms at the spa / gym and took 45 minute hot showers!  There are no words to describe how good that feels after you have been taking 2 minute showers for a year!

Josh, Maria, Niko  and I decided to be tacky tourists and rented a golf cart for the day to drive around the island.  Josh really wanted to drive, so we made him the designated driver.  He drove us out to the eastern point of the island, which was beautiful.  It was supposed to have a Mayan ruin on the tip, but all we could see where a couple of boulders!  We found a great private beach and let Niko run loose as we swam and enjoyed the sun.   We found a great cantina, which is a bar that gives you free appetizers  with your drinks.  This cantina, El Viejo y el Mar (The Old Man and the Sea)  was bright yellow and had a 2 story high thatched roof.  There was Mexican music blaring and the women waitresses were all scantily dressed.  There were only locals in there and it was awesome!   We stayed there for a bit and then drove around the small island a bit more before returning the cart.  It is good to be a tourist every once in a while.

We had so much fun being tourists that we decided we’d do it again.  This time, we rented a car in Cancun (almost as crazy as driving in New York City, but all signs in Spanish) and drove two hours to Chichen-Itza to see the famed Mayan ruins.  It was very impressive. 

Castillo Pyramid at Chichen-Itza

The focal point is the towering Castillo pyramid, which is loaded with cosmological symbolism.  Its four sides contain 365 steps (depicting the solar year), 52 panels (for each year in the Mayan century as well as each week in the solar year) and 18 terraces (for the 18 months in the religious year). Sculptures of serpents run down the northern side.  During the spring and autumn equinoxes, the late afternoon sun strikes off the northwest corner of the pyramid and casts a series of triangular shadows against the northwest side, which some believe creates the illusion of a feathered serpent "crawling" down the pyramid. 

Playing Field at Chichen-Itza

There is a huge playing field where the Mayans played a game with a soccer-sized ball that had its own intricate rules and provided exciting competition for huge crowds of spectators. The enormous court where this game was played is the largest ever found and is lined with carvings that display the rules and details of the sacred game. One carving even shows the captain of the losing game being beheaded!

We walked around and saw many other impressive buildings.  Chichen-Itza is a massive site and takes a few hours to see everything.  They stopped people from climbing up the ruins a few years ago, so you have to see everything from the ground level.

Maria with Sr. Frog

We tried to drive to another site of Mayan ruins on the way back home, but got there too late.  We managed not to get too lost in Cancun and returned the car back to Hertz with no problem.   Then we just hopped on the ferry between Cancun and Isla Mujeres and made our way back to the boat.

During all of this, our other friends, Vicky and Ed on Boto showed up in the anchorage as they were headed back to Florida.  We had a great time hearing about their adventures, as they left Grenada in September and had already sailed to many of the places we will be going to this year, so we picked their brains quite a bit.  They decided to check out Cuba, by flying rather than taking their boat, so we volunteered to dog sit for Chula, their cocker spaniel.  Niko was happy to have a friend on board for a week.

Sadly, it was time for Josh to get back to “real life”.  So, after 6 months and countless ocean miles (he had joined us in Grenada), he flew back to the States.  It was great to have him on board and was a great help!

 I also went home for two weeks to surprise my Dad for his 70^th birthday party and to spend time with my mom, sister and my favorite (and only) niece and nephew.  It was great to be home and I was also able to get a lot of spare parts and other knick knacks for the boat that we needed.  I’m not sure what Maria did back on the boat, other than hang out with her new found Aussie friends at the Marina Paraiso bar!  Pete, Keith and Troy did a great job entertaining her!

About a week after I returned to the boat, Maria’s parents, Harold and Nancy flew into Cancun to help take on our next adventure!  We were planning on sailing to Honduras and then to the Rio Dulce in Guatemala to hang out for hurricane season.  But, with all the extra hands, we decided that after Honduras, we would just keep heading south and go to Providencia and then Colombia and Panama.  It is always easier to do the longer passages with more people! 

We hung out for another week in Isla Mujures so they could explore a bit and to finish the odds and ends that needed to get done before we left.  We fueled up (diesel in Isla Mujures is some of the cheapest around at $2.95/gallon, compared to $4-5/gallon in other places) and were ready to get on our way.  The winds were light and on the nose.  That, coupled with a strong current also against us, we knew were going to be motor sailing.  But, we were only going to Cozumel, about 50 miles away, so it wouldn’t be too bad.  We got up early the next day and got on our way.