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!