Tom’s Son Kevin Visit to Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras:
I suspect Kevin sorta wondered what does a live aboard sailor do all day.?. Well we probably didn’t give him a very good impression as when one visits – we too are on a vacation from our daily vacation! We must of done something right as he was as tired as we were and went to bed at the “cruisers midnight” time of 9pm most evenings and up by 6ish am with the chickens crowing on shore.
It wasn’t all “Roses” as the day after Kevin got here a huge cold front stalled over us at West End, Roatan for 2 solid days. This area is a marine park and has moorings that you pay for to preserve the turtle grass. But there is exceptions as we decided to anchor prior to this storm as we were on a mooring ball directly in line with the main channel/cut in the reef so it was already uncomfortable that morning prior to his arrival. The chain helps stabilize the boat and it was closer to town in order to get Kevin onto Sojourn without dousing him and luggage with salt water as the waves inside the harbor were building.
Typically you don’t get West winds but this time it pounded us with 20-30 knot winds and 10-15′ waves crashing up against the reef which was the only protection we had. This outer reef is where all the dive mooring balls are that we drive our dinghies to dive. We wondered if some of the mooring balls would break loose. The skies were very Grey and rained on/off. Late the second day we got a very low rainbow on top of the Grey The boat stayed put but was rolly/polly as the wind vs waves were opposing at times. Not all anchored boats stayed put…. A single hander boat had dragged during the night. He re anchored only to drag again but this time onto another anchored boat. So Tom went to help out. The 3rd time was when the same boat decided to drop his anchor WAY to close to another anchored boat. I guess he decided he wanted to raft up. 🙂 So Tom was abit busy that morning helping this guy out until we decided it was best for him to pick up the mooring ball we had left. At least he wouldn’t drag onto us. NOTE: Not all anchors are equal in their holding power. So Kevin got some entertainment and possibly education that 1st day. The last straw was when this same man beached his dinghy in these waves and swamped his dinghy/motor. Tom helped him get back to his boat…..
I recall the third day feeling like a mole coming out of the hole when the skies finally went to light Grey with some hint of sun. The boat feels even SMALLER than normal but we all endured playing cards, etc. There were a few breaks in the rain so Tom and son went for a few walks.
After this front passed we knew it took a couple days for the seas to calm down, so Kevin/I decided to take a collectivo(a taxi that stops for other paying passengers) to a harbor/village east of here to dive with other cruisers who had organized a dive with Fantasy Island Resort. Tom decided to stay with the boat as the winds were supposed to switch to the East and build. We had to leave around 7:30am in order to find a reasonably priced taxi. This is not as easy as it sounds as this day there were 2 cruise ships at Coxen Hole and most taxi’s charge a premium. We hauled all our gear and made it to Fantasy by the appointed hour of 8:30am. It was like another world on the E/SE side of Roatan. This side is typically the windy side but was obviously a lot calmer than where we came from. Upon our arrival, we found out that we could also do another dive called “Mary’s Place” which is “the dive to do” on Roatan. The first dive to Trujillo’s reef past Parrot Tree Resort was awesome with 2 orange sea horses, etc. It was Kevin’s first dive in awhile so he had some adjustments in his weight and his new mast fogged up the entire dive. The second dive was spectacular with beautiful reef/fish and swim through canyons. This time Kevin could enjoy it! We got back around 1:30pm so decided to catch another taxi back to West End with our HEAVY wet gear.
The rest of the week we dove with poor visibility and current due to the full moon. You get a workout and are still able to see nice reef/fish – just not the “picture” we had shared previously! I think we were still grateful for sun and calmer evenings to sleep aboard Sojourn. Along with diving, we had a cruisers potluck on the “darlict abandoned dock”, going away party on another cruisers catamaran where everyone on the 20 moorings was invited, pizza/margarita/movie night at PanaRama West Bay, rented a car to tour the island, entertained by fellow cruiser musicians playing at Fosters, beautiful West End sunsets, Rose’s great cooking :-), walks and jamming at West Bay and just getting the feel for living on Sojourn. One chore that did get done was defrosting the freezer box which provides cold air to the refrigerator side of the box. This happened only because we had forgot to turn back on the electrical switch. We turn it off if it interferes with the SSB nets that happens in the morning. Tom is still net controller on Sunday’s for the NW Caribbean Net.
It was a great 10 days and were pleased that we were able to share our life with him!! Take a view of the photos link in the Kevin Visit folder within the “public folder”.
There’s always an adventure to experience if you choose to leave your comfort zone. We’d love to hear your stories….