Utila to the Rio Dulce

Thursday June 18th 2009. It was a motor sail…then as we got closer to the mainland…just a plain motor. It seemed that the bean can was holding up…we were not overheating. The winds were very light. Antares was waiting in Laguna El Diamante…Diamond Lagoon, Honduras. We noticed while motoring and getting up closer to the coast that the water color and clarity had changed…milkish color of a river so obviously no longer clear! Beautiful entrance into the Lagoon…and right before we saw Antares (Phyllis and Jeff) they called us on the VHF and gave us tips on entering this very very skinny Lagoon…their timing was wonderful! They had anchored too far one way the day before and had ended up on the “hard” for the afternoon…luckily they had been able to re-anchor before we got there! With the anchor down in one foot of water next to Antares we chatted for a few minutes and agreed to move on to Omoa the next morning. This however was a beautiful spot! The Lagoon is very large but only a small part of it is deep enough (7 to 8 feet) for the Amels. Jeff was joking about going swimming in this water…even if there were crocodiles! They told us that a tour boat came in and circled their boat twice before going out…what a great tour!! Later that evening howler monkeys kept us company. After watching a few T.V. shows, I went to bed. Fifteen minutes later 30 knots of wind…RAIN…lightening…thunder…and lightening…and thunder! Well…that got me out of bed…Antares called over to be sure we were awake for this one…we were getting rocked from side to side (being on rode and not 100% chain we do swing a lot more than boats on all chain)…so no worries about staying awake…I was worried about the anchor holding (we would have been blown into the even skinner part of the lagoon - and all I could think about were the crocodiles!! Oh, brother!!!
The morning sky was beautiful! After some tea, Antares checked in with us. He had talked to Chris Parker and the recommendation was to stay right where we were through the weekend because of some strong thunderstorms and the more protected anchorage of El Diamente. With nothing else to do we cleaned up down below some and then cleaned up topside…checked Herbie…and put Hugo and Herbie in the water. Phyllis and Jeff had suggested we scout around the lagoon…so off we went! I got VERY lucky with howler monkey pictures…enjoyed the local house (hut?)…really tried to get a good mirror image picture of these mangrove trees…had some fun with the twin Amel pictures…in this one there is a helicopter checking us out...and really enjoyed chatting with P&J! Jeff “sounded” parts of the lagoon (I have to get myself one of those) and we made tentative plans to go on the “outside” on Saturday. Back to the boat and relaxing for the afternoon! Saturday, Paul and I went up to see if we could find the Howler Monkeys again…nada…so we stuck Hugo’s bow out of the lagoon just enough to see that…no...we don’t really want to go any further today…back to the boat! Another storm wandered through…20 knots wind, rain, but nothing too severe…thankfully so! Sunday began very calm…so we all (Phyllis & Jeff, Paul and I) decided to go on the outside in our dingy’s and find Mustang, a boat we thought was in the inlet just to the east of us. So out of the lagoon we ventured…up the coast about a mile…into the other lagoon…but no Mustang! We wandered around the small bay anyway, found some more howler monkeys (pictures of course)...... I was joking with Paul that soon we will have more pictures of howler monkeys than dive pictures…which of course means that it’s time to go diving again! I’m working for at least three to four days in Belize before we get back to the states! Back to the boat again and preparations for leaving early the next day, Monday. Another thunderstorm went through…again, 20 knots…lightening…thunder…all was well. Early the next morning…check in with Antares and anchors up….the new windlass (remember the Armstrong and Ingenuity windlass is the only one still working) had a REALLY difficult time getting the anchor out of the sticky mud…so we were a bit behind Antares getting out of the lagoon. Over the VHF Mustang had given us coordinates for an anchorage 10 miles across from the Livingston, Guatemala sand (mud?) bar for our Monday travel. Today was 60 miles…a long day. There was another sail…sure enough it was Mustang…and yes, I said sail! Winds were okay so at least we were able to motor sail…which got us to 7 knots for a time…but then the winds went to zero…it was all motor (and the bean can fix is still holding)…until later in the afternoon when the onshore winds started up and we were back up to 6 plus knots!We passed two large ports of Honduras and outside each one for MILES and MILES...there was the indication of the heavy rains in the water...and we thought Baltimore was bad!!! Anyway...anchor down. We chatted with P&J about leaving around 5:30am the next morning to make the 10 miles to the “bar”…Jeff had arranged a boat to be meeting us at 7:00am at the marker post. Around 2am or so…lightening and thunder…and it continued ALL morning…UNTIL…at 5am…GRANDE WIND…LIGHTENING…THUNDER!!! We quickly put Hugo down from his - beside the boat position - so he could weather the squall like a boat (not like a kite)! I made tea and we waited…P&J called…we decided were going to wait out the squall. Around 6am it quieted enough and off we went! The “bar” crossing on the next blog…

My note…So from a storm beginning…to a storm end…with a lot of wonderful new places and people discovered inbetween...this “cruising” season is over. We are safely tucked into Mario’s Marina up the Rio Dulce. While we were in Laguna Diamente we heard of two sailboats running onto reefs. One on the West End of Roatan trying to enter AT NIGHT – such a no-no!!! Don’t know what happened…only heard that a dive boat was going to tow him/her off. And then another in Isla Providencia…onto the reef and this time loosing their keel! Not sure of the complete circumstances here either…but do know the boat was a total loss…the people were rescued by the local Guarda Costa…and taken to Cartagena. Paul sometimes gets upset with his depth sounder “alarm”…me…for “sounding” too often…but thankfully we have never been one of the above boats. I will admit it is mostly due to Paul’s experience and skill…but let’s give some credit to his “alarm”!!!