Location: Guanaja, Bay Islands, Honduras
The Good: we are still in Guanaja waiting for weather. It's been over two weeks since we arrived in Guanaja. This island is really beautiful. It's only 3 x 11 miles but mountainous with trails and waterfalls, surrounded by stunning reefs to snorkel and dive.
The Good: we are still in Guanaja waiting for weather. It's been over two weeks since we arrived in Guanaja. This island is really beautiful. It's only 3 x 11 miles but mountainous with trails and waterfalls, surrounded by stunning reefs to snorkel and dive.
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| A bunch of us dinghied around to Michael Rock on the other side of the island to hike up to the falls |
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| Michael Rock falls after an hour spent scrambling up a rocky trail |
We have a resident dolphin in the anchorage who spends his day visiting all the boats and playing and fishing around us. The best part is that Guanaja is practically undiscovered by the tourists. No cruise ships, no big resorts, no crowds. We were here back in April and are glad that we've had the opportunity to come back and spend more time here, discovering more of the islands natural delights.
The Bad: we are still in Guanaja waiting for weather. This is one of the most frustrating aspects of cruising for us. Every day we get up and spend a couple of hours poring over the forecasts. Our passage will take 3 to 5 days. We start out heading east for a day, turn SE for a day and then just east of south for 1 to 3 days depending on where we decide to stop. This means we need a chunk of good weather, preferably with winds and waves that aren't too big. If possible, we'd also like to arrange for the wind to shift around as we change directions. So far, we haven't had enough pull with the weather gods.
We look ahead on the forecasts for 5 days and often see an opportunity to leave but as our departure day gets closer, the forecast changes, the weather window narrows or closes, and we decide not to leave. We're all provisioned up so it's necessary to go to town every few days to top up our stores and underway treats as we use them. We can't start any major boat jobs because we may have to leave at a moments notice. Back to 'Good', however, this means we have more time to explore and have fun.
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| Mark playing pool with the Osprey kids, Kaeo and Birdie, at Manati, German Restaurant in El Bight while we are waiting for weather |
The Ugly: we are still in Guanaja waiting for weather. Ugly is what we are hoping not to encounter. Ugly would be to leave when the weather is not 'right' and come across 30+ mph winds and 10-15 foot seas. Rachel can handle those conditions, and we can handle them, too, but we really prefer not to have to - we do our best to avoid “Ugly”. Given the weather tools available to us, our flexible schedule, and our self-imposed caution, we've managed to do pretty well so far (knock on wood). But longer than about 2-3 days out, weather forecasts can become notoriously unreliable. So we'll choose our time carefully, and after we leave we'll continue to monitor the weather as we sail. If it looks good, we hope to continue on to Panama, but we won't make that decision until we approach our “3 day” destination.
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| El Bight, Guanaja |
Our “3 day” destination is either Providencia (N12 20.685 W081 22.763) or San Andres (12 32.746 W081 42.896), both Colombian owned islands off the coast of Nicaragua. Our “5 day” destination is either Portobelo (N9 33.209 W079 39.255) on the Panamian coast or Porvenir (N09 33.20 W78 57.00) in the San Blas Islands. We're hoping to spend the next few months exploring the beautiful and reportedly pristine San Blas archipelago. After that, who knows? We'll keep you posted.
Oh, by the way – a cold front just passed and it was downright chilly here last night. It got down to 78, but the wind chill made it feel like 70. We know you feel sorry for us....
