Back home, in the land of DeBlasio, New Yorkers are suffering through the snow bomb, dealing with the gritty realities of shoveling and surviving in frigid temperatures. Hopefully at least they’ve suspended alternate side of the street parking. Out here in the hinterlands of Honduras, Andrea, Mischa, Fozzie the Bear and I are complaining about sub 70s temps and having to deal with daily rainstorms during the so-called wet season.
We had to put on our sweatshirts today on the passage from Roatán to Utila when the sun was hiding behind the clouds -- it got a bit chilly as we motor-sailed at five-six knots from one gorgeous Bay Island to another. We had a long, rocky night and when we set out this morning it was a bit hairy getting out of the anchorage at West End.
We got hit broadside by a couple of huge waves when we were raising the main-sail that sent everything onboard flying -- teakettle spilling onto the floor, suction-cupped toiletries from the bathroom everywhere (including my toothbrush taking a dip headfirst into the deepest recesses of the marine head -- YUCK), dog food and water, papers everywhere, jerrycans flopping over on the deck, iPad and Go Pro batteries and assorted odds and ends of all kind flying off their shelves -- even the liferaft slid around a little bit and the big NIgel Calder book flopped over -- but the solar shower didn’t go overboard and we didn’t lose anything. At one point I looked up and could have sworn that we were vertical but we got through it.
We did relearn another valuable lesson -- make sure everything is tied down really well before you leave.
And we made it to Utlia in one piece, dropped the anchor, dove on the anchor (which was a bit difficult to see in the murky bay) had a quick snack and then took the dinghy in to see our old family at UDC. There’s been some turnover -- some changes since we left -- but it still felt like home (or rather our home away from home) and we were greeted with hugs and hi-fives and quite a few what-is-that? statements from people looking at Mischa. By now, we’re used to it but it’s really amazing to see the reactions when we set foot on a new piece of land and introduce another set of people to the Alaskan Klee Kai species. Everyone loves her!
Poor Fozzie Bear gets about as much attention as a sack of potatoes.
Tomorrow we go diving! Like the UDC shirt says, YAY DIVING! We’re on the morning boat so I’m going to cut this post off a little short but since we got a local Honduran number with local data service we should be posting more frequently.
Stay tuned for some (hopefully great) diving videos in the next few days and Come Sail With Us!
Oh and we saw a Sperm Whale while commuting from Parrot Tree Plantation down to the West End of Roatán yesterday. Not too shabby...
