Somali Pirates sieze yacht with Americans aboard/ It continues!

sorry to say, they have been killed!

 Piracy seems to be on the increase and sometimes deadly for sailors.

IT CONTINUES: 

.....DANISH VESSEL WITH CHILDREN ABOARD, TAKEN HOSTAGE 2 DAYS AFTER SOMALI'S MURDER AMERICANS.

NEWS STORY ON DANISH VESSEL 

Rio Dulce, Guatemala. We were just across the river at the time    ..................2008
Canadian murdered by locals in Honduras, while at anchor. .............................................. Late 2010
Kidnapping for $........................Guatemala's Lake Isabel...............................Late 2010
Piracy, Puerto Escondido, north coast of Honduras.........................................Late 2010
MISSING YACHT AND OWNER/GUATEMALA'S RIO DULCE ...........vessel located. towed in by Nicaraguan Navy because of total electrical failure.  We are glad he is safe.

News from the Rio Dulce online newspaper, RIODULCECHISME, CLICK HERE  provides cruisers current info on Piracy and all kinds of good local stuff.  However,  the news of  a Canadian sailor murdered in front of his daughter(crew) aboard their boat, anchored in a bay of Honduras and other such serious crimes should be followed by cruisers anywhere and everywhere, as we sometimes are a small close knit family.

Others have been boarded by pirates in the same country off the NE coast several times this season, possibly near where the latest missing boat has had to pass, out near reefs of Media Luna.

Still more reports filter through the cruising community and I wonder how many are repeats or how many of these NEVER hit the news media.

This month, here in Panama, we have been glued to email reports and online postings from the Panama Guide.com's editor.  His persistent assistance in alerting the boating community and authorities of a possible serial killer on the loose in our area.  Well, he has culprit has been caught.

JAVIER MARTIN CAUGHT     ..........numerous articles Feb.10-19 so far and ongoing!

Now online Reuters news article of a large sailing vessel captured with Americans aboard.

SOMALIA: PIRACY OF SAILBOAT 
(click on the links for more info)

It's not important each and every time who is onboard.  To me it's important that this is occuring at all.  The cruising community is  made up of all nationalies, but we often 'pass in the night', moving on without much contact.  We need to stay focused on the problems we all face and not just when it's our countryman. Out here, we are all from the same place.

Bay Islands of Honduras, to Vivarillos Cays off the N.E. Honduran coast.

Sailing into Cayos Cochinos Grande, from the N.W.

At anchor behind Cayos Cochinos Grande, where Nigel Calder suggest, only now the government has made this a national park and installed some moorings.
 
Oh, it's a rough life.

Along the Bights and canal systems of the south shore of Roatan, the population lives mostly on stilt waterfront housing.

Yup, the table IS leaning. So is the whole place! Hole in the wall is becoming just that and if nothing is done, it's going to fall into the drink one of these days.

CSY Charter Operation in Roatan. Years ago, this painting was in better shape. It graces a large wall near the center of the old charter base. Now it and the facility is showing its age..near 30.

Sailing along the north coast of Honduras we stopped first in Cortez, to pick up some bear spray a fellow CSY owner had shipped in for us. We were pushing to get to Puerto Escondido for the night and had to just offer a quick hello and thanks, before shoving off. We arrived at Puerto Escondido late in the afternoon, so much so, that I had just about lost all light for entry into a tight harbor, something I never have let myself do before.

Mark and Lori Theim, friends and new residents of Calabash bight, Roatan. They have recently bought waterfront land and are building for the future.

All worked out well and we were the 4th boat to enter and anchor there for the evening. The anchorage is remote in that there is no humans ashore, just howler monkeys, birds and tropical foilage/palms everywhere.

Roadside/cliffside eatery.

We got an early start and headed for Utila. the westernmost Bay Island off the north coast of Honduras. Made good progress and arrived in good light for entry into the bay. Checked into customs etc. and headed in for some grub.

Captain! They bring gifts too!! Well, not really. This cute kid paddled out to sell her jewelry. Then, after successfully concluding the sale to Dorothy asked,"Cookie?"

Yes, a few years ago, the kids did the same thing here..they love "Cookies".

I heard it and so did everyone else Terry, someone FARTED! Was it YOU?

(He looks guilty, doesn't he?)

Birds and lizzards at drinking establishment.

Terry took tricks at the helm and got sunburned or wet along with us...no Cruise Ship are we!

Our sailing had been mixed with some motorsailing and some pure sailing, with mixed results because the winds were often on our nose, or too light for decent progress.

During the few days we spent in the Bay Islands of Honduras with our crew Terry Walsh, we managed to relax and enjoy the good weather. After clearing into the western most island of Utila, we cleaned up a bit and dingy'd in for a walk down Mains Street .

Our track into Puerto Escondido at near darkness. I did a little loop out there to check my bearings before heading in at 160 degrees magnetic.




A lovely mermaid, for sure.




Sculpture was in the lobby of a hotel in Livingston, Guatemala, but since this segment began there, I'm including it.. just too nice a piece to forget.

Not much on this island to see, but for divers, it holds everything they need. The waterfront is lined with dive operations, small restaurants, tiendas(small snack and grocery stores) and bars. Of course there are the small hostels, motels etc. to house the large numbers of what seem like low-cost travelers. We turned up the one street that is perpendicular to Main Street and in a few hundred yards came to a “Y” in the road. This is the location of “the Mango” restaurant and inn. A small enclave of rooms, buildings and paths, covered in pleasant tropical foliage. The Mango is one of the better dining spots ashore so we got there in time to relax, eat and return to the boat before dark. This harbor is known as Burglar’s Bay and other such labels, so I did not want to leave the boat unattended, especially after dark.

Mango’s had fresh tuna special with jalapeno sauce. The kitchen started a little early to accommodate our schedule. It was a small building offset from the eating area, and open on one side. Adjacent to it was a large-maybe 12’ diameter brick and motor domed oven for cooking with wood. The wood was afire when we entered and over the next half hour, the staff raked the embers around in a calculated manner to heat up the base stone surface. It is on this, that their hand rolled breads and some meals are cooked.

Next to our table was a humming bird feeder. It was late afternoon and their were many of the birds zipping around the feeder waiting their turn and of course we shot many photos of their antics. What surprised us, was as the sun was setting and the subsequent darkening of our area under the trees and vines, that the humming birds left and the bats came in. The feeder was now a Bat Feeder! So, we took more photos!!

Dorothy has quite a photo collection of tropical flowers.

The dinner was OK, but the jalapeno sauce was too hot for my taste and overpowered the tuna. Oh well, the island is know for diving, not dining.

The next morning, we headed East for Roatan, the center island of the 3 Bay Islands. We motor sailed north to the bay called Port Royal and entered in the west channel of Lime rock. Took our time and motored up the north coast of the bay in a clockwise fashion, then back to the two rocks near the center of the bay called the Cow and Calf. Around this used to be some decent snorkeling. We anchored

You know the food is going to be good when they spent this much time building the oven and stoking the fire!

The bats come out after the Humming Birds call it a day.

there for a bit and got our butts in the water for a look-see. Not great, but refreshing. A few small fish, barracuda and eel were seen. On the radio, we were in contact with caretakers of an Eco Fish Camp. Stana and Tom offered wi-fi service for light usage if we wanted to anchor near their docks. We did, but reception was really poor.

We later tried again at a slightly different location and had fair coverage. Internet is still not a commonly available item while cruising and many cruisers used to having it, spend much of their time searching for it. Phone service was blocked by the western hillside of this anchorage, so the next morning I headed west to Calabash Bight. I knew two Americans there, both in the process of building homes, so I called one via the radio. Mark and Lori Theim, of sailing vessel (s.v.) Aoleous, a CSY 44’ W.O. were building a very nice 2 story wood home on a point of land in the harbor. Mark has set up internet

service available to cruisers for a modest fee and eventually will have a few boat slips for rent. The big plus for us, is that Mark and Lori were gracious enough to offer to help get Terry set up with his airline arrangements for his return trip to the US.

Terry had to fly out of Roatan, to San Pedro Sula International Airport on the mainland and connect with a flight back to the U.S. and home. We made a day out of it, stopping for lunch on a beautiful hilltop/roadside/maybe almost ‘Cliffside’.

MEMORY ROSE at anchor in Cayo Cochino Grande.

From there we proceeded to the airport. Terry had been looking for a few good Honduran cigars to bring to a friend in the states and we found them as well as Cuban cigars right at the airport.
The next couple of days, we relaxed and ran around in our dingy for kicks, and groceries but the weather was perfect for a run east(unusual against the prevailing easterly trade winds) so after Terry left, we topped off with fuel at 7:30 one morning, then water (25, 5 gal. bottles of reverse osmosis store bought ) and headed out to sea again. This was going to be an overnight slog East to a tiny island/reef group called the Vivarillos, off the N.E. coast of Honduras. The night portion of the passage was rough with winds almost on the nose at up to 30 knots/but generally somewhere in the 20’s. Wet and salty, we were pleased to get into Gran Vivarillos and anchor in good daylight. A shower and some sleep, brought us back to some normalcy and the next day we ventured ashore to talk to the fisherman living on the next island.

Cayos Cochinos and Utila, Honduras

The RED LINE is the track Memory Rose took on our passage west.(click on photo to enlarge)

We found the Maxsea charting software to be accurate enough for distance work, but could be off by a few hundred yards down here in the bay islands. It was a wonderful tool, but needs to be understood that it is only a 'Tool' and not a guarantee. The Nobeltec software seems to more accurate.




This outstanding daydream of an Island Home is situated in a delapidated waterfront community. The housing here in Utila is quite poor and this example of bucks?? makes you scratch your head. It was lovely to look at, but then you would turn your head and see drunks, malnurished, rotting homes within feet, and wonder .




Utila was a composite of 5 things.

1. Key West, mid 60's with all its color and problems.
2. Cowboy town mid 1800's....anything goes, so beware, you're not in La La land.
3. Slum.
4. Locals call the harbor, "Burglar's Bay" because of constant high theft to mariners.
5. ISLANDS magazine recently had a Major article specifying Utila, Honduras a s a BEST BUY FOR THOSE LOOKING FOR PROPERTY. "Bullshit"! I say, unless you are doing such as a long term investment... 50 years!

be aware!!!

I would think if you come here for a short vacation as a diver and things are set up for you, you can be blind to the rest of it; have fun, watch your butt and go home... Cruisers?? beware, there are good folks here that DO care. THEY warned us. Two of them in 10 minutes.

Nigel Calder's Cruising Guide, circa 1991 seems to be accurate. His HOT SPOTS fall short in my estimation. The few cays SW of the Utila Island offer a spot in his book between 2 islands. We entered and "we were glad we did", as we will probably not pass this way again, but... the anchorage attractions were minimal. The diving was poor. Coral and fish life was no better than the Florida Keys, which are not exemplary in this decade. Above water, the islands are still beautiful to look at and we met some locals there that are still enamored with their homeland. Uh, if you swim to the beach Nigel suggests? Well there is a gent there that will request $2 per person for your efforts. We, swam by!

I understand that I am critical by nature, but cannot pass on disinformation.


Often reefs were awash. Readability of water depths was always excellent at the right time of day.










Still enjoying the pleasure of freedom and sailing tho!

With more time here and there, I find that my perceptions change a bit, so take all I have written with a pinch of salt..or spoonful of honey. :)

Roatan, Honduras Bay Island

Hole in the Wall


After a few days in Guanaja, we moved on to Roatan, further west. Had heard of a good anchorage in Jonesville, also referred to as Bodden Bight. On Sundays, a spot called Hole In The Wall, puts out a spread including steak and lobster for $15 each. Well, it was Sunday morning when we arrived, so the dingy was put to quick use. The food ended up now costing $20, but it was a fine meal and cruisers and expatriots from the area crowded the joint.



The owner had a cool modified cayuga...a dug out log with mods to make it look like one of the old 'Commuter Boats" of the twenties and thirties. Twas powered by an 18 hp Briggs and Straton air cooled engine-no transmission.

The harbor offered good holding and there was plenty of room at this time of year. Most of the cruisers had already headed for their Hurricane Hole of choice. The few remaining were preparing. Peter Schmit (CSY designer)and wife, had their Crazy Horse anchored close to the village. We stopped by for a visit, but the poor guy was fighting a flu or something for a week and still not up and around.





Birthday boy kickin' back.






A blustery front held us at bay for a few days and seas outside the harbor were still stacked, so we played around by dingy. Interesting cuts had been made in the mangroves, creating canals of shallow water between the Bights, or harbors. This is how the local traffic gets around with a degree of safety.















Stilt housing is the local norm...with the exception of the monsters being built by the expatriot community.






A gent named Larry owned another small waterfront spot he called a marina, but as such, was not much more than a T dock for 2 boats. Larry offered wireless connections for a dollar a day and had a comfortable artsy, even whimsical location open to cruisers. $2 washing machine etc. He was interesting to talk to and we got to play with his new pup. The Hole in the Wall restaurant served breakfast and lunch, but shut down in the evening.

On shore, there was a local grocery/dollar store owned by Dave Jones and family. Suprisingly good selection of what might be needed. Dave was gracious enough to offer to have his son take us into Coxen Hole, another anchorage/village, to get US $ from an ATM. I was running low and needed cash to clear into the next country, Guatemala.
The next day, it ended up he and his son drove us around for cash and essentials, as they also had some resupplying of materials to accomplish.





Much beautiful land is available but sadly much if it is also being bulldozed for developement.







Dave was also the president of the Honduran Commercial Fishing Association so we had an informative ride that day. One of their biggest problems is 'over fishing'... Same problem as most anywhere. This was evidenced by the lobster tail at the Hole in the Wall, being 3" long. They are harvesting their 'Breeding Stock"!
This year had been their worst year of fishing and many boats are wondering if they can get out again, especially concerning were worries about the high cost of fuel. What's new!

A front of blustery weather held us from moving on for a few days, but we explored locally with the Avon and chilled out, getting lots of good food and rest. When the weather gave us an opening, we scooted down to Cayos Cochinos more near the mainland. The area is supposed to have great snorkling amongst the reefs. The entire area is now a park, with anchoring prohibited. A few local dive operations now exist, taking tourists wherever needed.





Memory Rose at anchor in Cayos Cochinos

Some moorings are available and although we were later told they were screwed into the bottom, the lines they used were small and of poor quality, the floats were plastic anti freeze type containers. We did not know of the rules when we came in and anchored where Nigel Calder's book suggests, in a pocket in the NW corner of Cayos Grande. There was a grass bottom but no coral around so we planted ourselves there. For the few days we were anchored, within sight of the 'rangers' and saying hello to them everday, no one suggested we move.

We found the diving fair to poor in the immediate area of Cayo Grande. The water was relatively clear, the coral dissappointing and the sea life minimal.

Onward to Utila.

Frigate Birds

Just a short note here. Have you ever heard of Frigate birds? Well, they are high flying, quite large sea birds. The populations of them are increasing now, but were dwindling a few decades ago.
Luckily, we see them often now, over land as well as at sea. While able to soar for long distances without much apparent effort, they do roost in large groups at remote locations. Well, one of the locations was apparently N.E. Cay, on the eastern edge of Guanaja's barrier reef.

I awoke around midnight to sounds of something on deck. The sound was Frigate poop and fish droppings hitting the deck! They liked the top of my masts and were haveing a little party.

Tried to scare off the 6 or so big guys atop the masts, but one was persistent. Banged the rigging and masts, hit him with the 1,000,000 candle power spotlight; even turned on the strobe light inches from his head! He won. After 15 minutes and raised blood pressure, I said sleep was more important to me as it was evident the decks would still have to be washed.

Guanaja ,Honduras

Graham's Place, in Guanaja is a rest stop.


Sailing from Port Antonio, Jamaica to the Bay Islands of Honduras, was gentle. The winds were not adequate for sailing with their piddly 2-9 knots. We left the harbor with reefed main expecting some drive from the wind, as hilltop dwellers with radios told us the evident swells foretold wind. Nah! ................................."Hilltop dwellers!!"

Joking of course, any help is appreciated.


Dorothy raided the freezer for Flank Steaks and chicken and we cooked up a bunch on the grille outside, then portioned it down for small containers as " Mini-Meals on Keels". Fine tuning the body without overfilling the tank.


Motoring west, we rarely got to feel any breeze on our sweating bodies with the exception of night time squalls that came of the Jamaican North Coast. On radar the cloud formation paralleled the coast and on radar was 20 miles long and 4-5 miles thick. Tons of rain plus winds generally in high twenties (apparent) reached 33 a couple of times. Since we were sailing west and the winds from this were coming from the SE, we sailed off with it in our reefed Main Sail, getting a good shower and a nice push. True wind speeds probably were above 30 thru the first hour or so, as we were moving along at 8-9.
Speaking of sweating, I have found the suns intensity to be extreme on this trip.

Third World Countries solution to disposable products.. When you don't want it, abandon it.

We normally spend our time below in the saloon, as others would spend theirs in the cockpit. Usually nice breezes below with opened hatches and ports, privacy, 90+% UV protection from tinted Storm Windows, but close in sailing usually dictates cockpit time. From the middle of the first day of travel on this last leg from Jamaica to Honduras, I spent most of my day watches inside, using the instrumentation, Auto Pilot etc. and once a half hour or so, would pop into the cockpit for a look see. Daytime, with radar and all else, I had as good a grasp on things as any trawler or ship would have and I too was then able to stay out of the sunlight/weather. Nighttime, I spent inside and out, choosing locations by gut reaction and breeze necessary to feel comfortable. The pilothouse configuration has been a real pleasure.

OK, getting back to the flow here, the next night motoring along, I had some fun playing with radar as a tool to avoid these bowling balls of showers and squalls. Tracking them as targets, then adjusting our heading and course over ground to let them slip by port or starboard.. Well, that worked until 2 of them decided to join behind us. So much for plans!

Also got to play a bit with current. Yes out here and specifically for this conversation, the Cayman Trench has currents that effect your travel. On the charts, it indicates 1-2 knots of current at times. Weather effects this to a high degree. I believe I was getting about a knot boost for a good portion of our trip west, but when my charts showed bottom contours that might slow or speed us up, I tried to use them. Dang if it didn't make a difference. Its like water in a stream. Deep water runs the fastest and shorelines or bars cause friction that slow the flow. Rocks in a stream force the water around it speeding up the water between them and slowing it close to them. I found that even in water 5000 meters deep, two seamounts feet high, gave me a nice boost between them. About 3/4 of a knot.

Arrival in Guanaja, the eastern most of the Bay Islands had to be delayed a bit as I wanted to enter the reef cut, just south of the NE Cay on the eastern reef. I had gone thru this 20 years ago in good light as a crew member on Flying Cloud, a 36 Toshiba/shoal draft, but was concerned as I now had fewer brain cells upstairs and more keel downstairs.

Food arrives daily via flights from the sea. Usually Flying Fish of course, but tonight, Squid!


Much better food is available! At Grahams place and elsewhere worderful food atmosphere and service is the norm.

To increase my odds of success without heaving to, I decided to run off or should I say motor off to a downwind entry point at Guanaja Settlement about 5 miles further. This would give me better light by less than an hour, but the piloting was easier using surface points for navigation rather than visual of water depth alone. All went well and all tools were used; idle speed, radar, depth, chart plotter with boat position tracking along nicely and with apparent accuracy, triangulation, polarized sunglasses on both of us, and a printed chartlet in hand.

Clearing in to Honduras was easier than I remember from the past. The Port Captain was friendly and helpful. Both gents in the office spoke English well enough to cover my terrible Spanish. The Immigration officer at the next location, seemed to enjoy using his English. A 2 minute ceremony took 20 as he tried to ask a million questions.

Dunbar Rock

It was all good tho and I enjoyed our bi-lingual car wreck. We got thru it laughing and shook hands firmly. This looked like it was going to be a good trip.

After the legal proceedure of Clearing In with officials, I dingy'd back out to Memory Rose, anchored off the settlements west side to retrieve Dorothy.

VENICE? No.
Guanaja Settlement is built over an island only HALF its size. Yup, most of it is on stilts, out over the water. Waste water, both black and grey, flows down tubes, pipes, gutters and thoths to canals; leading effluent to the bay.

With passport stamped, she was now cleared to enter the town so we went in to grocery shop, eat lunch, buy beer and get some local Limperes(cash) from a little banking storefront. Little in size, but outside, there were 2 armed guards with automatic weapons/flack jackets, hand guns etc.? frisking you with a metal detection device, and one inside with a shotgun similarly suited up with flack jacket etc.

Waterfront of The Settlement

There had been a robbery a year or so ago and the bad guys got away.

Lunch at the "Fish Pot Restaurant, was a great choice." Met "Tompy" the owner/proprietor, a fun loving chap born and raised there.



His name comes from his bowed legs and a nickname for his unusual walk cause by bowed legs and maybe being a bit 'top heavy'. The kids had named him that as a child and he lovingly holds on to it with pride! He told us where to have a fun time on the outer reef.. a place called Grahams Place. He was right. Graham's Place is a rarity. The guy is originally from the Cayman Islands but now spends his time slowly developing his island on the reef into a fun spot of good food, drink, relaxation with a very low key atmosphere.

FISH POT RESTAURANT IN GUANAJA SETTLEMENT. GROUPER LUNCH WAS DELICIOUS!

The food is excellent. He offers cruisers free water, free ice, free use of the island to swim, snorkle or explore. Washing clothes tho is $10/load, and internet was $10/day or $2/hour. Typical cruiser, I used my Eugenics wifi booster to sit aboard and surf, anchored out a 1/4 mile or so.




Everything about the place was pleasant. Even the dogs came to say hello and goodby; no barking just tails wagging. We visited the 'next' island owned by an American developer, only to find the owner gone and the 4 watch dogs barking like crazy

Landed the Avon anyway, as the caretaker had invited us over, the previous evening, and in a few minutes had the dogs playing and loving getting petted.



The caretaker was apparently gone, but the dogs did not act like watch dogs, but pets.. even trying to swim after us as we left. As we veared west, they swam west, east, they swam east. I had to yell to them to go back. They DID!! (Sure glad the owner taught them English!)







At anchor off of Graham's Place



Visited Brick Point, a gorgeous location on Guanaja where years ago we met a couple, Bill and Maureen Miller. They have split up and the property sold to a developer putting in 170 homesites/marina etc... a golfcart community. Sigh.




Moved on to Roatan after a few days and now in Jonesville, sometimes referred to as Bodden Bight. Good harbor, one grocery store, 4 or 5 watering holes, 2 wifi links. Only a few boats were anchored here, one being "CRAZY HORSE", the big square rigged trawler of Peter Schmit and his wife Barbara . Will move west, as soon as the wind dies a bit. Winds have been 15-25 but last night a solid 30. The seas outside are still steep and breaking so will chill out.



We will be trying to leave here in time to sail over to the Rio Dulce river in Guatemala by the 13th of June to catch a high tide for crossing the bar.

remember you can enlarge any photo by just....CLICKING ON IT!




CRAZY HORSE