Underwater in the Bay Islands, Honduras

Colorful coral

 Scott has been diving pretty much every day with Jim & Renate on Emerald Seas. They have a dive compressor on board and in Utila they filled their own & Scott's tanks. In the West End of Roatan we have the tanks filled at Roatan Divers, such nice people, who let them rinse their equipment, shower and keep our dinghies there. He and Jim even did a night dive one evening. I've been swimming for a half hour every day and snorkeling alone or with the others.
Scott took all these shots with his new underwater camera! It's a very basic waterproof case over a simple digital camera but takes pretty good pictures as you see here. Jim and Renate have much more complicated apparatus and take some very spectacular shots. An external flash might at least be in Scott's future.

Cleaning shrimp

Flamingo Tongue

Sea anemones

Spiny lobster

French Angel Fish

Four eyed butterfly fish

Queen angel fish

Barracuda closeup

Sargent majors

Smooth Trunkfish

Hog fish

We see a lot of turtles; Scott swims with them

Exploring the canyons

Two jaw fish peep out of their holes

A big grouper looks on

A lobster closeup

Frog fish look like aliens and are hard to spot

Taken on his night dive, some neon glow

Another night dive shot

A Zoanthid forms intricate patterns

Buddy Jim dashes over the bottom

 A Black Durgon

Fascinating patterns

A Spiral Anemone

Our first stop in Honduras - Utila

Scott having his morning coffee

We stayed at Utila, Honduras for about 10 days, snorkeling/diving and walking around the island. With Emerald Seas we rented a golf cart, which promptly fell apart on us. They brought us another one and we explored the island on many types of "roads". It is beautiful. We also visited with friends Maria & Roger who live at the west end of the island for half the year (the other half in North Conway).

Jim & Renate from "Emerald Seas", our cruising buddies

The view from our cockpit with the mountains behind.

Heather, Scott, Jim & Renate in our first rented golf cart

Which didn't last long - we had to push it our of the road.

The wheel fell completely off

Swamp lizards are small but colorful & a bit scary

Outside the Iguana Station

The windward side of Utila

In our new 4 seat cart we managed to see most of the island

These are called "Tourist Trees"

We didn't end up here at Skid Row, notice the woman unconscious

Instead we went to REHAB

Sunset behind Emerald Seas

Flowers line the streets here

Scott gets a haircut at a local place

More flowers - I love these!

Weathering the storm in Sapodilla Lagoon, Belize

The calm before the storm - Sapodilla Lagoon

Jim practices the ring game at the Pelican Cays

We joined Renate & Jim on Emerald Seas up at Pelican Cays after the Feuers left. The snorkeling was great there and we enjoyed the little bar/restaurant run by a couple with a 2 year old daughter. Afterwards we went back to Placencia to fill up with provisions and water before hunkering down in the Sapodilla Lagoon while a storm front came through. This is a totally protected and lovely spot with lots of room. Nine boats joined us there and we all socialized. One night we had a dinghy raftup - all nine dinghies tied up and anchored sharing drinks and appetizers.

Jim & Beth lead Jim & Renate through the Mangroves

Scott and I in our Port-a-boat dinghy

Another day we explored the narrow circuitous Cabbage Haul Creek that winds it way up from the end of the lagoon. There is a large under construction marina off the lagoon where we explored the canals built for existing and proposed real estate and their beaches.
Several boats hosted drinks or meals on board including ourselves the first night. Our friends on Madcap joined us as well as David & Carmen on "Expectations", and Peter & Mary on "Rendez Vous". Once the storm arrived we spent a couple of days snug in our cabins until it blew over. It was windy and poured rain but we were protected from any waves.  After that we went up to Dangriga and checked out of the country. After a quiet night at South Water Cay, Emerald Seas and ourselves did a lovely overnight to Utila, Honduras. Friends Imke & Ulrike on "Eiland" joined us at Glover's Cay and "Expectations" followed us later that morning. The seas and winds were calm (just enough wind to keep the sails up) and traveling with other boats made me feel so safe!
So - now we're in Honduras - arrived 2/27.

Beth, Scott, Renate, Heather, Mary and Peter

One view of our Dinghy Roundup

Carmen and David from "Expectations"

Peter & Mary from "Rendez Vous"

And the sunset before the storm arrived.