A Walk Around Utila, Honduras

We had been checking the weather carefully for several days and tentatively decided to go overnight to Utila, Honduras on 2/28. We talked to our weather guru Chris Parker on the Single Side Band Radio at 7am and got a better than expected forecast. We could expect light winds, unfortunately mostly in front of us, but waves only 2 -4 feet. So we motored out to the reef near Ranguana, about 3 hours, and in good light found the cut in the reef just south of the island. After going through it, we backtracked and anchored in the cut. It was a little bouncy but fine. We didn't want to leave until 6 pm when it was almost dark (we expected the trip to take from 13 to 17 hours and didn't want to get into Utila until we had good light as it is a tricky entrance through the reefs there). It was an easy evening although the waves and wind were against us the whole way so we still had a bit of bashing.
We checked into the NW Cruiser NET on the SSB at 8am so when we got to the entrance to the harbor at Utila, Czech N Mate called us and gave us some good advice on the navigation. Actually we could see the deep channel between the reefs quite clearly once there. We were anchored by 10:30 am. After checking in with Customs/Immigration and the Port Captain we spent most of the day just resting up.

Munchie's Cafe is a favorite breakfast hang out on their
breezy front porch.

The enormous number of wires strung in a
haphazard fashion force some strange
pruning on the trees.

The local elementary school during a boisterous lunch session

The variety and well kept cottages and gardens are a delight
for the eye

This huge private motor yacht anchored in the harbor
along with the cruisers. In the background is the
Honduran mountain range on the mainland over 40 miles
away (and the mountains are even further)

Walking along the shore west we came to some lovely
public beaches

Where the sunbather can have a long private stretch of beach

After a few hours of walking we needed some sustenance.
Here, the nachos from El Picante.

That's John the owner and now a friend.

Walking east from the town we enjoyed the charming
private homes and small Inns

Most have a Victorian cottage look about them

And most are quite small and have a front porch where we
often saw the residents sitting and watching the foot traffic

Most of the food was local but occasionally the chefs
branched out.

Debby and Jerry from Czech N Mate, our cruising friends
from Tortugal Marina and Oklahoma.

And new friends Cindy and Scott on Amazing Grace. They
headed up to Cuba from Utila while we and Czech N Mate
went on to Roatan.

On the next day we explored the town, walking up to the east. We became friends with Judy and Chris. She runs a lovely gift shop and he runs a cafe/theater. We had lunch with Czech N Mate and their friends Amazing Grace at the Bucchaneer and met the owners Melly and Patrick. Previews of that night's Academy Awards were on and I expressed regret that we couldn't see it because we were worried about leaving our boats for the evening (our guide book calls this harbor Burglery Bay). Patrick picked up the phone and called the Mayor and arranged for a patrol boat to keep an eye on the harbor! So we all came in for dinner and managed to stay awake till about 9:30 pm (Cruiser midnight). On Monday we took a long walk down to the end of road going west. A lagoon entrance there prevents going further by foot - most traffic on the island is by boat. There are few roads. For lunch we went to El Piquante and met owner John. We were the only ones there to start and he sat down with us. What an interesting life he has led, born in the Congo, immigrated with his parents to California and 8 years ago he married an Honduran and they moved here. That after noon we had some great snorkeling out on the main reef, right on the edge of the drop off. Our good friend Barbara who we stayed with in Florida in January arranged for us to contact her friends Maria and Roger who live down on the western end of the island. They picked us up on our boat and took us out to lunch on Tuesday. We really enjoyed their company and will spend more time with them on another visit. Due to weather constraints we decided to move on to French Harbor, Roatan the next day with Jerry and Debby. More to come...

Tobacco Cay, Belize

Jim takes photos of our boat as we do the same to Emerald
Seas. We're on our way from Blue Ground Range to Tobacco.

Tobacco Cay

We joined Jim and Renate on Emerald Seas for a week out to the barrier islands of Tobacco and Tobacco Range during a good weather window. Tobacco is a tiny island, only 3 acres, but packed with equally small "resorts" and around 20 residents. Tobacco Cay Lodge is the largest of the 4 places and consists of 4 cottages contained 2 rooms each (see photos below). A wooden relief carving of a fish identifies each room. They have a minuscule "store" and a small bar.
We were greeted by honorary dockmaster George who gave us a tour. One of my favorite areas is shown below with the memorial to Grace Lane. The beautiful "road" through their compound was lined with conch shells and lovingly kept up by her family.
We anchored in sandy patches right off the reef north of the island. Our anchors bit right in, happily as the winds blew hard at night. Even though the waves broke on the reef, it was bumpy enough so we decided to move over to nearby Tobacco Range Cays next. This has a very well protected anchorage tucked in between small mangrove islands. The entrance was difficult and we scraped our bottom across the sand going in, but realized once there that we had gone too far to the left. We had no problem on the way out.
The snorkeling was great everywhere. The coral reefs are lovely and what we normally do, but here we snorkeled the mangrove roots for the first time and saw lots of fish, many juveniles of types we see out on the reefs. We saw manatees also and Jim managed to swim with them!
We were joined by Free Will, a boat that Jim and Renate had cruised with in Cuba. They had us all over for tea one afternoon and we had everyone back to our boat for the next evening. We left them there finally to head back to Placencia, as we had a date with Dan and Barbara, old friends of Russ Wolf. Scott and I are planning to sail overnight to Honduras in a few days. More on that to come.

Scott made bread and I did a big salad with
ham, feta, green beans and lots more.

The picnic tables at the Tobacco Cay Lodge Bar

A memorial to Grace Lane who built the
lovely shell "lane" along the east side of the
island.

What a beautiful street in Paradise.

I think these cottages belong to the Tobacco Cay lodge but
there are 4 or 5 little "resorts" on this tiny island

One of the cottages with 2 rooms

Looking along the south side of the cay

These elevated walkways used to belong
to a now defunct "resort" here. Only one of
them was (barely) usable still.

Another view of the east side of the cay facing the reef.

This abondoned hut now is home to an Osprey family

The Eagle rays were very easy to spot in the shallow water

That's Scott Free in the distance off the shore

"Dockmaster" George welcomes new arrivals and takes
you for a tour around the island.

Local kids dive and swim off the docks.

The Monkey River Tour, Monkey River Village, Belize

After hearing several cruisers rave about the Monkey River Tour as led by Percy Gordon, I arranged for 7 of us to take it together. Percy picked us up at Yoli's at 8:15pm in a fast boat. It took us about 50 minutes to get to the village but the trip was really fun. We did some bouncing through the waves off shore for awhile (but with padded seats thank goodness) and then wound our way through the mangroves. Percy stopped a few times to listen for oncoming boats as the waterways were narrow and we couldn't imagine how he knew his way. Sometimes, knowing it was safe, he put the pedal down and it was a fun ride. The village of Monkey River now has only 200 people but back when the banana industry was thriving there was a population of 2500. In 1891 it was a town but in 1981 it was downgraded to a village. They got electricity only a few months ago. We were able to walk around a bit at the village and use the clean bathroom at Alice's Restaurant, where we later had a very good lunch. Then back in the boat we slowly went up the river, stopping as Percy saw birds, bats, a small crocodile, and a big green lizard. The scenery was lovely with a variety of trees and plants that Percy pointed out, along with a description of the medicinal and practical uses. We got out further up and spent an hour observing the howler monkeys. To attract them and get their attention Percy pounded on the tree and howled - just like them. We had lots of time with one big family group. The teenager was fun to watch and the mother with a tiny baby who couldn't keep his eyes off us. Per instruction we all worked on keeping our mouths shut (hard to do when you're looking up) as the monkeys love to shit or pee down on the onlookers. Percy also showed us termite nests and the various uses of the plants; leaves, roots, stems and branches. It was interesting and fun. We could have had a swim but no one volunteered (maybe it was the crocodile we saw earlier). Back at the village we had a delicious lunch at Percy's mother's restaurant. Unfortunately she passed away only a month previous. His niece however did a great job. We had a choice of chicken or fish with coconut rice and cole slaw. Yummy. On the way back we stopped to watch a family of manatees. They come up to the surface occasionally but not for long, although I got one shot of a young one. It was a great day and we are all thankful for Percy's expertise and charm. You can see him online at his web site www.kingofthehowlers.com. He was featured in Esquire magazine and on Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures.

Mary and Bill from "Backstage Pass"

Can you see the 4 small bats hanging on the underside of
this branch? Our guide did from quite far away.

The water is fresh but murky with silt and the vegetation
lush on both sides

This green lizard, quite large, was sunning himself

These huge bird nests hang from the trees and are
built by the Oropendulas. We saw these before
in Trinidad.

Percy's boat pulled up along the bank

These thorns are hacked off by machete
and used as security like broken glass on
walls.

Percy's hand is crawling with red termites. They taste a bit
like oranges. Scott has tried them!

That's the termites nest

Mary wears one of the leaves which Percy
picked off a tree as decoration. They stick
like velcro to any thing.

Walking through a stand of giant ferns.

We watched a tribe of howler monkeys for some time. This
is a juvenile that moved twice as much as his elders

I have two shots of this mother with her baby clinging on
her back and staring at us. 

Mom looks around to see what the fuss is about but it
doesn't stop her eating. The baby is still staring a us - he's
just above her tail. 

Our guide Percy, the King of the Howlers, 

Heather with her "leaf decoration"

Suzie from Joyous, Renata and Jim from Emerald Seas, Scott and Heather, Bill and Mary from Backstage Pass

Jim drinks from a branch Percy cut, these are
a source of fresh water while hiking.

Climbing down to the boat from the steep bank required
some dexterity. 

Even Scott has a leaf decoration, although smaller

Percy pointed out many birds but unfortunately I can't
remember their names.

As you can see it was a beautiful day, although to be
honest almost all our days here are like this.

Renata, Mary and Suzie with Percy and his son Perceival
(Percy Junior) behind.

Our delicous lunch prepared by Percy's
neice. His mother Alice died only a month
ago. We were very sad to hear. 

The cook and staff at Alice's Restaurant

The restaurant itself.

The gift shop. Monkey River village had no electricity until
a few months ago. Percy says it was because the person
in charge is now a woman!

We saw a family of manatees on the way back.