Sunday 6 Mar, Honduras day 4, Guanaja: Move to El Bight and explore
The other 3 yachts anchored with us next to Josh’s Cay all depart for Roatan this morning. Before they leave, I run around to each of them in the dinghy, exchanging boat cards so that we can keep in touch. And we also decide to move, but for us only a couple of miles to the SW, into a sheltered bay called El Bight, tucking into a corner behind a reef, just north of the main town.
But we decide to delay our move until midday when the sun is highest, because the entrance to El Bight is the same area where we had accidentally bumped the bottom a few days ago, when the dull light had been anything-but good to see the dangerous outcrops of reef.
At midday, the anchor comes up with its chain all nice and clean for once and we have very soon motored level with the entry into El Bight. Here we turn right and go in very cautiously, with the engine on tick-over (giving us just 3kts speed) and me standing on the bow pulpit rail looking out for shallows and at the same time steering the boat using a remote control, to control the autohelm. This is quite a handy piece of kit, despite the fact you can only change course 1 degree at a time. Meaning that if we need a 10 degree turn, I have to press the damned button 10 times. So for the big turns I simply shout back to Oana in the cockpit where the main autohelm control has a button for a full 10 degree change. For instance, I would shout: “plus 30”, meaning 30 degrees turn to starboard, or “minus 60”, meaning a 60 degree turn to port. At the same time, Oana calls the depths back to me whilst she is also at-the-ready to slam the engine into reverse at my command.
This all works well, and we manage to weave our way passed several coral heads (none of which are marked on our charts) and safely into El Bight. We will have to perfect this technique for the Pacific islands and atolls. Plus, I’m thinking I will also install a look-ahead sonar which will give a 3D underwater image of the seabed, 50m in-front of us and 30deg either side of our forward direction. One thing for certain, we absolutely must stop this habit of touching the seabed!
There are 2 other cruising yachts also anchored in the Bight. One small and rather tatty German ketch and the other a Canadian Moody-44. Which is a bit of a coincidence because we were anchored right next to another Moody-44 earlier this morning. We anchor further out into the bight than the other boats. Any closer and we may well get unwelcome visitors at dusk, in the form of no-see-ums or mosquitos. Neither of which we much enjoy the nibbling company of!
Once settled on the anchor we are fairly quick to jump into the dinghy and set off for some exploring. The wind will pick up strongly from the east tomorrow and we want to be on the other side (west side) of the island for that, so we only plan just one night here, leaving only today to explore what is around the bay.
As we tootle with the dinghy along the shore, our first stop is Manatee restaurant which is in a large rather austere looking wooden building with its own mini-inlet and dock. The bar and restaurant are very rustic and other than the owner’s family, no guests are there. And there is no menu. She simply tells us what she can cook: lion fish, prawns, schnitzel and hamburger. We move on.
Next, we dock right in the corner of the Bight where a team of men are repairing the dock. A quick walk up the hill brings us to a narrow road just wide enough for bikes. This winds its way along the ridge passing several private houses, each with its own view over the main bay and each with a private beach. Nothing exotic. Just simple houses, but clearly foreign owned. Some likely rentable. At the top of the road is a huge wooden building which turns out to be a very funkily decorated hotel, the Guanaja Beach Hotel, which has a huge very nicely presented dining terrace. We look at the menu and again move on.
Back in the dinghy a very rustic looking beach bar has caught our eye. The thatched roof bar is half on stilts in the water and half built on floats. And under the shady palms on the beach are very basic picnic type tables and wooden seating. Best of all there is a wonderful atmosphere. Today is Sunday and it appears to attract many locals from the town. Families are all sit together around one table, others are in hammocks strung between the palms and in the water many small children are playing very nicely together. They have a beaten-up paddle board and a genuine dug-out canoe to play on. There are all ages, some likely no more than 2 years old, but they seem totally free to do whatever they like with no griping parents (though we are sure parents are keeping an eye on them). There are no loud voices, no annoying music, just quiet chatter, the sound of children playing, birds in the trees, and …. get this … there is not a mobile phone in sight. Just old-style interaction. So refreshing to see and we are quite mesmerized by the scene around us.
In this bay, the restaurants seem to have a German theme to their food. This one has a dish with German sausage, which of course I just have to order. They also reputedly grow their own veggies, and the owner takes us to show his garden. At the same time we pass the open kitchen where the pizza oven is a 44-gallon drum sitting over a log fire. Rather unique.
We sit and eat, sipping our beer, taking in the surroundings for as long as our bums can stand the hard wooden seats. And after an hour or 2 we slip away back to the boat, giving 2 little boys a short chase in their wooden dug-out canoe before heading off to Cloudy Bay.
Back on Cloudy Bay we have a quiet evening. It was a good day.