Monday, June 18, 2012

Crossing the Gulfo de Honduras

Leaving Cozumel

Lions, tigers, waterspouts. Oh, my! Other than a couple of day trips down the Yucatan Coast, we had yet to really venture out into the Caribbean Sea, having spent all of our time loving on the Gulf of Mexico (And what's not to love!). Up until this point we were pretty sure that a beam reach was a mariner's myth, the unicorn of the sailing world, but no longer. Now, we are fully indoctrinated into Caribbean sailing which includes beam reaches, beam seas and a schizophrenic mixture of gorgeous and horrendous weather. Highlights of our trip include:

1. The most intense fuel dock we've encountered yet at the marina in Cozumel. No blithely stepping off the boat onto the dock here. Instead, it required maneuvering Bettie next to a massive concrete wall complete with jagged, rusty metal protrusions, throwing lines up ten feet to the dock guys and then scrambling up giant tires wrapped in this rope that was bigger around than Vlad's arms.

It looks more impressive in person, I swear.

2. More seasickness from yours truly. I know that's more of a lowlight, but I'm slowly learning how to deal with my mal de mer problem using such methods as drugs, lying on my back with my eyes closed and, well, thats pretty much all I've got. On the bright side, I'm over it in one and a half days.

3. Kite flying at sea. Nuff said.


4. Squally squalls. We ran into a lot of these during our days out on the ocean. Most of them we managed to skirt around the edge of, but we got caught in a couple that generated 30 knot winds and six foot seas. There's just not a lot you can do about these puppies except reef the sails and hope your electronics avoid lightening strike. We always put one reef in the main at night because you can't see them coming very well. One of the squalls even generated a waterspout, which is kind of like a mini water tornado snaking out of the thunderhead. It was kind of cool to look at from a distance, a very long distance. And of course, all I could think about afterward was 'what if we ran into one of those at night.'


5. Dolphins greeting us as we got into Roatan. More than a dozen followed us for 20 minutes. So cool! And hopefully the video works.


For those of you who might be making this trip, it took us about three and a half days to go the 250 miles. (And, yes, we are slow, but a full day of that was trying to get into Roatan, a lovely development that I will discuss further.) We headed south down the coast of Mexico staying close to the shore, and then after passing by the Chinchorro Banks, we headed straight for Honduras. Why not go straight to Roatan from Cozumel? Ahhh, because, as we've discovered, you might be out of the Gulf of Mexico, but the current that feeds into it is still going strong. There is a countercurrent between half a mile and a mile off the shore that we took advantage of during the daylight. 

Once you get past the Chinchorro Banks, though, the current curves out to sea which makes it possible to finally go in a straight line. All was well, despite squalls, up until we got to Roatan. Then, the wind picked up and was straight on our nose, and a strong current grabbed us, going in the opposite direction of course. And as luck would also have it, the engine overheated. We spent a frustrating 12 hours Thursday, from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m., trying to get into Roatan all the while looking directly at the lush tropical island. But doesn't that make anchoring all the sweeter? 



10 comments:

  1. The video is working just perfectly for me. And YAY for kite flying! So glad you guys made it in and got to hang with Excellent Adventure. Can't wait to see what you think of Honduras.

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    1. So far, we love it. I've heard from others in the cruising community that you have to watch your stuff, but other than that we've had nothing but good vibes from the people here. And the island is AMAZING.

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  2. I love the video, we got to watch a momma and baby playing about 100 ft from us on the beach this weekend :)

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    1. We've seen a couple of big pods, and they are amazing to watch!

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  3. A beam reach with Dolphins! I'd put up with a lot to have that experience. We have porpoises here, but they ignore boats completely.
    Poor you with the sea sickness! I hope that doesn't continue, glad to hear it goes away for you.
    Sounds like a lovely trip, with just enough irritation to make the arrival even better!

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    1. The whole beam reach thing isn't too shabby! But never fear, the next leg of our trip is straight into the wind. For 150 miles.

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  4. What type of meds are you using for sea sickness? For a long time nothing worked for me until I tried the scopolamine. Its a little too strong out of the box so we cut the dosage in half. We sailed across mobile bay recently in some very bad weather and rode out a very bumpy storm at anchor and didn't get sick. I'm also the person that used to get car sick reading billboards.

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    1. I've been using the patches as well, but while it keeps me from getting super sick (like I did on the Gulf crossing) I still feel crummy for about a day and a half. After that, though, I'm fine.

      I'm glad you guys made it through that storm all in one piece. Sounds like a wild ride! That Boss anchor is looking like a pretty good investment.

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  5. Awesome Story, Love the HUGE tires. Ha, "you mean That's the fuel dock?, How?"

    Awesome dolphins, they somehow make everything better, Tate and I tried to think of something that comes close to them and we can't think of anything, Dolphins are the cute puppies of the sea.

    Waterspouts are pretty scary things if you are close and can't tell which way they are going. When I was a young girl down on the coastal waters of Louisiana, at a fishing camp WAY out on the water, I saw 8 water spouts at one time. You could only see them when it would lightning and light up the sky. It was wild and i'll never forget it.

    I also deal with seasickness and hate the way medicine make me feel, although med sickness>seasickness for me anyways.
    Be Safe!
    Dani

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    1. Eight waterspouts!! That sounds like something I'd like to see ... from a distance. :) The medicine isn't that bad, but it does make me sleepy and just a little off. I wish I could be more like Vlad with his iron stomach.

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