Sailing to Isla Mujeres?? NO Roatan, Honduras

 The weather guru of the Caribbean, Chris Parker said today is the day you better leave Providencia as it is the ONLY day we will NOT have winds from the north. So up with the anchor and off we went. The first day was pleasant with the sails full and sunshine. Seas were calm with 15 knots of wind filling the sails on the second day. THEN we were at the cape of Honduras, no wind, 2 1/2 knots of negative current on our nose, TERRIBLE CONFUSED SEAS
and
 as you see on the radar below, we hit the squalls.....the big pink blob around our boat is all the tall, thick rain clouds!!

It only gets better....S/V Espiritu downloaded a weather map that said it was going to get worse!!! We made the decision to alter course from Isla Mujeres, Mexico (2 more nights of sailing) to Roatan, Honduras (one more night in this @#%$#$^%#$weather).

Talaria at anchor in the quiet French Harbor of Roatan. Good decisions can still be made at sea by old, tired sailors.

Thanksgiving in Providencia

Rondon

The Fish and Farm Cooperative is an organization to help the islanders have a sustainable fishing industry. They have completely fished out all the conch and there are marine scientists from the  USA helping them to bring conch back to the island and establish sustainable practices. The cooperative is the only place you are supposed to be able to buy fish on the island and the prices are reasonable. We bought large shrimp for $7/lb, land crab for $4/lb and snapper for $8/lb. We went back to the coop for a special traditional island dish called rondon. It is made with fish, yucca, plantains and yams cooked as a stew. It is traditional to be served on Sunday at large family gatherings. 

Then the coop decided to have Thanksgiving dinner for all the boats anchored in the harbor. There were 8 boats hiding out from strong northerlies at the time. We had 30 people gathered for a great feast.  Ariel and Orville (islanders who work at the coop) got a turkey and made mashed potatoes, cornbread and even lime pie (we are on an island)

crew of Talaria, Blue and Streamed Spirit

Isla Providencia

The island people are so friendly. Everyone wants to help you enjoy their paradise, 481 miles north of mainland Columbia. The island has approx 5,000 inhabitants and they are dependent on the arrival of supply ships from San Andres or Costa Rica 3 times a week. The primary transportation is motorcycles or Vespas and you can see up to 4 people on a small cycle. Dick, Maureen (SV Blue) and us rented a Mistubishi Mule, which is a golf cart with a bigger engine and explored the island.

Wisconsin beer

honey made on the island, there are 2 apiaries

the local meeting place in Isabella

there is only one gas station but this one isn't it!

The airport with 2 flights a day to San Andres island, 44 miles south of Providencia

crotches of trees drying to repair antique life boats belonging to the Coast Guard

boat to be repaired

life boats on the east side of the island

McBean Lagoon is a UNESCO protected area

This is the dock we land our dinghy at to go to town. One day a small cruise ship was in the harbor. It is anchored in the entrance of the harbor as the actual harbor where we anchored is only 8 to 10 feet deep, too shallow for a boat that large.

one of the building in the village of Isabella

We stopped at every beach on the island. The first was on the East side Manchaneel Beach. The beaches are owned by the government and leased back to the little local village nearby for $60.00 a year to maintain and run the concessions. All the people we spoke to have a great ownership of the beach they protect and maintain. It appears to be a good system. The beaches were immaculate and the people friendly (again).

beach swing

The four of us were the only ones at Manchaneel bay that day. Beach keepers said it becomes busy on the weekends with locals and holidays with vacationers.

 Onward we puttsed around the island to Southwest Bay Beach. There is a nice dive resort there called Miss Mary's Decameron. Next to it is Arturo's restaurant, no signage but 2 islanders told us to eat there.

conch

Arturo with some of his great food cooked over an open fire

Yellow tail snapper

Arturo's kitchen

Arturo's assistant who also sells turtle shell jewelry out of the restaurant. I didn't get pictures of the restaurant where you sit 500 ft from the waters edge with your feet in the sand as you eat this amazing food. We had a mixed grill of snapper, conch, lobster, crab and rice cooked in coconut milk. YUM

straining the milk from the coconut meat

grating the fresh coconut

the stove

SV Blue and Talaria at anchor in the harbor

looking across the bay to the small island of Catalina, connected to Providencia by a bridge

There are signs all over the island support the islanders desire for NO oil drilling in the nearby fishing banks. These oil rich fishing banks is what Nicaragua is trying to obtain from Columbia, causing the Navy to have ships in the area.

motorcycles are the primary source of transportation

Catholic school

snoball likes it when we return to the boat

rainbows over Isla Catalina