Saturday after breakfast ashore to get the blog published we continued to wander around the town and I spotted a hair salon – so went in and I got attended to straight away, even though she was in the middle of having her own hair done LOL.
We headed back to Morphie in the afternoon and enjoyed a beautiful sunset and amazing colours of the night sky before having an early night.
At 6.00 am on Sunday we picked up and motored out alongside Utila into a very sloppy sea – and, of course, the wind direction is not what was forecast. Our direction is NE to Roatan – a 33 mile passage in total – and, of course, the wind is directly on our nose. We went off the wind and pulled out the sails and were going quite well into the large lumpy seas and persevered with it – but, of course, at some point we would have to tack back. To avoid going too close to the Honduran mainland we decided to motorsail the last leg so that we could hold a more acute angle to the wind and towards our destination.
We approached the entrance cut to bring us to Fantasy Island and could only see one marker – the second red appeared to be missing. Then the marina dock master radioed us to give advice and we realised that a local boat was actually tied to the first marker and we had to go very closely behind him and then immediately to starboard to enter the channel. What a daft thing to do!! A few more direction changes, with me reef spotting on the bow for a little while, and finally we got into our slip by 2pm. Well – it is not actually a slip – it is a big boardwalk that surrounds the 22 acre island and boats get tied alongside all the way round. Beautiful water too…..
We got ourselves organised – met some cruisers who gave us the low down on the honour system in the dock’s palapa bar – and went for a wander. Fantasy Island’s hotel is a bit run down and there are very few guests around. So the beach was pretty much deserted and so was the pool.
Very pretty surroundings and we enjoyed meeting the local coypu who wander around and seem friendly. We also came across some peacocks but sadly they ran off before I could get a photo of them.
Walking back to Morphie later that afternoon we stopped off at the bar, chatted to Steve and Debbie (the new dock masters) and met some other cruisers. We were very surprised to see Larry (SV Starstream) who we had last seen about three years ago in Grenada. Here on Fantasy Island there are three monkeys running wild and each with their own unique character – Cheeky being the naughty boy who runs around like a looney; likes to steal drinks; make noise by bashing on the roof; swings like crazy on the electricity wires; and occasionally breaks things that get in his way. The other two (girls) are more timid but very friendly – and here’s one saying hi to me! I got kissed on the cheek and Richard got his ears licked LOL.
We were warned not to leave sandals on the dock as they will go missing – and, if they steal something, you have to trade with them to get it back. They particularly like water bottles and monkey nuts unsurprisingly…..
Monday morning and we washed Morphie down and went by dinghy into the lagoon to Booksby Bay where we were able to drop our laundry off. We went around the island and admired the views from the water……
Coming back we took ourselves off to the beach and went bobbing…. There were four people on the whole place – lovely water and soft sand. Then we went to the pool and continued bobbing there.
Was a really chilled afternoon – followed by a couple of cold ones in the cruisers bar – before going back to Morphie for dinner and a beautiful Roatan sunset.
Tuesday was a busy day. At 11.30 the fruit and veg man turned up with his truck and I had fun picking out my fresh produce.
Back to Morphie to store it – then back out again at 3pm for the courtesy bus that takes the cruisers to Eldons, the large supermarket. This was a great place and we were lucky to be constrained by the bus timetable which only gave us about 50 minutes in total – just enough to make a significant dent in the wallet and to get some drinking vouchers out of the ATM.
Back to Morphie to store our goodies and a quick turnaround to get cleaned up and changed in preparation for the 5.30pm water shuttle that was taking us over to Frenchies for dinner. As we were sitting on the boat waiting to go, Cheeky decided that he wanted to come. Debbie got him off the boat and he sat looking really dejected….holding her hand pleading to come LOL. In the end he gave up and lay down while we slipped away from the dock. Ah bless.
Oh yes and Libby came too. Libby is Steve and Debbie’s toy poodle – who even went shopping with them inside a baby sling! For the evening she had swapped her baby sling for a shopping bag….
We had a nice evening and enjoyed chatting to fellow cruisers and we were surprised to find that the family we were chatting to were ones that we had read about who had been shipwrecked on the reefs in Mexico. As the authorities rescued them from their grounded yacht and took them away from the scene to get them legally checked in the boat was completely ransacked by a gang and by the time the family returned everything they owned had been stolen or destroyed. In the process of trying to get the boat off the reef it was holed and the mast broken so they lost everything. They are now living with their father / grandfather on his 56 foot ketch here in Fantasy Island. Small world eh?!?
Wednesday morning and we met Caroline and Scott – who had hired a car for the day and offered to take us out with them. First stop was Ace Hardware and Richard managed to come away without any new shiny tools – must be a first!!! Second stop was the mall and we managed to get a SIM card for our unlocked Samsung phone so we can use the internet on board. Next stop was back to Eldons and this time we wandered around and took note of all the things we will fill up with before we leave Roatan. But as we plan to be here for a little while we only purchased a few things. Scott bought us back to Morphie while Caroline continued shopping – she was onto her second trolley when we left LOL – so we just chilled out.
Later on we reconvened and headed back out in the car – destination was Cals, a cantina that comes highly recommended. The views were stunning and shows just how green and lush this mountainous island is. Some big houses snuggling into the woods too….
We had a lovely lunch – and a cocktail – before heading back out in the car.
We were heading towards the East End of the island and looking for a place called Lionfish Louie’s. We found a sign and followed this dirt path down to the beach. We were lucky as the cruise ship tourists had just left so we had the place to ourselves – the beach was absolutely spectacular and we loved the trees that had been manicured to turn them into unique beach umbrellas.
Moving on we continued into the mountains – this time looking for a place called La Serena. Well….the dirt road just kept going…..and it was so dusty all the trees were covered in a layer of dirt…..and the sleeping policemen were large and we heard the car bonk a few times…… Are we there yet???
We thought that we must have gone wrong as the road continued to wind up and down the hills – giving us spectacular views out to the reef – until we spotted a sign which said ‘Nearly there!’ so we continued for another couple of miles and arrived at this lovely over-the-sea bar.
The beach was shingly rather than soft sand but still very attractive and the place even has a huge pet pig that eats all the organic leftovers from the kitchen! It was a great find – and it served monster rum punches!
Sadly we couldn’t linger as the sun was about to go down and we did not want to be on the roads after dark – so we made a quick bathroom stop – and headed off back to the marina, stopping for a little while to say goodbye to the sun.
Had been a lovely day and thanks to Scott and Caroline for inviting us along. Back to the marina and we all piled into the cruisers bar – we’d missed the BBQ night by now – but we joined in and had a few pontoonies before saying farewell and heading back to Morphie, suitably hydrated.
This morning – Thursday – and we’re chilling onboard.
Planning a quiet day as we are diving tomorrow, which we’re really looking forward to.
Bye for now
Jan