Expats and Coral Reefs of Guanaja

On Halloween morning, we moved Mantra back to the lee side of Bonacca Cay (We had moved the previous afternoon to be away from the town.) so that we could clear in with the port captain, whom we just missed the previous afternoon. Another man greeted us on the dock and directed us where to tie up our dinghy and helped us out. He wanted to show us where to find everything, but we explained that we had already paid Mario too much the previous day for that service. Nevertheless, he followed us to the port captain’s office and waited outside for money, which we did not give him. Also at the dock, a young boy asked if we would pay him to watch our dinghy. I asked an adult nearby why he wasn’t in school and was told that he goes when he feels like it! Although there was absolutely no need to have the dinghy watched, particularly since we chained it to the dock, Peter agreed to give him a dollar when we returned in a couple of hours.

After our business at the port captain’s office, we went to the bar where Mario had told us the ex-pats gather on Thursdays. We were too late for lunch, which consisted of one choice, but we each had a beer and chatted with people from the US and Germany who have made Guanaja, Honduras their home. There are quite a few characters in the expat community of the island, but they were all very welcoming and invited us to visit them at their homes. 

We then went in search of lunch and found a cute little restaurant, Pat's Pizza. We decided to share a vegetarian pizza. The owner told us it would be ready in 30-35 minutes if we wanted to return, so we walked around some more. Along the windward shore of the cay, we were awed by Magnificent Frigatebirds in flight. (Magnificent is not used as an adjective; it’s part of the name. But, they are magnificent.) It must be mating season, because the males, which are all black, had bright red throat pouches which they can inflate to attract mates. Both genders have long, forked, scissor-like tails. The leading edge of their exceptionally long wings form a wide, obtuse angle.  The females also sport iridescent black feathers except for their breasts, which are white. Relative to their weight, Magnificent Frigatebirds have the largest wingspan of any bird. They are a joy to watch in flight.

Female Magnificent Frigatebird

When we returned to the small, comfortable and colorfully decorated restaurant, the pizza was not yet ready, so we waited. Then, a young female employee brought it to us, all wrapped up in foil and placed in a large plastic bag. We explained that we had hoped to eat it there. After some confusion, we learned that the restaurant was actually closed, although the door was open. They had stayed to make our pizza. We told them we had not realized that they were closed and got ready to pay and leave when an old woman, perhaps the mother of the owner, came out and insisted that we sit down to enjoy our pizza. She said that she would remain so that the young woman could go home for lunch. She was so gracious that we could not refuse her generous offer--besides, we were really hungry and the pizza smelled really good!

We bought some produce and a freshly baked loaf of bread and returned to the dock. The boy saw us coming and ran over to our dinghy; he couldn’t have seen it from where he was. Peter gave him the equivalent of a dollar plus some change in limperas, the national currency. Rather than cheerfully thanking us, he just pouted and said, “Another dollar?” Peter told him that if he did not go to school and study hard, he might end up on that dock for the rest of his life, trying to make enough money doing menial tasks. He didn’t seem to care.

Back on Mantra, we pulled up anchored and went back to El Bight, our previous location and enjoyed a quiet evening.

It was an organizing and inventory day on Friday, Nov. 1. I organized all the cleaning supplies that were under the bathroom sink and the sink in our bedroom and moved the ones that are for on deck cleaner to the aft lazarette. The previous owners had duplicates of many things.  For example, the varnished wood floor (or sole) of the interior is just not that big, so I cannot understand why there would be a need for four different types of floor cleaning liquids. There are also four different gallon containers of mold and mildew cleaner which I have not had to use since we bought the boat in March 2018. 

In the aft lazarette, which Peter and I worked on together, there are a number of solvents, several different kinds of metal polish, various brands and types of fiberglass cleaner and wax, brass cleaners, canvas cleaners and waterproofing agents and other maintenance substances. It will take us years to use all of them.

Early in the evening, after leftover pizza, we dinghied over to the palapa covered bar of Hans Pico, a German expat whom we met on Thursday. We were the only custumers, so we conversed with him about his life, his farming, his beer brewing and his wine making from tropical fruits.

On Saturday, Nov. 2, after a slow morning, we dinghied over to visit Jim and Cathy, US expats from the backwoods of Georgia who have lived on the island for over 25 years. He was an underwater demolition specialist and she was an herbalist. As we have gotten to know the various expats in Honduras,we have realized that there is a difference in character between them and the ones we met in Boca de Toros, Panamá. In Panamá, the expats seemed to be retired professional people who have left their countries for a tropical paradise where they can buy property relatively cheaply on their savings and have a less hectic lifestyle than in the States or elsewhere. On Guanaja, the expats all seem to be non-conformists who chose to settle here to live off the land, grow marijuana as well as other crops, and have little interference from any government. If we were going to become expats, one of the motivating factors for us would be escape from the pro-gun culture in the States. The expats in Guanaja are gun loving folks who believe that their rights to own and use guns was too restricted in the US!

After our visit with Jim and Cathy, we went to the restaurant up on the hill above El Bight called Mi Casa Too. Each of the risers of the 167 steps are painted in bright colors as are various signposts along the way, so the climb is enjoyable. We were attending a fundraising event for a local environmental non-profit. We joined some other expats we had met on Bonacca Cay on Thursday. As part of the festivities, there was a game of ocean trivia, with categories such as coral, mangroves, global warming and plastic. Of the five teams, ours won easily; I knew the answers to all the questions! We had dinner and drinks while we were there and stayed until a later afternoon shower, which produced a wonderful percussion on the rooftop, ceased and we made our way back to our boat in the night.

Peter ascending the stairs to Mi Casa Too

The skies were clear as the morning began on the morning of Sunday, Nov. 3, but by the time we were debating what to do, torrential rain began and Peter was able to fill all of our bottles for drinking water and put about 200 gallons in the tanks. After lunch, we pulled up anchor just as another sailboat was coming into the anchorage. We traveled for about a half hour to the north side of Josh’s Cay, part of a long reef that borders the southeast end of the island. Another sailboat was there, but it was pulling up anchor as we circled to find a spot, so we had the place to ourselves. (This seems to be our modus operandi.)

We put the anchor, the rope ladder and snorkeling gear in the dinghy and motored over to the gently breaking waves of the fringe reef. On the inside, there was grass and sand and a few coral patches, but we found a shallow way through the breakers, following an ocean triggerfish,and came across an entirely different marine environment where coral canyons ten to twenty feet deep formed narrow rows with white sandy bottoms. Hundreds of blue tangs and doctorfish greeted us, and we also saw gorgeous adult and juvenile French angelfish among the other types of angelfish, parrotfish, wrasses, snappers and other tropical fish. Peter discovered an octopus and I spotted a couple of small toadfish hiding under ledges. There was an abundance of elkhorn coral. All of the coral seemed healthy except for patches of fire coral, which were bleached to pure white, their algae killed by something which did not seem to affect the other species.

We stopped on Josh’s Cay on the way back to Mantra to check out the resort called Grahm’s Place. It is a lovely, well-maintained resort with colorful bungalows and an attractive restaurant and bar stretched along a sandy beach. Hammocks hang from trees and three green parrots and one red and blue macaw squawk from their cage, which I think is much too small for them. 

On Monday, Nov. 4, in the morning, Peter worked yet again on the small dinghy motor. I believe that he has spent more time working on that engine than we have actually used it. After a couple of hours, he was quite optimistic that he had it running well. He took it for a test run and then we put our snorkeling gear in to go to another part of the fringe reef. The engine fired right up, and then it died suddenly only 100 feet from the boat. After another ten minutes or so of fiddling, Peter had it running again, and we made it to the reef. We had to duck walk backward over the highest part to get to the outside, where the coral formations dropped off into the depths. The best thing we saw was a nine foot nurse shark quietly resting on the sandy bottom between reef ridges. It was, we think, the largest one we have ever seen. There were also blue and French angelfish, both adults and juveniles, yellowtail snappers and Rock Beauties as well as one unwanted lionfish. 

In the late afternoon, we dinghied over to the main island to visit expats from Michigan, Don and Annette and their daughter Asalen. Don worked in construction before retiring, and he is obviously a stickler for quality and detail. Their property is simply gorgeous, although just three years ago it was jungle and muddy swamp. They have a long dock which meets the land on a large sandy beach. Inland from this is their garden with fruit trees and vegetables, bordered by blossoming tropical shrubs. Their home is comprised of three main buildings connected by covered walkways and rising up the hillside. The lowest is the living area and the middle is an entertainment area with its own full kitchen and a large solid mahogany table produced by local craftspeople, as was all of their rattan furniture. Their bedrooms, with an expansive verandah encircling the building, are in the highest building with a panoramic view of the lower property, the sea and the cays south of the island. The predominant color is turquoise, inside and out, and it is an extremely tranquil and welcoming place. They have made themselves a tropical paradise.

After visiting with them, we dinghied over to Graham’s Place. It is low season in the Bay Islands, so there was only one family having dinner besides us. We were so impressed with this resort. Everything looks like a fresh coat of bright paint was just expertly applied last week. The sand is freshly raked. Plus, the service was excellent, menu was extensive and the food we ordered was delicious and a nice change from our cuisine on the boat.

The next morning, Tuesday, Nov. 5, we pulled up anchor and sailed and motored around the eastern end of the island to Michael's Rock. This anchorage had been recommended for its excellent snorkeling. A wide reef extends along the entire north shore of Guanaja; weeks could be spent here without snorkeling in the same place twice. The part that we swam over was without a doubt the most spectacular shallow reef we have seen, with a great variety of coral, sponges, algae, gorgonians and fish. I even saw a small turtle (not sure if it was a hawksbill or a green turtle). Among the mutlitude of jacks, grunts, angelfish, butterflyfish, snappers, squirrelfish, parrotfish, wrasses, surgeonfish, damselfish and other tropical fish, we saw a large queen angelfish; a long trumpetfish; little iridescent blue chromis that seem to glow from inside; an abundance of barred, blue and indigo hamlets; a red hind (a type of grouper) with its tan speckled body and black margined tail; a spotted burrfish; a balloonfish; and a smooth trunkfish. My hands and feet were like prunes by the time I returned to the boat. 

Right before sunset, we pulled up anchor to head off to the island of Útila on an overnight sail. We put up the mainsail inside the protected reef while heading into the wind and then, while, turning back on course, accidently and suddenly ran into a large chunk of reef, making a crunching, grating sound. “Reverse, reverse!” I yelled and we backed off. That was a first, and we don’t want to do that again!

Sailing and motoring overnight, only encountering one brief squall and no pirates, we arrived mid-morning today, Nov. 6--greeted by dolphins, including a baby--in the bay off the only town on the small island of Útila. The sun was intense by the time we dropped anchor, making even the teak sole of the cockpit fiery on our feet. Peter is now sleeping since he was awake more than I was during the night. When he awakes, we will explore the town and then figure out where to snorkle. Reefs are everywhere! This is our last stop before leaving the boat in Rio Dulce, Gautemala, so it’s the last opportunity for snorkeling this year.

Dophins off the bow