Being the adventures of the Intrepids aboard the good ship WOW, a 45’ carbon fibre custom built racing catamaran making its way around the world from Thailand. This phase of the voyage begins in Rio Dulce in Guatemala, sailing north through the reefs of Belize and up the Yucatan coast to Cancun in Mexico before heading south to the Bay Islands of Honduras, Providencia in Colombia, Bocas del Toro and the San Blas Islands of Panama and then on to Cartagena on the Colombian mainland.
We resume the ship’s log approaching Utila, Honduras after a 300 nm 48 hour sail from Mexico. Utila appears on the horizon on queue, just where the sat nav said it should be, about 35nm off the Honduran coast where soaring peaks are glinting in the rosy dawn. After anchoring in its peaceful harbour we make our way via a convenient coffee shop to the port captain and immigration office. Fortunately the immigration lady has returned this morning after a 10 day absence when no yachts could come or go, and after fingerprinting us and taking our photos we are admitted and free to explore this island.
Utila is the smallest of the 3 Bay Island, about 8 km long and largely flat with one small conical hill towards the eastern end. It’s a former volcano, which as sea levels rose developed a fringing coral reef now clad in mangroves and forming the main part of the island. There are about a dozen other yachts in the harbour, mostly from europe and north america and the main street of the town which is lined with ramshackle brightly coloured wooden buildings is busy with yachties and divers.
The snorkelling and diving around Utila’s fringing reef is excellent, attracting visitors from all over the world. We take the dinghy out to the edge of the reef and spend an afternoon chasing barracuda, octopus, spotted rays and millions of brightly coloured fish amongst the coral in 10-15m of clear blue water. Then we explore a channel through the mangroves, deep into the island past hidden landing stages and isolated houses until we emerge on the other side of the island. The channel provides a secret passage right through the island which was exploited by Henry Morgan, one of the island’s earliest residents. The locals maintain that Robinson Crusoe is also supposed to have hung out here but that’s harder to believe as he could have easily gone to the mainland if he wanted. However we can see the attractions of island life, with its relaxed ambience, friendly residents, many descendants from pirates and slaves, coffee shops, bars and restaurants but eventually the time comes to leave and we set sail for the next island of Roatan, 35 miles to the east.
Roatan is a much larger more mountainous island which has become a favourite destination for cruise ships. We drop anchor at French Harbour, well away from the cruise liners at Coxen Hole, passing through a narrow channel between the reef, but the yacht club is closed, the restaurant deserted although the evening twilight is rent by the sounds of donkeys, lions (well our South African expert assures us they are lions) and howler monkeys. After an overnight stay we move on to the third and last island of Guanaja another day's sail to the west.
Guanaja is also very green and mountainous, but is the least visited of the three. Almost all its population lives hugger mugger on a tiny island called Bonacca in its bay mostly in houses built on stilts. We never find out why they live there rather than on the main island which appears much more suitable for building a town. However, it’s a prosperous fishing community and despite its crowded dwellings has gardens, playgrounds and a large school. We find a rooftop bar with a panoramic view to survey the island and its bay and after visiting the immigration man and port captain we motor a few miles west to anchor off Graham’s Place, a small palm fringed coral cay with one of the best beaches in the Caribbean. Graham’s Place is a small immaculately kept resort with pink, blue and yellow guest houses lining the beach, a well stocked bar and extensive supplies of lobster, prawns and fish. There are turtles and rays but we are told they are not on the menu, just for watching.
We host a full moon party on board WOW for the yachties on the three other boats anchored around us, including a british couple who’ve been sailing the world for 10 years, an american pilot sailing single handed through the caribbean and a swiss girl, also sailing single handed but whose yacht was dismasted on her way from Providencia and who is cheerfully facing a month’s wait in Guanaja whilst a new one is made.
Then with favourable northerly winds it’s on to Providencia, a tiny Colombian island off the coast of Nicaragua. It’s a 2 day and night sail with a following wind and a full moon to navigate by. The Nicaraguan coast is reputed to be pretty lawless so we keep a watchful eye for pirates and turn our nav lights and AIS off although as the moon light is almost as bright as day it’s probably futile. We see a few boats but none is flying a jolly roger so we feel safe, although we do alter course when a boat appears to be approaching dead ahead. It turns out to be Mars but you just can’t be too careful.
We come into Providencia, another surprising mountainous island at dawn, following a well marked channel with lots of red and green buoys, a contrast to many of the places we have visited where navigation aides are largely figments of the chart’s imagination, or where they do exist comprise flimsy sticks stuck in the water at random. It's another laid back sort of place, settled by english and french pirates including Captain Morgan whose treasure is buried in a cave marked by a large cross. It was also settled by puritans from Boston fleeing the decadent liberal ways their coreligionists had developed. They were joined by freed or escaped slaves, many as a result of the ships they were being transported in being captured by pirates. The result is a melange of ethnicities with very laid back approach to life,but few tourists venture here, although there is a sporadic ferry to the neighbouring larger island of San Andres 65nm south which has become a favourite holiday destination for the Bogota elite.
Meanwhile Providencia remains largely undeveloped, with a few family run guest houses on the beach, a couple of boutique hotels and a lot of people waiting for the coconuts to fall from the trees. We spend our time swimming, snorkelling in the impossibly blue water and hanging out at Miss Francia’s, a place which serves some of the best margaritas in the western Caribbean. There’s a big party for international women’s day one evening with apparently unlimited food and wine for the women of the island and a rock band which plays until 3 am. We rent a four wheel drive buggy to explore the island, it’s all of 8km long, and drive along every road, discovering Roland’s Reggae bar on the beach at the southern tip and the seven shades of blue in the sea off Crab Cay, a tiny island on the east side where we spend the morning snorkelling. There are horse races on the beach at SouthWest bay on saturdays so we head down there and have a very languid liquid lunch on the beach. It’s island time all the time in Old Providence.
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