Oct. 28-Nov. 18, 2008-Our trip to Florida was very pleasant with a stop in Virginia to visit with Christa, John, the adorable Alexa and fun guy, John Douglas. Our next stop was to visit with Kelly, Tommy and their wonder dog Mia . We spent 2 weeks in Florida getting reacquainted with our daughter, Alison and Joe’s Dad who is doing very well at the age of 90. We drove over to visit with my brother, Richard and we caught up with some of our friends. We also rec’d the news of the birth of the newest member of our family-Brock Fuller-proud parents are Todd and Carrie. What a blessing he is. Our friends, Al & Jill, were onboard their boat Dragonfly in the boat yard so we spent many hours visiting with them, Jill & Helen did their walk & talk and Joe gave Al his opinion on the boat repairs on Dragonfly. They’ll be making a passage to the Virgin Islands after Thanksgiving and we’ll be following them on the SSB radio.

On Nov. 18th we flew out of Tampa to Ft. Lauderdale and then on to San Pedro Sula, Honduras arriving there at 1:00 A.M. on the 19th. We hung out the airport until 5:00 A.M. when we took a taxi to the Bus Terminal and caught a 6:00 A.M. bus to the Rio Dulce, Guatemala. We arrived there at 11:30. After a quick trip to the Banco and the Supermacardo, we were picked up by the launcha from Marios and so glad to see DejaVu again. All was well onboard and we moved over to the dock. Spent the next week in the Rio Dulce cleaning, fixing systems and enjoying the company of our fellow cruisers. We shared a Thanksgiving feast with 80 other cruisers at Marios Marina. The guys from Marios cooked 6 turkeys and 2 hams in a fire pit and the cruisers provided the side dishes-absolutely delicious. I made homemade bread despite a small mishap-the oven went out so I tried to re-light it and the extra propane blew up-luckily it went out quickly but not before singeing my hair, eyebrows and eyelashes.

On Nov. 20th we made our way down the river to Livingston to check out. After you cross the El Golfete, the 10 mile long bay, the next six miles of the river run through a spectacular gorge with steep limestone cliffs soaring to 300 feet overhead. We watched the sunrise over the mountains and waved to the fishermen out in their cayuco’s. We stopped in Livingston so Joe could go ashore and checkout of Guatemala and then we continued on to Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras.

Nov. 28th-29th-Made the passage from Guatemala to Port Royal, Bay Islands, Honduras-no problems, except when our new autopilot decided to make an abrupt turn toward mainland Honduras-it was affected by the signal from the Single sideband radio-need to put a ground strap on it. So good to arrive at Port Royal and were hailed by our friends Tom & Stanna saying they had dinner ready for us. We had been underway for 27.5 hrs.

Nov. 29th-Dec. 20th-Great being here on a mooring and occasionally on the dock so Joe could do work on the boat, visiting every day with Tom & Stanna, having access to the washing machine and lots of water. We went to the vegetable market every Sat. in Oakridge and visited with other friends on the island and fellow cruisers. Did some snorkeling and saw a small shark, some beautiful reef fish and coral, an octopus, a spotted ray. Joe helped Tom with chores at Casa Gusto and Tom helped Joe with the boat rigging, dinghy repair and numerous updates on the computer. One day we had 6 boats in the harbour – time to have a “dock party”. Stanna, Gloria and Helen even made Christmas cookies and del’d them to friends on the island.

Just so you know that we don’t just sit around all winter and party with our friends, here’s a list of the jobs Joe has had to do so far-more later we’re sure:

starting from the bow-anchor windlass-both switches stopped working but was able to put new button switches into the housing using an inner tube patch as new rubber, it's working for now
-bridle on the gull stryker-replaced it -that was originally on the list
-re-laced the tramps-all of the lacing had deteriorated
-installed the new chainplates-that was actually the easiest of all of the jobs with Tom's help
-new auto pilot-had to cut a hole thru the transom for the rudder angle indicator and spent countless hrs. learning to the adjust the dumb thing-on our passage from Guatemala it was affected by the radio and made a quick turn toward mainland Honduras-not where we were going. Also the hole in the transom allowed two bats to come into the boat while we were anchored at Port Royal-after the 2nd one Joe was getting good at herding bats and Helen was ready to abandon ship-the hole has been covered with brushes
-engines-fuel supply line on port engine came loose, both water pumps seemed to loosen themselves, both alternator belts were not properly aligned by engine installer-now seem ok
-hot water heater not working-giving up on hot showers
-head-first we found it leaking when we returned to the boat-couldn’t find the leak until I checked the inline container for the spa tablet was affected by the tablet and softened the plastic and rubber which damaged the seals in the head which caused the salt water pump not to work right-still ongoing with modifications to make the salt water pump and head work
-stove-flame cannot be adjusted so we get a hot flame on the sides of all pans-have changed to black dish cloths and towels
-Sirius radio antenna stopped working-ordered a new one and then managed to repair the cable leading to the antenna with tons of tape and so far it's working but we have a spare now after two trips to shipping to pick it up
-salt water tap in galley sink dripped continuously was able to repair it but damage to the metal so will have to install new one soon
-dinghy-leaking water from the transom-think that's fixed thanks to lots of glue and help from Tom
-fuel-Joe figured we had extra today so he over filled the day tank and probably lost 8 gals. Overboard

Imagine dealing with all of that and not being able to have a "rum and tang"

What was Helen doing during all of this-lots of reading, cleaning up after Joe and keeping him happy with bakied bread, tortillas, English muffins, cakes and cookies.


Dec. 20th-We reluctantly left Port Royal but if we’re going to make it to Panama, we needed to get fuel and pick up a package so we said our sad goodbyes to Tom & Stanna and got underway. Now getting fuel is not as easy as driving up to the gas dock. We got together with 4 other boats and ordered enough fuel to have a fuel truck come to a marina nearby-one of the boats was a 44’ Trawler, Sylvia Kay, and they needed 300 gals. so that got the attention of the gas company. After fueling up, we went to French Harbour, anchored and went ashore to pick up our package and some provisions.

Dec. 21st-Up early and Joe said we were getting underway-anchorage was very noise the night before with local boats buzzing around and the dogs and roosters talking to each other all night long. We motor/sailed to Guanaja and anchored at Josh’s Cay. This Cay is just 500 yards long, palm trees line the beach and there’s a colorful resort wit 4 cottages, a main house and a thatched roof bar. The owner of the island, Graham, welcomes cruisers with fresh water, ice, internet. We actually got a good signal from the boat. The water was crystal clear so we jumped right in and explored around the boat where was found many conch and small fish. There is a dolphin living in the sound and we enjoy watching him swim back and forth just a few feet from our boat.

Dec. 22nd-Moved the boat over to the settlement so Joe could go in and check out of Honduras. The officials will be taking time off for the Holidays so we wanted to get checked out and be ready when got a weather window to head to Panama. We are now officially checked out of Honduras. Had a nice sail back to Josh’s Cay-yes, I said “sail”. We enjoyed tacking back and forth and actually sailing for the first time this season.

Dec. 23- Went ashore to say hi to Graham and do some beachcombing. We stopped at the bar for drinks and to do some internet banking. We visited with a couple from BC who are staying at the resort-the husband is enjoying the flat’s fishing and his wife enjoys the snorkeling. There are 3 other boats in the anchorage and they’re all from Canada-Sault Ste. Marie, Thornbury and Alberta. We’ll join them all for a Christmas potluck.

Dec. 24-I was net controller for the NW Caribbean Net-Tom helped me by doing the weather and it went well. The sun is trying to come out, my laundry has finally dry and we’re ready to jump into the water. Joe will gather some conch and will make conch fritters for the potluck.

We wish all of you a Merry Christmas and hope to update this blog when we reach Panama.