So we were once again back in Roatan after a nice couple of weeks hanging out in Guanaja. We came back with the plan to just visit our friends in french harbor for a couple of days and stocking up on food before continuing on towards Utila, the last of the Bay Islands. So we arrived on Thursday and met up with everyone at the palapa bar for a couple of days and then waited for some nice weather to go sailing. But with no good weather window for quite some time we got stuck in Roatan for more then a week extra instead. But it is nice here and we spent the days building our new kitesurfing board. It is finally starting to look like a proper board now and we are just missing some epoxy to be able to finish it. But we have to wait until Mexico for that. W managed to do some boatwork and also celebrated Steve’s, from the vessel Pili Aloha, birthday. And Hanna got to cuddle with a monkey as well.
So during our time in Roatan we were still unaffected and pretty much unaware of the Corona crisis spreading in the world. As time was flying we decided to sail straight to Mexico and skip Utila since we were running out of time and were supposed to pick up a crew member in Cuba later on.
We found a nice weather window and booked a taxi to go check out on Saturday morning so we could leave on Sunday or early Monday morning. But things did not really work out as planned. A bit hangover we got to the taxi and Felix drove us to the immigration office. The immigration officer looked a bit confused and starting to make phone calls. We waited for a while not understanding what the problem was since we do not speak that much Spanish. But after he hangs up the phone he just states ”you cant leave, nobody is allowed to leave the island because of the weather”. So we tried a little bit but it was not his decision, he called the port captain and he decides those things. Damn not a good day today. But at least we can go shopping so we told Felix the cabdriver to go to Ace hardware instead. Not really understanding why we where not going to the Port Captain as we should, Felix does not speak English. So arriving at the hardware store our luck continues, closed on saturdays, damn it. But at least the supermarket was open and we could buy some food. Not the most fun day we had in a while.
So back in the anchorage we had 2 options wait until Monday and check out then and hope the weather window is long enough, or sail over to utila and check out there early Monday morning and be off. We did not want to pay more taxi rides in Roatan so we decided to sail to Utila on Sunday and just check out an leave from there, and that is a story for another time.
//Andreas
SV Chibidarra 