So after we were denied checking out of Honduras in Roatan we decided to sail east to the next bay island Utila. To at least get a little bit less nautical miles to Mexico and to check out from there on Monday. We were expecting perfect weather conditions according to windfinder. But sadly there where no wind and we motored pretty much all the way.
On our way there we caught a tuna and I started to make some sushi just as we arrived in the anchorage and the boys when to the bar to get a Wi-Fi password and a new weather report. It was still ok to go to Mexico.
So on Monday morning at 9.00 we were ready standing outside the immigations office ready to leave. We knocked on the immigration office door but there where no one there. So we asked the port captain and he said that he should be in after 10. So we decided to go for a walk and explore the island a little. A little after 10 we were back at the office still no one there, we meet a local he said that the guy that works there is not very reliable and comes and goes a little like he pleases. He also told us that the woman he replaced just left yesterday and that it could take days before the guy showes up. After standing there a while a police officer comes by and says that the immigration guy been there and that we have missed him but that he would be back after 12. So we went back to the boat and waited. At around 1 we were once again outside the office. We waited for half an hour before deeming it a lost cause to check out and thereby staying until the the next weather window.
So what to do on Utila, it’s famous for its diving on the second largest barrier reef. So the whole island is filled with dive places hostels and dive shops. We were so surprised about being almost old incomparasing to the travellers usually we are the youngest when traveling among cruisers.
We decided not to dive but to snorkel instead not in the mood to pull out all the gear and having done some dives in Roatan. We also took a day walking around the south part of the island finding a bat cave on the way. We also tried to find this smuggler plane from Colombia that had crashed there in 2009, but we didn’t find it and when we got internet again we read that it had been removed.
We ended up staying on utila for 12 days and it rained so much. When we first got there we had like four sunny days but the rest was crap. So we ended up not doing so much exploring. We tried the nightlife a couple of times and meet some really cool people both locals and backpackers. One local introduced us to the utila song. it’s hilarious and the fact that we had trouble leaving. I put the YouTube link below.
The local that introduced us to the song had been on vacation and ended up staying. He had now lived there for 7 years…. Amazing 🙂
The backpackers we meet introduced us to baleladas it’s a stuffed tortilla and it is super cheap. We played like 40 limpiar for one of the more expensive once which is like less than 2 dollars and they were yummy too. So we went back to get more another night.
We knew that the weather usually change in 5 to 7 days intervals around this time of year so when we had stayed a week we saw that we had a good weather window once more ahead. So the plan was to leave on Friday morning, on Wednesday night a familiar boat enters the bay it’s Jack and Susie from Roatan. So we went over to their boat after they had anchored and spent some time talking and catching up with gossip. They were planning to go to Rio dulce Guatemala also on Friday. They didnt want to take thier dingy down fo one day so we offered our services and took them around on our dingy along with Pat and Dave whom they sailed with. It was really nice to see some familiar faces. They also told us that we would probably run into Michelle and Steve in Isla mujeres Mexico.
So on Friday we waved them once again farewell as they left west while we went up North… next stop Mexico.
SV Chibidarra 