Discovering Guanaja
It was early June, 2016. It was time to leave the Cayman Islands. Maribeth and I retrieved our anchor at daybreak, motored out of Governors Harbor, and raised sails as we headed out of North Sound. Our intention was to sail the 460 miles to Livingston, Guatemala, at the mouth of the Rio Dulce.
It was an excellent passage. The wind was SE at 15 to 20 knots. We were heading WSW, so it was a fast, relatively comfortable reach. We did 4 hour watches, and the nights passed easily. On the second day, we crossed paths with several large freighters on routes between the Yucatan Channel and the Panama Canal. Late in the day, we passed the Swan Islands (Isla de Santillas.) We never came close enough to see land, but a big lumbering Honduran military plane flew out from the island and circled us. We waved.
It was our habit to listen to Chris Parker's weather broadcast each morning on the single sideband radio. On the third morning, he spoke of winds building to 30 knots or more. It was going to get uncomfortable. We were only 45 miles or so from Guanaja, the eastern most of the Bay Islands of Honduras. So we determined to make the stop and rest for a couple days until the weather settled down.
And so we found Paradise. Guanaja offers all the best of Caribbean landfalls. It is a gorgeous mountainous island covered in pines and palms, and surrounded by clear blue water. It has cheap good beer, free protected anchorages, friendly people, excellent food, abundant easily accessible great-tasting water, outstanding snorkeling (the healthiest, most diverse coral reefs we've found,) and mountain hikes with clear cool waterfalls.
Maribeth walked the beach on Guanaja’s north shore.
The principal anchorage is called “El Bight.” I noted in my logbook one evening that there were 8 other sailboats anchored nearby: three from France, two from Canada, one from England, and two from the U.S. On a typical evening, sailors gathered at Manati, a nearby restaurant, mingled with the locals, and tried to tell stories and discuss the weather in our respective languages. It sounded like the Tower of Babel, but somehow we understood each other.
One of Guanaja’s waterfalls.
Maribeth and I took La Peregrina on a three-day circumnavigation of the island, staying for two nights in a beautiful quiet anchorage on the relatively unpopulated north side of the island. We celebrated our wedding anniversary there with margaritas in the cockpit. No other sailors, no cell phone service, no internet, no radio traffic, but one really impressive sunset. Perfect.
La Peregrina anchored in El Bight.
Our two-day stopped became ten days. If friends and family were there, we may have never left. But hurricane season was approaching, and we wanted to spend the summer in the Rio Dulce. Some day, we’ll return to Guanaja.