The Roatan Story

Mark Writes:

The first of March, I spent over an hour under water, but the big red buoy is now anchored at the entrance to Calabash bight! 

  The original plan to use a 20 foot long iron bar that was imbedded in the coral failed.

   At first the bar was holding, but after a short time I noticed it lifting ever so slightly then it started moving a lot. Ugh! What now?  This bar was the only good solid place I had found to anchor this channel marker. Disappointed, I began swimming and looking around at all the junk sitting at the bottom, remnants of previous attempts at anchoring markers.  Almost right away, I spotted a very large block/pulley assembly that shrimp boats use on the end of their spars to haul the nets in.  This is a substantially heavy object and it was also lodged in a crevasse in the coral right at the outer edge of the reef, just where I needed it!  Only time will tell if this is sufficient enough against the waves that roll onto the reef during inclement weather.  Of course I will be checking it frequently the first few months and I feel fairly confident that it will hold.  I think the greatest threat is still the possibility of it mysteriously disappearing in the night.

Mike and Sue on Infini (a Westsail 43) are one of the couples that had spent a large part of February anchored in Calabash Bight.   After Mike sat in the Vista Cruiser for over an hour (making sure I didn’t drown) while I secured the red buoy, I drove him to the airport to pick up his friend Allen coming in on a new direct Continental flight from Newark, NJ.  Allen’s flight was running two hours late so we stopped and had a couple of cold drinks and I bought a ginger plant for Lori and puttered around some.  When we arrived back in Calabash, we found that two sailboats (Helen Louise and Zippidee Du) had departed during the day. Then, Infini left the next day. For several weeks we had the company of cruising sailboats and now our bight was empty.  Lori and I looked at each other sadly and she said, “What are we going to do now?”  We had enjoyed their company so much, it had been a great time for all and we hope to see them again next time around. Many cruisers are finding out that the Western Caribbean is a great place to be and that prices aren’t outrageous like the Eastern Caribbean, at least not yet. I expect we will see more cruising sailboats around Roatan in the coming years as people find this out and word gets around.

Now that is was just the two of us again, it was time to get back to business and work at tying up all the loose ends strewn everywhere.  We began by making a trip to Calabash Bight Cay to see Gremlin. Last time I saw it, the poor thing was cut in half.  We were surprised to find Kelvin there actually working on it.  Gremlin was most of the way back together with nice side seats and looking like it might be a boat once again.  This was a relief as we had a hard time believing this would happen after all the promises that were broken over the last four to five weeks.  A few days later, Kelvin delivered our boat and I was disappointed in the quality of work.  It had been lengthened and the seats looked nice but it was flimsy and poorly put together.  To put it bluntly, I was very sorry I had done this to poor Gremlin and I am ashamed to even be seen in it as Kelvin ultimately butchered the job. We won’t be doing any more business with him nor recommending his work.  The only other thing I can say is now it really does look like a Gremlin, ‘nuff said. 

The first week of March, the fence around the Oak Ridge lot was completed. 

 The gates were hung and ready for use.  I will have to wait for a while, at least until I get the house built, before I build the shed and garage along with expanded dock facilities. This in turn should get our Oak Ridge Boat Works going as we intend to build Panga's (like our Vista Cruiser) for people interested in it.  The Panga is a good flats fishing boat that also handles the seas and shallows.  It is a good all around boat and is light enough that a 25 horse outboard pushes it along just fine.  The locally built boats have wood in them which makes them weigh around 1200 to 1600 pounds instead of our 525 pound all fiberglass Panga.  Months ago, I found resin and fiberglass on the mainland in La Ceiba at reasonable prices.  So, obtaining materials when we start building boats in Oak Ridge shouldn’t be an issue. Oh, and other than a box of garbage flung over the fence from BJ’s side to our lot, we have had no further problems with her over the property line dispute.  When I get WiFi service into Oak Ridge, Lori hopes I will mount a webcam at the lot and then be able to catch people in the act of trashing our place!

On the 6^th of March, Lori and I went snorkeling around the bight.  After getting out of the water at our dock and rinsing off, I picked up and was carrying a large mooring buoy around the base of Turtlegrass pequeño (the guesthouse) and slipped on a small rock and dropped six feet.  I twisted my ankle pretty bad and it swelled up and turned black, blue, green and purple and hurt like the dickens! 

 I was laid up for two weeks solid and of course Lori was my nurse attendant and did a good job!

The day before I hurt myself, I had picked up five tiny chicks from the feed store. 

 Last month, Alana had brought us three hens, but after Lucy flew the coop and disappeared, we were down to just Onyx and Oreo.  For a good egg supply, we needed more than two chickens.  We had a special little coop made just for the new chicks but unfortunately we discovered that our dogs were able to break into it.  At first, the dogs just left a gaping hole which allowed the chicks to escape.  Since I was crippled with my giant, multi-colored ankle, it was up to Lori to scramble up and down the hill and through the mangroves after the chicks.  After several attempts, she finally captured them all and restored the little coop.  Lori thought she had made it dog proof but the next morning she saw Maggie trotting across the dock with something in her mouth.  Lori said she saw little yellow feet sticking out and I yelled at Maggie to drop it.  It was one of the chicks.  That darn dog is a good hunter.  Now what do we do?  Answer: get bigger chickens that can defend themselves and so we did. The family is now six strong and one is a rooster which should be able to peck and spur Maggie onto ventures other than chicken molesting!

We are still waiting on the Zolitur, or tax and duty free trade zone. We have applied and waited for about five weeks.  I have been stopping by the Zolitur office every time I go out west and the story is always that they are waiting for the attorney to review the application.   The other morning at the airport, our attorney, Cristiana Carbajal, spotted Italo Tugliana who is the attorney who formed the Zolitur law and now reviews all applications (One of the benefits of living on a small island is you are bound to run into people easily!).  Cristiana and I walked (she walked and I hobbled) over and inquired with him directly about the status of my application.  Italo stated that he had already reviewed it and found it satisfactory.  It is NOW awaiting a representative of the Tax Ministry to come to the island and sign it. This should happen the first week in April.  Lori is getting anxious for me to order the lumber for the house and it looks like we won’t have to wait much longer to make tax free purchases!

The reason our attorney, Cristiana, along with Lori and I were at the airport in the first place was because we were traveling to the mainland to finalize our status as Honduran residents.  After initiating the procedure a year ago, Cristiana informed us that our application had finally been accepted. The three of us flew to Tegucigalpa, the capitol of Honduras, on March 27th. 

 The 27^th was also Cristiana’s birthday.  We couldn’t believe she chose this date to spend with us filling out forms! WE went to Migration ourselves and obtained our temporary residency papers. 

 We will receive the actual ID cards within 90 days. Now we are officially Honduran Residents!  Lori and I feel this is a major accomplishment since we know quite a few other Americans that have not received their residency and have been at the process for over two years.  I have to thank a few new friends for helping us out with this and also our attorney, since without her we wouldn’t have been able to jump through all the hoops and achieve our resident status.

Otherwise it has been very peaceful for the most part.  My ankle is much better but still swells when I over do it.   Guess I need to relax and keep it propped up for another week or so.  Of course this means I will be forced to lay in my hammock some more, Darn…….

Lori Writes:

Well, some things just never change.  Mark is STILL blowing things up (himself, this past month) and laying around in his hammock all the time. 

  He also lies!  When he hurt his ankle, I was a terrible nurse!  Not only did I have to take care of him but also rise at 4:00 am with the dogs and deal with the chickens (that I didn’t even want in the first place).  After about the third day, I was exhausted and my patience was wearing thin.  When I would hear him calling, “Hey Hun” from the aft cabin, I was thinking, What the HELL do you want NOW???????  I also enjoyed torturing him.  I found a therapy online that utilizes very hot water and very cold water.  I forced him to do it even though the water temperatures were painful for him.  I also submitted him to a local remedy that calls for wrapping the ankle in a vinegar soaked rag. But since the vinegar was so smelly, I taped a grocery bag over the rag and Mark just loved sleeping in that….heehee. 

  Seriously though, I felt bad that he was in pain and incapacitated.  The healing has been a slow process but he gets better every day and has been taking care to keep it elevated whenever possible.

When reading what Mark wrote for this chapter, I noticed he left out some details in the events he reported and forgot to mention some other things all together.   For instance, where he fell off the retaining wall into the mangroves and twisted his ankle is the exact same spot one of the workers fell when the guesthouse was being constructed.  The worker’s name was Dingo and the words, “Dingo’s Drop” had been etched into the corner post of the house.  So, all you prospective visitors to Calabash Bight beware of Dingo’s Drop, it could get you too!

Mark also forgot to introduce you to the new chickens.  The first picture is (from left to right) our rooster, Fog Horn, then two hens, Latte (a butt shot) and Espresso. 

  The second picture is (from left to right) Onyx, Latte, Oreo, Lucy 2, and Fog Horn (butt shot of him in this one).

  As he said, they are big and the dogs don’t mess with them.  It will still be a couple of months before we get eggs and Fog Horn learns to crow (Oh yippee, I can’t wait for that wakeup call!). 

I may be silly for naming the chickens but Mark has been busy christening the other critters who live on our property.  We have two iguanas that hang out and sun themselves on the same rock almost every day.  The larger of the two Mark calls Lurch and his partner is Uncle Fester.  Here is a shot that Mark took of Lurch. 

  He is about three feet long.  Also we have noticed an influx of new birds.  Some have been attracted by chicken feed and others I think have come because without any construction going on it has been quiet here lately.  We see huge black birds that the locals call Ching Chings, another yellow breasted variety called a Judas Bird, and beautiful white crowned pigeons. Of course we have several wood peckers and tons of humming birds.  In the evening when the humming birds are sleeping (I assume), we have bats come to the sugar feeder.  Needless to say, Mark has many creatures to keep him entertained while he lays in his hammock and recuperates.

Though we haven’t had the boat traffic we experienced in February, we did have one sailboat come in for a day to visit with us.  We met Jim and Rosie on LeBelle back in December in Isla Mujeres.  Mark had kept in touch with Jim on the radio and when they hailed us to say they were coming to Calabash Bight, we were thrilled.  While they were here, we took them in the Vista Cruiser for a tour of the area.  Here is a picture of Jim and Rosie along with Craig, a friend of theirs from Wisconsin. 

  When the five of us rode into Oak Ridge harbor, we discovered a huge tree hung up on our dock.  Later we learned the tree had previously been stuck on BJ’s dock and Carmen knocked it loose so it floated down to us.  We could have done the same and it would have floated down to the next dock but Mark decided to do a good deed and tied off a line to the tree and we hauled it out of the harbor and hopefully out to sea. 

  It was tricky maneuvering the boat through the narrow harbor channel with the huge tree in tow but Mark managed nicely and it was the most excitement we had experienced in awhile.  All in all, we had a great day with Jim and Rosie.  They are wonderful people and we made them promise to come back next season when they sailed the circuit again.  Mark and I love it when we have company come to Calabash and it doesn’t look like we will have to wait long for the next guests to arrive.  Just the other day we learned that Graham and Sue on Chandrika (we met in the Dry Tortugas) are in Coxen Hole on Roatan and plan to sail down island to hang with us in the next day or so……yea!

Mark wrote about tying up loose ends but forgot to mention the “Bambino Caper”.  This is what he named the fiasco we suffered through with the boat that we paid to bring us fuel for Darcy’s gas station.  Long story short, Mark found a supplier on the mainland.  He transfers money online from our account to the supplier’s account.  Barrels of gas are delivered to the dock in La Ceiba and a different boat, Harmack III, picks it up and delivers it to Oak Ridge and then a dory (water taxi) delivers the barrels to Darcy’s gas station.  We have recouped our losses from the “Bambino Caper” and are actually beginning to see a profit!  I don’t know if Mark ever explained, but the deal is we put out the money to buy the gas and then Darcy is responsible for selling it and we split the profit with him at the end of each barrel.  Darcy has three kids and usually one of them is the gas station attendant.  In one of the pictures, you can see Darcy’s daughter who waited on us when we purchased fuel the other day. Between customers, she lays in her hammock (can be seen in the background). What a rough job, eh? 

A few of the other things Mark has in the works involve the two mooring buoys, his experiments with our solar power, and the new wood staircase.  I find it amazing how much he can accomplish when he is injured!  He is scouring the island for two large shrimp boat anchors or something similar to secure the mooring buoys straight out from our large dock. 

  We can then turn Aeolus stern to the dock (what they call med moor).  The advantages would include better control of the boat in windy conditions, a ramp off the stern to the dock that means I can control the dogs’ ability to board, and it would free up space for a second sailboat to med moor next to us.  Secondly, since he has the guesthouse on solar power he has been playing with the inverter and setting it to “Sell” mode which runs our meter backwards.  I expect our next power bill to be less than $20!  Last of all, I no longer have to crab walk up and down the hill to my compost bin or garden area.  We had Darcy build a wood staircase that runs from the guesthouse all the way up to the house foundation. 

  This project was quite a learning experience for me as Mark was laid up on the boat with his foot in the air and I was put in charge of construction (Uh Oh).  I thought Darcy understood and I even drew him a picture but when I checked up on him after half a day’s work, I found my stairs were being built like a ladder.  I had him rip it out and start over but the next day, when it still wasn’t looking good, I begged Mark to come to my rescue.  So, the finished product (which is very nice) is due solely to Mark laying in his hammock on the guesthouse porch and watching the construction from start to finish and correcting Darcy innumerable times.  I don’t know what I would have done without Mark….my stairs would have been a disaster!

Mark did talk about our trip to Tegucigalpa to finalize our residency but I had a couple of things to add.  First off, flying in Central America is quite an experience.  We left Roatan airport on Sosa airlines in a little puddle jumper that took us to La Ceiba.  Then, we walked across the tarmac and boarded a second small plane that flew to Tegucigalpa.  The trip home was the same routine and on all four flights, we sat in the very first row.  Mark could read all the gauges over the pilot’s shoulder and enjoyed reporting to me which ones were not working.  I repeatedly asked him to STOP doing that, I was nervous enough!  Obviously, the important gauges were working and we survived the journey.  In one of the planes everything was labeled in Russian.  Someone had put stickers written in Spanish over the Russian lettering but the stickers were mostly peeled off and I secretly hoped the pilot could read Russian.  While in Tegucigalpa, we didn’t see much more than the inside of two government buildings.  Zipping along the four lane highway in the taxi with crazy traffic, horns honking constantly, and street peddlers trying to sell something through the car window at every stop light was interesting though.  I was also surprised to see the capital has every American fast food restaurant along with a few Honduran ones. 

  Did you notice the aerial wires in the restaurant picture?  They are strung like that everywhere.  You don’t see anything larger than a 10-pair phone wire.  Now tell me I can’t get a job engineering here!

Mark’s injury slowed us down quite a bit during the month of March but we still had some amazing experiences and accomplished many things.  His injury also opened my eyes to what wonderful friends and neighbors we have here.  Everyone who learned he was hurt told me not to hesitate to call if we needed anything.  Alana came by more than once to visit and check up on Mark.  Roger from around the corner did the same.  Alex brought us a 50 pound bag of dog food when we were running low and had us over for dinner not once but twice. This picture is from our Easter dinner at Alex and Kelly’s along with Mike and Gail.

 Alex and Kelly have a fabulous home in Calabash Bight.  This picture is the Easter penguin salad that Gail made for the meal.  (And yes, that is chunks of lobster surrounding Mr. Penguin, yum!) 

  So, another month has gone by already and still no house started yet.  But, for the most part, I am not bothered by that. We are having the time of our lives just being here and when things get a little difficult, we get by with a little help from our friends…..Life is good.