Chapter One: Philosopher Terry and the Auto Helm

I had the privilege of staying on Interlude with Karen and Cheryl for nearly 4 weeks. I wanted to experience a passage from Roatan to The Hobbies and “around the corner” to Providencia, Columbia. However, as Terry, a long time sailor, part time philosopher and our host at Mango Creek said, “You will be waiting for parts all around the world, so you can’t be on a schedule and enjoy the wait”. True words and the inspiration of this blog entry title.
Interlude received great news on 1/11 - the Auto Helm had arrived at Turtle Grass. So the next day we left the friendly confines of Roatan’s West End headed to Calabash, a 24 mile motor towards the east end of the island. There, we joined Mark and Lori for the grand opening of Turtle Grass Cafe, a cute little restaurant in the bay. They served coconut shrimp and fries, my favorite!
The next day we motored 2 miles further east to Port Royal, where we were greeted by Terry and Patrice, owners of Mango Creek, a cute fishing resort on Roatan. The weekend was enjoyable, weather was great, and the Auto Helm replacement project dominated discussion as we prepared for starting the project on 1/16. In layman’s terms, the Auto Helm allows you to tell it what direction you’re heading and it takes you in a straight line from there to whenever you tell it to change directions. It’s a technologically advanced way to tie the steering wheel down. In keeping with Terry’s sage words on scheduling, the 2-3 day installation didn’t go as planned. It was day 6 before we were finally ready to drive in a circle to teach “the brain” more about the boat and to set the internal compass. Karen drove the circle exceptionally well, and “Otto” as it’s labeled on the electrical panel did terrifically well with “port,” but “starboard” . . . not so much.
We were at a standstill until Monday. We decided to take a day off and dive in Port Royal. This end of the island has limited diving so the coral is in terrific shape. Lion fish are not native here, have no predators, and are destroying the reef. The Roatan Marine Park has a program to eliminate the lion fish so Karen and Cheryl got hunting licenses and spears last year. On this dive, Cheryl speared 2 lion fish (one with eggs), so many, many lion fish were eliminated which is great for the reef. The highlight for me was seeing 32 squid near the surface, a cool sighting! The next day, we did a conch roundup. We collected about 156 of them and put them into the conch sanctuary at Mango Creek.
It’s now Monday, back to installation of the Auto Helm where my primary role for the past 8 days has been the extremely complicated, highly technical, high stress position that is empowered to turn the wheel “just one more time” – hard over port, hard over starboard, center. I worked all alone while it took up to 4 people to do the “other job” in the aft (back) cabin of the boat installing the hardware and sending up/yelling up instructions on which way to turn the wheel. We performed at least 3 more 360’s to no avail. The bottom line was the rudder sensor in the control unit was flawed so a new component had to be shipped from the states. With the installation on hold, we went back to Calabash. Karen and Cheryl went to Immigration to ensure they were legal in Roatan and I went to work for a day at The Turtle Shack. I served and Mark cooked but when Karen and Cheryl returned they volunteered to work as well. No tips but we all got t-shirts and had a great day as we waited out strong winds and weather that even caused the cruise ships to bypass Roatan for 2 days.
On 1/26 we left Calabash and were planning to go to Cayos Cochinos, another of the Bay Islands of Honduras but, again our schedule changed as seas were too high, so we ended up in French Harbour, about 8 miles west of Calabash. Two days later, we sailed/motored to Cayos and it was worth the wait as this place is terrific! We snorkeled, went diving, read, climbed to the lighthouse, and spent time with Greg and Judy, more terrific people Cheryl and Karen have met along the way. A fun and relaxing break from the Auto Helm installation was had by all.
On 2/1 we sailed back to the West End – exactly where I started but this year, unlike the past 3 trips to Interlude, I experienced her under sail, saw many parts of Roatan, met great people, and decided boat work is just that, work. The crossing to Columbia would have been fun but a crossing will have to wait for another year as I am now headed back to The States with the control unit in my suitcase so it can be returned to the company but the good news is the new unit is projected to arrive in Roatan on 2/8. All we know is the unit (along with a generator …. more boat work) made it to Miami in time to make the boat to Roatan but there is no way to know whether it’s on the boat or if the boat will arrive on schedule.
Thanks for the friendship, fun, and food aboard Interlude. I officially transfer my Galley Crew responsibilities (dishes) back to you.
Deb

Chapter Two: Auto Helm & Generator Installation
Is the Auto Helm installation complete?
Is there a weather window?
Did this all get done before your passports expire?
Stay tune

Bruce's Christmas Vacation, Part 2 (The 2012 version)

I arrived in Roatan on December 19, 9 kilos overweight (luggage not myself, I wish I was 9 kilos overweight) and had to pay $180!!! for it. I was informed that the rain had just stopped and it was mostly dry for the duration of my stay.

This was unusual as it is usually the other way around!!!

I did a number of snorkels and I cannot imagine ever becoming bored with it. The best is coming to a rock/coral and just wait a little. Gradually the fish ignore you and come out and go about their business: cleaning parasites, chasing other fish off, etc. Then I look up and it seems there is a roadway around me, just like in “Finding Nemo”. I find it hard to believe there is a problem with lionfish as I didn't see any this year, ate quite a bit, but didn't see any. The only trouble with snorkeling is people yelling at me to hurry up because they are freezing (and they were) and then attempting to get back into the dinghy.

On my last snorkel an octopus was pointed out to me but I did not see it at first (I think/hope due to camouflage).

But as you can see from the pictures he came out of his shell so to speak. He must have wondered about these weird misshaped octopi following him (only four arms).

I kept on bumping in to Bruce.

There are pictures of one driving Interlude and another as an anchor.

There were also a number in the food store. Bruce's yams, okra.etc.

We started out at West End for a few nights and provisioning (mostly wine -- cases and cases of it) and in the morning gassing up, when I was abandoned, at Slippery Sue's, to turn in the car. The first night's dinner was rotisserie chicken, in West End, a treat.
On to Cayos Cochinos for Christmas. At one time there were 8-10 boats going to join us (just a slight exaggeration) at Judy and Greg’s, more boats than there were mooring balls. On Christmas Eve Rudolph the red-nosed dingy appeared (not sure if that was Cheryl's red nose or Trouble's).

A good time was had by all and three days of leftovers after Christmas. The smoked turkey was a good as I remembered it from last year. We walked/plodded/slogged our way up to the lighthouse on Boxing Day. Luckily for me Judy brought water but even so I didn't have the energy to go up the lighthouse when we got there and then on the way back we missed a turn and almost ended up on the wrong side of the island. Our hour and a half hike became a 4 hour one!!
New Years was at Mango Creek and was celebrated with a pot luck. The New Year was rung in at the much more reasonable hour of 8:30 (p.m. that is).