GET OFF THIS BOAT!!!!!!!

The dinghy of our friends on Beez Neez hangs lifeless after being intentionally punctured and slashed by an unknown vandal.

      First, the good news. Espiritu enjoyed an uneventful one night passage from Roatan, Honduras to Belize, and is now anchored happily at Placencia, Belize. For the first time in many, many passages, there was not a single storm or engine failure. What a blessed relief.

 Honduras, statistically speaking, is one of the most dangerous countries on the planet. They have the highest murder rate in the world. Higher than Somalia, people. While most of that murdering happens on the Honduran mainland and is drug related, the island of Roatan is not an unviolent place.

 During our two months there, we heard stories. Like the one from our friend Al, an American expat with a beautiful waterfront home in Sandy Bay. When he had us over for dinner, he took us on a tour of the grounds. Pointing to his neighbor's high end home, he shared in passing:

"Yeah. He was murdered last night. They slashed his throat."

Sure enough, there was police tape around the area and a policeman guarded the area to prevent the evidence from being tampered with.

We were stunned at his lazze-fare reporting of this news. Just another day in Honduras.

 Mike and his pregnant wife Lilo, the owners of the Brooksy Point Yacht Club where we stayed in Roatan, live on the grounds in a lovely yellow house with their 3 children, Jean Pierre, Stephanie and Maria.

Maria and me. She speaks English and French, but Spanish is her native tongue.

Mike's house and grounds are surrounded by a high fence, but he's also got 12 German Shepherds roaming and protecting the property. TWELVE.

One of the 12 German Shepherds that guard Brooksy Point. The heart shaped water bowl is a nice touch. :-)

      So, security is a big thing here, clearly.

    Our friends aboard Beez Neez awoke one morning to find their inflatable dinghy slashed and partially sunken. No explanation was ever found.

     I thought I would wait until we've safely left Honduran waters before I shared the following story.

While in French Harbor, Roatan (Honduras) Espiritu was boarded one morning at 4AM.

   This is basically every cruisers worst nightmare, I think -- or anyway, it's right up there with storms, broken impellers and empty margarita pitchers.

  So, here's how it went down: We were sleeping soundly in the v-berth, when I heard Chris suddenly rouse and then sit perfectly still, like a hound, seeking and listening for it's prey. Then he yelled:

GET OFF THIS BOAT!!!!!!!!!!!

 We both bounded our of bed, scrambling in the pitch blackness. Chris had seen a shadowy figure in the cockpit. While Chris stormed towards the intruder, I headed straight for the nav station. I had long ago decided that if we were ever boarded at night, MY job would be to flood the boat with light. In the middle of a crowded anchorage, this is our best ally.

GET OFF THIS BOAT!!!!!!!!!

Chris's actions made me think of a heroic Harrison Ford character, firm yet non-violent. 

Chris proclaimed the command again as he stormed into the cockpit. Since Chris sounded every inch the captain that he is, the intruder promptly aborted the mission, obeyed the command, jumped off of Espiritu and back into his carved out canoe and quickly paddled off into the blackness.

 The old Texan aboard the boat next to Espiritu's called out loudly "You want me to shoot 'im?" from across the water.

 The intruder, fearful now, cried in a thick Caribbean accent: "Hey, mon, I only wanted some water!"

 Well. He may have wanted a bit more than that. Anyway, now that the spreader lights bathed Espiritu's deck with light, I was able to catch a glimpse of the guy as he rowed quickly away. He did not look or sound dangerous. He looked kind of poor, sad and scared.

 Chris and I hugged each other in relief. A quick check of the deck confirmed that nothing had been stolen.

This is a good time to share our secret weapon which, in my opinion, is the main reason this story had a happy ending: our burglar alarm.

But it's not officially a burglar alarm. It's a bug screen, which we made to cover the companionway hatch at night while we sleep.

The piece-de-resistance?   It's connected to the boat on all four edges with velcro, with it's tell-tale RRRRRIIIIIPPPPPPPPPPP! sound.

Our burglar alarm. It performed it's job well.

  Any intruder, fumbling in the darkness, would not see the velcro, and would unintentionally fire up the burglar alarm upon trying to enter the cockpit. It was this sound that roused Chris and put the crew into action.

  Well, as you can imagine, the next morning we were the talk of the anchorage. Everyone wanted to know how we felt. Did we feel angry?  Violated?

 Nope. I only had one emotion the next morning: gratitude. And relief.  Nothing was stolen. Nobody was hurt. In my opinion, this was a very good boarding. One where everything went right.

  Petty theft is everywhere, because there are unemployment and poor people everywhere. This guy -- while I did not want him on our boat, and I did not want to give him our things -- did not seem dangerous or violent.  I don't think he wanted to rape me or kill anybody.

  If you go to the movies or watch TV these days, all you see is uber-violent, sadistic murderers, killers and rapists.

Hey, kids! Let's go to the movies! 

           Call me naive (and many have), but I believe that the majority of crimes are not done by the guys you see in the movies.

The classic Saw II. While the film is rightly acknowledged for it's sparkling and intelligent script, it lacked the playful whimsy of Saw I. And as everyone knows, the nuance, script progression and deeply-wrought characterizations made Saw III the brilliant and unsurpassed cinematic achievement that it is. Well done, boys.  :-/

Ahem. (In case my sarcasm was a bit too subtle above, let me make it plain. Saw II? Never saw it. Never WILL see it. Or any of the other Saws.  I would rather have a root canal, AND an appendectomy at the same time without anesthesia before seeing or watching, or financially supporting anything in the slasher-porn genre. The ways in which these films are bad for society are too many to mention here.)

I hate to break it to you, but guys like the ones portrayed in these movies -- while they may actually exist, are very, very rare. I honestly believe most people (and even most petty criminals) are basically good, just trying to get through the day and feed their families. They don't want to hurt anybody. I certainly believe this of our "boarder."

They rationalize their petty theft with a shrug: "They're rich. If we steal their iPod, camera and computer, they'll just go out and buy a new one."

The problem with that statement above?

They're RIGHT.  Well, we're not rich, but...we would have found a way, eventually, to buy a new iPod, camera and computer.

:-/

 So we don't pack heat on Espiritu. And it's a good thing, too, because if we had, things might have ended differently.

 This was a very good boarding.

So now that we are Belize, it does feel like a different world. Placencia seems very, very safe. It's filled with gringos -- which many people would say is a good thing, but I kinda miss the real Central America. Ah, well.







     
 
   

Welcome to Brooksy Point!

                       Chris and Jim having a serious discussion at Brooksy Point Yacht Club

           Brooksy Point Yacht Club is a charming little outpost here in French Harbor, Roatan, Honduras.

                     It is carved into the steep hillside and runs right down to the waterfront.

                 
            For $15 a week per boat, we get WiFi, warm showers, comraderie and a great dinghy dock.

 There is, of course, also a great book exchange. We had to laugh at the recent addition of "The Encyclopedia of Offshore Banking" to the library.

 The French Harbor anchorage, where Espiritu rests, is just around the corner from Brooksy Point.
                    This shot was taken yesterday from Espiritu right before a 35 knot squall hit.


    There are a couple of dozen boats here in the anchorage. Many are from Europe. American culture is so different from anywhere else in the world.  An excellent example of this is the subject of nudity.

  Chris and I would definitely consider ourselves "progressives." But that's not to say that we're not real conservative in many areas of our lives. (That's the problem with "labels" -- they are such a source of confusion. I think we should get rid of 'em. But that's another topic).

  Anyway, while I have absolutely no problem with other people wearing as little clothes as they desire, I myself tend to keep my private areas covered.

 This is a very American thing. And we're surrounded by Europeans.

         This is our neighbor in the anchorage. They're from France. It's hard to tell from this photo, but that's a nude guy sitting on the deck sunning himself and catching up on his reading.


        Here in the Caribbean we've seen several Europeans casually strolling around on the decks of their boats in the buff. More power to them. But you will not -- EVER -- find me doing the same.

   I'm just too damn American. Modesty about such things is simply very. Deeply. Ingrained. LOL...

          This boat is moored at the small marina at Brooksy Point. Note the big doghouse on the deck!

       There's also a big screen at Brooksy Point. Another thing that makes us Americans different from pretty much the rest of the world is we are the only people on the planet who enjoy American football. The American boats here in the anchorage have been having a ball watching the NFL playoffs, while our European friends look on in a combination of confusion, compassion and very very mild disgust. LOL...


       Brooksy Point also provides weekly bus rides to the local supermarket for the cruiser members.

    Chris pays the lady at the local supermarket here in Roatan. We've used our Trader Joes shopping bags in Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and now Honduras. They are a gentle reminder of home...

      This is the actual shopping cart contents for a fellow cruiser (who will remain nameless). This is what he spent his money on for the whole week's sustenance: Beer, bourbon, white wine, red wine, a wine glass, and toilet paper. That's it.  This is a peek inside the lives of some of us out here...LOL...

         They sell these gigantic taco shells here in Roatan. I'm not exactly sure what the hell this is, or how you cook with it. Which is as good a reason as any to pose for a photo with it!

   We've also met many other musicians here at Brooksy, and have had some enjoyable jam sessions. In the photo above are I.B. and Rebecca from West Virginia.  They know lots of Irish and Old Timey songs, which has been a special treat. It's always a novelty to play something other than Jimmy Buffett...(LOL)...


           Well, that about completes our little tour of the Brooksy Point Yacht Club and Marina. As you can see, it's a lovely little place. We're happy here, and will stay a spell before heading north on our journey back to the states.

New photos: Under the Honduran Sun

                                                     The sleepy east end of Roatan

                       This red-headed American tourist shows off her new Roatan dreadlocks

                      A tourist enjoys one of the many ziplines in Roatan. Since we're
                 "economy cruisers," we've resisted the temptation to join the crowd...

             ...but for the price of ONE zipline ride,  we rented a scooter for a whole week!
              I don't think you can even debate who got the better deal. It's a no-brainer!



Get this: Honduran law says that Chris can ride the bike alone or with me on the back, and I can ride it alone, but I am FORBIDDEN from driving with Chris as the passenger!

Think about that for a moment.

 I was about to seriously get my little feminist panties all in a bunch, until it was explained to me that the law forbidding a man as a passenger on a motorcycle is to prevent drive-by assassinations by the shooter riding in back.

YIKES.

Evidently drive-by assassinations were becoming a problem here in Honduras. And since assassins are usually men, it's illegal for men to ride shotgun.

So we can all rest easy with this law, I guess, because everybody knows that women are never assassins, right? 

                     Angelina Jolie rides a motorcycle and packs heat at the same time.

                                            She doesn't need no stinking driver!

       Well, of course Angelina Jolie is not really an assassin. She just plays one (actually, several) in the movies. Here's Angie riding shotgun with Brad in Southeast Asia, with no automatic weapons in sight. But where are the helmets, kids?


  Anyway, we spent several sunny days exploring the 30 mile length of the island of Roatan.


    On the isolated east side, we passed a guy by the side of the road wrestling with a big snake!

      We pulled over and checked it out. He was a gardener minding his own business pruning a few trees by the side of the road, when suddenly this boa constrictor slithered on up to say hello!

   I had been warned that boa constrictors are lurking about here and there in Central America. But I never thought I'd actually see one in the wild!

               Wow. Boa constrictors wrap themselves around their victims and crush them to death before swallowing them whole, which means they are strong. This strapping young man was having a hard time holding him -- his hands were shaking and sweat was pouring off of him.

  But he seemed calm, and told me in Spanish that this is a not-uncommon site here in Honduras.

     After snapping a few shots and giving him some thumbs up signs (what else could we do?), we drove off and left him there holding the slithering, hissing reptile. I'm not sure if he chopped his head off and ate him for dinner, or what...

             Roatan is almost completely encircled by a large coral reef, as seen in this photo

                                                                Local boys at play

                                                         A typical Honduran tienda

             Local children fish off of the giant cruise ship mooring when the ships are at sea


  Well, I guess we can safely assume that Honduras and the U.S. are allies, since we found this U.S. Coast Guard ship gassing up here at the dock.

                                                              Hello, sailors!

        We were kind of shocked to see this police holding cell (read: "Jail") facing right onto the public street and sidewalk here in French Harbor. You can literally walk right up to bars.

               This fellow told me he was framed. I know, I know, that's what they all say. But what if he really WAS framed? Anyway, he asked if I would go buy him some food. But he was eating a sandwich when I walked up, so I wasn't too worried about him.

                                   This fellow didn't look so good, however. I gave him my
                                    iced tea through the bars, which he accepted gratefully.


         We rode the scooter high into the rainforest for some excellent island views.

                 This shot shoes how close the mainland of Honduras is to the island of Roatan

                                                Captain Chris marks his territory

                             Woman talks on cell phone while pigs snooze

                                                                Fire and rain

                                                            Shades of green



                      Most citizens of Roatan live in humble dwellings like these:

                                         

                           And then there are the more upscale, waterfront homes:

                             

             For obvious reasons, we love Roatan. The holidays here have been relaxing and restorative. We'll be here for another couple of weeks before sailing north to Belize, the Yucatan and Florida.

    Wishing you a happy and peaceful new year! XOXO Liz and Chris   :-)