Guanaja and Back

 A small islet on the east end of Roatan that used to have more trees on it.
 
Since getting to Roatan we wanted to sail over to Guanaja, the third major Bay Island. Guanaja is even harder to get to than Utila so it is the least visited of the islands. As a result the scenery is even better and underwater is more pristine.  The island was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1502

Isla Barbareta on the east end of Roatan.

and was originally known as the Pine Tree island because of all the pine trees covering the lush hills. However, many of those pines were destroyed by Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and are now making a comeback. Columbus also first encountered cacao in Guanaja.

Approaching Guanaja

The island is the remnants of an ancient volcano and also features an underground fresh water aquifer that runs from the mountains in the mainland under the sea and surfaces in Guanaja. When Columbus discovered the island he described it as having sweet fresh water. Unlike many islands in the Carib the water is generously available and free. The island is split by a canal and has many outlying cayes, islets and shoals.

Michael's Rock with the canal across the island on the right.

About 10,000 people live on Guanaja with about 8,000 of them living on a small cay called Bonnaca which was one of the early names of the island although it has had many names. The natives inhabiting it called the island Guanaca but the early English pirates called it Bonaca, Names that still stick in one fashion or another.

Port Royal where we anchored for a night on the way to Guanaja.

Bonnaca Cay is very much like many other island cities. It is crowded and interspersed with alleys and canals that lead to homes and businesses. Like many other crowded third world towns the clamoring and hustling starts when you land. There are people vying to watch your boat, people that will lead you to wherever you want to go, carry things for you or provide almost whatever service you may want. We visited Bonnaca one day with our island host. We didn’t spend much time on that little cay and stayed close to him as everyone knew him and that reduced the hawking.

The main street of Bonnaca.

Back in the US it was Memorial Day weekend and the official start of the summer season. but on Roatan the wind came down for the first time in weeks making it possible to go east. There wasn't much wind so sailing close to the wind would have taken a long time to get to our first stop. On the

Sunset our first night in Mangrove Bight.

way we stopped by a small bay in the east end of Roatan called Port Royal. It was supposedly a base for pirates as the entrance channels are deep and it offers good protection from the winds and seas. Very beautiful spot and we were the only boat in sight. We snorkled a couple of reefs that were interesting. One was a rock that had been heavily eroded underneath where lots of big fish were hiding.

Amekaya anchored in Mangrove Bight with one other boat that lives there.

The next day there was even less wind so the motor to Guanaja was uneventful. The shoals on the East End of Roatan go far offshore and east toward Guanaja. From West End to the southwest tip of Guanaja is over 40 miles. But it is only about 5 miles of open water. We had thought about anchoring in a spot known as Michael's Rock which has excellent snorkeling. But it is exposed and could get very rolly if the swell builds. So we went on to Mangrove Bight.

The Sea Mart store in Mangrove Bight.

We had a waypoint for the entrance to the channel that was supposed to be deep and fairly wide but required visual piloting to go through. Linda took one of our headsets to the bow so we could communicate effectively without yelling. Those headsets have been very helpful in many situations. But before we got to the waypoint she started seeing shoals and after reviewing the charts we went solely by visual because the charts said one thing and she was seeing something different. After a little confusion we got through the entrance and into the nicely protected Bay. We found a nice sand spot to anchor in that wasn't too close to shore so we wouldn't be bothered by bugs.

Having a cold Salva Vida with George in Bonacca.

Shortly after dropping the anchor a small fishing boat came up to us and the Captain welcomed us to Guanaja and offered up some advice about the little town and where to dock our dinghy and offered any assistance he could provide. What a nice but unusual happening. We really felt good about being there, Of course, we locked everything at night anyway. 

Black lava rock by the dock at Clearwater resort.

When we were on our way to Guanaja we debated our agenda. We wanted to dive on the north coast of the island that can only be done in very calm weather and it looked like we would have several very calm days. Our friend Trish and Tom on Double Up told us about a great dive guide in Mangrove Bight named George. Not a lot of guidance on where to find him but we landed on a new island to find a guy named George.  

Our Texas barbecue with our hosts George and Ginger and their friend Jimmy.

So our only order of business on the day we landed was to find the dive shop. We asked the guy on the fishing boat and he pointed to one of the docks and said there was a dive shop there. From looking at pictures on Google Earth the dock he pointed to looked like what we thought was most likely the dock we were looking for. We got in our dinghy and motored over there finding a dive boat. We landed and walked up the path through the jungle and found the dive shop that was closed with nobody there. We walked up the steps to the reasonably nice home on top the hill and found several folks having drinks. George and his wife Ginger walked over, introduced themselves and asked if we would like a drink since it was close to happy hour and they were closed for the holiday (it was Memorial Day back in the States).  We accepted their offer and that was the start of a beautiful friendship.

Watching the sunset as we enjoyed the barbecue.

We spent 4 nights in Mangrove Bight that were probably a highlight of our time in the Bay Islands. George and Ginger had lived in Texas but moved to Guanaja about 20 years ago. Among other things George ran a dive shop in Texas named Clearwater Divers so he named his new place G&G's Clearwater Paradise Resort. The grounds were studded with many kinds of fruit, nut and banana trees that were constantly bearing fruit.

The main road through Mangrove Bight.

Over drinks we discussed our objectives to see some of the great and unspoiled dive sites Guanaja had to offer. Not knowing me, George suggested he would take me on a test dive to see which sites I could handle. We planned for 3 dives and Linda could snorkel and have a party. It was long after sunset when we went home to the boat that first night.

Some of the lush growth around G&G Resort.

The second day we had some confusion around George's schedule but eventually we got on track for a dive in the afternoon. The site wasn't far and it was shallow. It was called Black Rock. This dive was so distinct from any that I had done before. The ancient volcanic rock formed huge black walls that ran from floor to surface with relatively narrow passageways winding through them. It was like walking through an ancient city with its narrow streets but we were swimming and in the caves and caverns schools of fish were hanging out. That night we invited George and Ginger to our boat for happy hour and it was late when they finally left.

Another beautiful sunset with Amekaya in the Bight. Weather was absolutely gorgeous.

The next day was the big event. We were doing two dives, having passed his dive evaluation, and after the dives we were having a Texas-style barbecue on the porch. The first dive was called the Labyrinth because it was an intricate series of swim-throughs, caves, caverns, canyons and over-hangs. Again the dive was relatively shallow so we were able to do 75 minutes of bottom time. The second dive started shallow but we went progressively deeper through coral reef and sand patches counting thirteen stingrays along the way. The coral was pristine with almost no broken, dead or bleached coral anywhere. I'm really sad my underwater camera was broken. That night the barbecue was everything it was hyped to be. Wonderful ribs, beans, and rice. The rib meat pulled right off the bone.

 Street scenes in Bonacca Cay.

Diving in Guanaja is good because so few people go to the island and on the north shore the weather has to be calm to go to the sites so they remain pristine.

Our last day in Mangrove Bight is the day we rode into Bonnaca with George and got to visit the town for a few hours and pick up some provisions. We ended the day and our visit with another happy hour with George and Ginger. The next morning before we left George's dive crew came out to our boat with some of George's Saba bananas for us.

We had better luck navigating the channel going out since we knew which areas on our track to avoid. Once we got out George texted that everyone wanted to see us sailing. So with the wind we had we pulled out the sails and tacked off past the dive sites of a few days earlier and headed to the other side of the island.

Sailing around the north tip of Guanaja.

Our wind didn't last for sailing and we were getting farther out from the island and the swells were increasing. The northeast tip of the island is notoriously rough and even with little wind we had swells crashing onto the boat. We were able to tack back closer in and then once the waves were behind us we moved quickly to the channel and into Bonnaca where we topped off our fuel and water.

By the dock at Graham's Place on Josh's Cay.

We came around to the east side of Guanaja because we wanted to see it and because our dock mates from Catameran Marina back in the Rio were there. Most people that go to Guanaja go to the east side enjoying the protection of the reef and the restaurants that dot that side of the island.

Stingray's swimming by the dock at Graham's Place.

We docked at the Little Cay to top off with fuel and water before heading over to Josh's Cay and rendezvous with ProfASea.  We had dinner with Robert and Claudette catching up for the past 6 months. Saturday they left to go back to Belize, we snorkeled and got ready to head back to the West End.

Rounding the south tip of Guanaja.

Sunday morning the wind was back up again to the upper 20's out of the east and it was bumpy getting out but once we turned southwest the wind and seas were just behind our beam so we took off racing toward Roatan. But the further west we got the lower the wind got and eventually we had to motor back to the West End.

There were few boats in the mooring field and we were now down to 2 weeks in Honduras. We planned to spend 1 of the weeks wrapping up stuff in Roatan and then a week in Utila before leaving to another adventure.

Guanaja in the rearview mirror.