Captain's Log

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January - February, 2006:  Houston, Texas to Honduras

The crew of Lone Star Love is preparing to head home to the boat that has been stored in the La Ceiba Shipyard in Honduras.  It has been a long five months away from home.  One stop we wanted to make before we left was a trip to Stingaree Marina Restaurant to eat the best oyster made seven different ways.  You will not find oysters in Central America, so we wanted to enjoy some before heading back.

We arrive in Honduras on January 31st.   While the boat is on the hard (not in the water) our good friends in La Ceiba, Phil and Martha invite us to stay at their home until we can get the boat back into the water.   We took a break from working on Lone Star Love to spend time with Phil and Martha enjoying cold beer and good food at the Expatriates Bar and Grill located on the beautiful Congrejal River.  This has become one of our favorite places to spend Sunday afternoons.

It’s time to splash Lone Star Love.  It has taken us 17 days to get everything ready just to put her back into the water.  We first cleaned the top deck and then installed the strata glass enclosure around the cockpit.  Judy unpacked all our clothes and boat parts and stored all them in there proper places.  Greg installed one new thru hull valve, a new shaft and cutlass bearing.  Then he got both the generator and the main engines started back up again.  We sanded the bottom of the boat, waxed the sides and put two new coats of bottom paint on the sanded area.  She was ready for the water.  On a beautiful Friday morning we watched the shipyard crew headed up by Jorge at the controls of the mighty crane as it moves Lone Star Love back to the haul out slip to be put back into the water. 

Once in the water we put the sails back on.  We had a stand manufactured for the new dive compressor which Greg installed on the back deck and Judy made a canvas cover for it.  Next were the small things, storage cases were put back on the front deck, gas cans filled with fresh gas for the dinghy and put in their places on the front deck.  The kayak was put on the side rail.  Anchors where put back on their racks.  Halyards were all put back up.  A new wind indicator was installed at the top of the main mast. Judy sewed some new attachments onto the two of the awning pieces.  The list goes on and on.

It’s February 28th, the last day of the month and 28 days preparing Lone Star Love to set sail again.  We are leaving in the morning.  We made last minute food preparations and we were ready.  At about noon we noticed some bees flying around the boat and a few came inside the boat.  Judy was going around the yard giving our goodbyes to our many friends and Greg was hanging our new flags.  In only about a minute’s time there appeared a colony of bees that swooped in and attached themselves to the mast at the spreaders.  There were thousands of them.  We had two of the boaters come and tell us that they were killer bees and that most likely they were migrating and needed a place to spend the night.  They would probably leave in the morning.  The scout bees were flying around the top of the mast and found the cool updraft coming out of the top of the mast and proceeded to come down the mast and found their way out of the wire holes at the base and into the interior of the boat.    This was not a comforting sight.  Spending the night with some killer bees did not excite either of us.  Trudy from the s/v Leonore of Sark used to raise bees and told us that we should not stay on the boat that night and she also mentioned that when a colony outgrows their hive that they tend to migrate looking for a new home.  We were sure hoping that our spreaders were not to their liking.  So we called our dear friends Phil and Martha and asked to spend the night with them.  We carefully went into the boat to gather some things for overnight and we gave up to the bees.

That evening Greg looked up the Texas A&M website for killer bees and sure enough that’s what they were.  Glad we decided to let them enjoy our spreaders and that neither of us got any stings.

The next morning we arrive at the boat and the bees are still sleeping in.  Greg could wiggle the standing rigging and they just would wiggle like a big bowl of Jello.  They were all very content and none of them were flying around.  All the ones that were in the boat were all dead.  We were thankful for that!  We were now in a waiting game.   

The shipyard manager Ron told us that he had left word for the local bee keeper that his services were needed and he would be out as soon as he finished several other jobs he already had on his schedule.

We decided to work on a couple of small projects to kill some time waiting on the bees to either leave or for the bee keeper to come and remove them, which ever came first. 

Brad from the s/v Continental Drift came over with some aluminum phosphate tablets and said that he had gotten them in the Grand Caymans and they were suppose to run off anything.  So what do we have to loose.  Greg put them in a mesh bag and tied them to a halyard line along with a rag soaked in gasoline which Greg’s thought might encourage them to leave.  Janice on s/v Sun Dazzler said to use moth balls, but we did not have any at the time.  Greg hoisted it all up next to the bees and gently let it lye against the colony.  They did not seem to even notice anything and did not make any attempt to fly away, so it looks like we will be waiting for the bee keeper to remove our guests. 

We were back doing our chores down below, when we heard a knock on the boat.  Susan another boater was all excited.  She asked us if we had seen the bees leave.  We looked up and there was not a single bee left anywhere in the area.  They swarmed off as fast as they swarmed in.  It was amazing.  It was getting close to noon and we would not have enough time to get to Roatan before dark so we opted to spend one more night at the shipyard.  We celebrated that evening with several other boaters that the bees had left.

The next morning is beautiful with the mountains to the south and a nice breeze coming off of them.  We are off the dock by 6:00 a.m. headed north for French Harbor, Roatan.  We have a pretty comfortable sail for our first time out in a long time.  On our way a huge pod of dolphin swam at the port side of the boat with torpedo speed, it was almost frightening to see these fast streaks through the water.  They entertained us with there precision swimming in the front of the boat.  Judy tried to count them and thinks there were about eighteen.  It was like they couldn’t wait for a sail boat to come along to play with.  We arrive in French Harbor and had the anchor down by 1:15 that afternoon.  Nice anchorage with about 10 to 15 knots of breeze.

Sundays are always a great day to go to Hole in the Wall for their afternoon Bar-B-Que.  We decide to up anchor and head that way at about 10:00 a.m.  It is only five miles up the coast to Bodden Bight and the community of Jonesville.  Hole in the Wall is located in the area known as Blue Rock back up in a protected finger of the bight.  We anchor right in front of the restaurant where it is only a thirty second ride in the dinghy to get to the dock.  Behind the bar you will find Dewayne and Harry serving good cold beer and other drinks to accompany the wonderful food.  Shrimp kabobs and beef fillet on the grill cooked to perfection by Bob, mash potatoes, cold slaw, Harry’s baked beans and Nana wonderful homemade bread.  What a feast!   

Sundays are also a good day to see a lot of old sailing friends that hang out around the island.  Uschi and Gode are on the s/v Mola Mola.  We meet them when we first came to the area.  They have been hanging out in the Port Royal area of the island for about seven years on their catamaran.  I guess they could be considered locals at this point.  Burlie is another local that frequents the Sunday affair.  She is one of the prettiest young ladies in the area.  Then of course there is Randy.  He rents a house with a dock in front of it where he keeps his sail boat, s/v Svea just down the water from the Hole.  He takes Svea to the Rio Dulce in Guatemala for hurricane season and then comes back to Blue Rock for the rest of the year.  There’s Larry.  Larry came to Blue Rock with a seventy foot power boat about twelve years ago.  He found a place on the shore that he liked so he built a house using all the furnishings and fixtures from his yacht to build it and after he stripped everything out of the yacht he sank it and built a dock over its empty haul.  He now has a small marina called Woodside Marina.  

The last two characters of Hole in the Wall are Abo the beautiful Macaw that is Bob’s constant companion.  Abo is always talking and wondering around the restaurant or just sitting on Bob.  Bob is the owner of this fun establishment and takes very good care of all his guests.  He also plays the secret character of Santa Clause to the local children at Christmas.  He is a man with a huge soft heart. 

We have to head back to French Harbor to await some papers that are due to come in there for us so we can handle some business back home in Houston.  So we are off Tuesday morning to make the five mile trip back to French Harbor to wait.  Wednesday evening the wind is supposed to pick up and blow up to about 25 knots so we set a second anchor as our security blanked.  The blow was up to 40 knots and lasted six days, but we have been anchored very well along with six other boats.  The reef out in front of us helps keep the waves out of the harbor, but with winds as high as they have been the waves are just crashing on top of the reef.  It makes the anchorage a bit choppy but still pretty comfortable. 

We are hoping that the seas lay down in the next few days and we are headed to Belize to meet up with some other boat friends.

More later……