Disaster! Once again we are turned back!

11-12-91

Early morning, talk to Dad on Radio update him on our progress. I come up on deck and routinely check the boat out, something is wrong. The starboard spreader is swinging free, the tang sheared, quickly we dose the sails and try to think. I surmise to fix the fitting the mast will have to removed, we don’t have the fuel to motor to Mujeres and I am adversed to being stuck in Belize City even if they for sure had a crane somewhere. At least we got further this time, I just can’t believe this is happening again. Decision reached to head back to Roatan 120 miles under power which should put us there early tomarrow morning. Funny thing, the wind shifts nice and steady to the East, the sun is out, the Gulf of Mexico is a playground and will stay that way for about a month perfect conditions.

11-13-91

"Good morning ole dad, things are going good but I think there is something wrong with our compass. I am looking out and there is an island that looks awfully like Roatan!" A few moments of silence on the other end before what I am saying sinks in.

Try to find a place to anchor in Coxen Hole but lagoon seems to be filled in with garbage and outside around the wreck sunk in the middle of the bight I only find 40 ft depths. We go on into French Harbor. We dutifully go in to check in with customs, they have to come out to the boat so we pile into a taxi. One fat slob and uppity junior Port Captain inform me that they need 50 us dollars for coming out here, Fabian goes thru the roof and I say no. Find out interestingly that Fabian has my birthday apr 18 and even more astounding is that his dad’s birthday is apr 17th! Head back to finish papers and we sit and sit in the office. Finally a guy comes out "you going to pay me $20 or what?" I guess we could sit here forever or go see the governer but I pay the 20 and we leave, of course only good for 3 months. Welcome to Roatan.

11-14-91

Tow Fabian behind the boat with a rope for a scenic cruise of the reef, this finally is what I have been telling him, clear water. Palantir seems to know the way home and soon we are cutting thru Lime Cay pass and tootin the bugle, yo ho dad.

Fabian and Heather really enjoyed the trip, spent alot of time snorkling, Heather’s first time. We ate lots of good food and drank lots of good beer. Finally get Palantir up to Crazy Horse and have Peter pull the mast, and we part our ways. I sure hate saying goodbye.

11-15-91

Underway alone with main mast strapped to the deck headed back to Lime Cay. First time, except for the short trip from the yard at Wilmington I have single handed Palantir. It does seem weird.

Lots of thoughts running around in the ole head. Really depressed and at a loss of what I should do to fulfill my obligations to be in Florida. The weather window in Nov is very small I can’t count on getting the spreader fixed, find a new crew and get back underway within a reasonable period, the time to be going is right now. Leave the boat here, go back to the river, or ship the boat? Decision to make, but first with a sigh of relief to get the mast back together.

Nov and Dec - Lime Cay

Get the mast stripped and ready to paint, life on the Cay is the same, early morning coffee with Dad, Spot clomping around on deck, ryhthum comes easy here. Dad not feeling very well lately, dizzy spells and other problems, no energy. Suzy finally gets him to agree to see a doctor in San Pedro while I’m here to take care of the animals.

Paridise, I have the whole island to myself. Taking care of the birds, Moto and Spot, Guava seems to know "Stewart" is gone and tolerates me, the baby birds are curious, one lands on my shoulder one morning and won’t get off. Start working on my new super navigation program, that and the mast makes the days go by fast.

Meet Suzy and Dad at the landing in Oak Ridge, one of the porters it turns out made off with a piece of luggage, so begins the saga of the baggage. Things not good at all, prognosis is cancer of the bladder. Suddenly my problems very small and I realize that fate allowed me to be here at this particular time and place. Don’t know why things happen but sometimes they do.

After Jan’s experience with her knee in Guatemala I am adamant about Dad going to the US for treatment but it is his decision, I think he makes the wrong one by staying here but I realize you want to believe what they tell you and that things will always turn out okay. We make plans to leave the Cay and move to Trujillo the beginning of Jan and get Dad admitted for surgery the middle of the month.

The relationship with Parham has been degrading steadily before and after the roof incedent. Last time he was here he just about told Dad maybe he should start looking for another job and that a "Nice native couple could watch the Cay for nothing." When he comes Xmas after we have made plans to make true his wish by moving over to the mainland he talks and makes plans like nothing had happened. For Dad the magic is over, to many problems and a feeling of betrayal makes it impossible for this place to ever be the same again. Parham does get "Forclosure" running and even gets it to the Cay and back to French Harbor before he runs it up on the reef and tears out the props and driveshafts. Peter is back in buisness with his little gold mine.

Good- Bye to the Aphrodite

Aphrodite will be a problem, nobody wants or has cash to buy her so we make plans with Peter that he will scrap her out for commission on what he sells. Right after Xmas I get her rigged for towing and Crazy Horse does the job. The rudder is stuck so she tows off to the side, but I think she just doesn’t want to go.

January

I get the mast already to go and get it down to French Harbor. I get Peter to watch Palantir while I am over in the Mainland.

Getting packed up and everything on "The Ark" is a monumental task, I haven’t worked as hard for a long time. "The Ark" really becomes the Ark after 3 parrot cages and Spot aboard. We leave the Cay at 2 am, nobody or least I could get any sleep but the passage is comfortable, the brisk wind died down about hour after we left and by dawn’s light we are passing Cabo de Honduras and into the Bay.

Randy anchors in the little channel between the sand bars and we start ferrying the stuff out in his little dingy. Long, slow hot work, but the sea is calm and no problem getting it up on the beach where Scott and the Ex - Govener of New Mexico begin loading it on thier pickups to take up the hill. The parrots don’t know what to think, thier cages hanging over the sides of the dingy with about 2 inches of freeboard they make landfall on thier new home, no worse for wear until George’s cage falls out the back of the truck on the way up the hill.

Our new house is a little concrete cube down below the Hotel, but what a view. Dad and Suzy estatic about getting away from the sand flies but I know better. The sand flies go away after dark, the mosquitos just get fired up. Some nights are really bad, my sheet is full of blood splotches just from where I roll over on them when I sleep. Ticks are really bad here to, must kill three or four a day, my method involves my bic lighter.

Scott and Kim just as crazy as ever, and we meet the rest of the locals at the bar, life here should be interesting.

Pretty much settled in and time for Dad to get it back to San Pedro and the operation. I hope it goes well.

Guava seems to know that Stewart is gone, she gives me no problems and even takes stuff off the plate from me. I make a habit of baking potatoes for her every day. Disaster.. one morning the other baby red head gone, I either left the cage door unlatched or somebody let her out. I don’t take chance with Guava and buy some padlocks. Spot is a pain in the ass, everytime I look away he is gone and up at the Hotel bugging Peggy, I have to keep him inside or on the leash.

I get my first job here taking a bunch of bird watchers out to the lagoon in Randy’s dingy. I can’t find the entrance at first and waste a little time but I think they are impressed and will in the future start bring in more tours. The lagoon is fasinating, we see a hawk of some kind. The entrance almost looks passible for Palantir, if I got it just right, but that is the trick isn’t it.

Cooking and shopping the main hassles of my life. Getting to be a fair cook, dog shit and maggots on monday’s, spagettii on tues, pork chops on weds, etc. Went to the store for hamberquesa, "no hay". "Otro carne?", "si, molida" and she pulls out a bag of hamburger. Nice little old lady in the store thou, always has a big smile for me and is patient and helpful.

Pick up Dad and Suzy at the airport, he looks like he has been in a concentration camp. Very pale and emacipated, I am very worried. The operation did not go well, he started bleeding too much and they just don’t have the resources here like I feared. Plans are underway to get him to a VA hospital in the States.

Feburary - Trujillo

Dad is regaining some strength and does feel better, he is on antibodics. They will be returning to the states soon and hopefully will get this licked.

Lots of characters here, Scott and Kim, of course and Kim’s mom Peggy who owns and runs the Hotel here. She is pretty amazing, I have to admire her but also she is about the craziest woman I have ever met. Meet "Baby Huey" her son, and cause of the Brinkley feud between Kim and her mom, a story too involved to get into here.

Bad Bob and Sondra, a couple just moved here from Swannee River, Fla are a real trip. Sondra of the magnificent breasts and the wit of a razor, Bob of fishing sckemes and money making dreams. Karen and Debbie? from Austria came to stay a couple of weeks got a job at the bar and have been here forever, always have a following of the most available hombre’s in town. Fisherman Bob who brought his fishing boat down is followed by his packs of stray dogs. And there is a never-ending parade of national guard, weekend warriors and Green Beret types flying in on helicopters, Scott has a little gold mine going here. The crew up on the mountain where the "Shussh! the secret radar site is", take thier job and the war against drugs very seriously.

Dad is going to have to learn some spanish here, he goes up to the hotel in the mornings for a cup of coffee and ends up with breakfast.

Dad is back in the states, New Orleans and I am back with the parrots and the dog, Spot is much more behaved now that he knows that Stewart will be back.

Getting interested in buying some land here, the prices are skyrocketing and I feel it would be a good investment. Go out with Bad Bob to look at a piece on the lagoon, very serene and with a mango tree. I offer 10,000 and for a while it seems like the guy will take it but it falls thru in the end.

March - Trujillo

Dad’s operation went well, he is in pretty good spirits except when he has what he calls "Blow outs" Jan is finally coming, I can’t wait, things are picking up.

I hear "C-Jay" on the radio, they are back in Guanaja after a wild ride on a norther from Florida. We make plans for us to meet in Trujillo. I pick up Jan at the airport in Ceiba and we take the Island hopper over to Roatan to pick up the boat. It has been taken good care of by Peter. We head over to Port Royal to visit and clean the bottom for a couple of days. Ronda and Bob from "Jim Dandy" have taken over the Cay as caretakers, and it is sure odd to be achored out here. They kinda mess up our schedual the first night here so we don’t get a chance to visit Frances, and I find out later she is really mad. Sunday we go over to the east end and anchor in the still and protected bight to do the bottom. Our first attempt is interuppted by millions of jellyfish, argh! Finally thou they disappear.

Last couple of days have been pretty windy so I bet our sail over to Trujillo will be fun and sure enough by the time we are nearing landfall it is blowing like snot. We anchor in front of C-Jay and drag, achor again and drag, all I want is a cold cerveza but the ole hook doesn’t want to hook here. We had the same problem last time we were here. Finally it holds and I put out a second anchor to make sure. Sam and Carol, Suzy and the old man are waiting for us at the bar. They said they saw us entering the bay up at the hotel and we sure looked pretty good.

Wind blows pretty good out in the anchorage for the 1st couple of nights, leaving us a little gun shy about going out after dark, the first night rowing back to Palantir in the dingy it was all we could do to keep from being blown out to the lagoon. If we would have missed the boat, so to speak. Sam and Carol really enjoy Truijillo, we go out to the big beach out on the peninsula and wander around. The bolt out of the front end falls out and Sam finds some junk parts along the road so we can shore up the torsion rod. Cruising does lend itself to resourcefullness.

A day at the Aligator farm with C-Jay, a 30 min ride on a tractor wagon ladened with cow parts for the hungry thru, I can’t remember their names, hacenida which goes for miles in all directions. We are alittle disappointed in the show, no snarling monsters fighting for food, no tarzans wrestling or blood colored water, the crocs seem to take thier time and almost daitely chomped down thier food.

C-Jay head out bound for Guatemala and we are getting ready for Semanta Santa, the weekend we all dread. Suzy, Jan and I dying tshirts with the hope of making a few Limps for our troubles, quite an assembly line for sure. The big weekend comes and there are lots and lots of people that is for sure, but nobody buying much but beer. Guess they have learned to bring thier own food and enjoy the beach for free.

April - Truijillo

Guess finally getting the hang of these immagration people, actually got my visa extended again without too much problema. But it is time to think about leaving paridise and getting back to the States pretty soon. Hate to think about it, the end of adventure and all the things we have experienced along the way. Somehow it doesn’t seem real, that time has passed by too quickly, the good and the bad. Fate seems to have a big hand in our travels, otherwise we wouldn’t have been out this long. Looking ahead to the third attempt to bring Palantir thru to Florida. Carol helped me align the spreaders and set the tension on the rigging. It all depends on who you talk to about how tight? I have be told to keep it loose, medium and as tight as you can get it. What is the story? Re-enforced the center post that I made under the mast step with stainless steel rods, now it won’t flex at all, before it shot out a few times under way, I tell you that there is tremendous pressure underway. So hopefully we will be bless with good weather and no problems.

Spend the birthday’s and plan to attend the big party for the girls at the bar, but looks like a norther is making its way down here. Scott and Kim still go on like last year about how there are never any northers down here in April, ha! After our last experience, I don’t feel like we have any option but to miss the party and head on out of here, stopping at Guanja to await good weather for the crossing.