Log July 20th 2009 "Earthquakes and Coups"

We sat at anchor in French Harbour on the Spirit of Free Radical. All was well with the world, that's because Julie & I were fast asleep in our bunks. It was 2:30 in the morning.

Suddenly we were shook awake by what sounded like a 747 just passing over us. The mast and rig shook and vibrated like we were being hit with a high wind. Then it occurred to me, oh my god! we have dragged up on the reef. We scrambled out into the cockpit ready to do whatever had to be done to save our boat. But no everything was very quiet not even a breeze. The only thing weird was all the other naked captains out with their flashlights checking their anchors too.

 We were still wondering what happened when the VHF crackled. Another cruiser had checked the internet and announced that a category 7.1 earthquake centered about 40 miles from us had happened. And I thought all we had to worry about was hurricanes down here. On water you would not expect to really feel the shock wave at all. We had been around a few over the years and really never knew they hit unless some one on land told us. This was scary. My friend George who was on land told me when it hit him he thought the whole house was coming down. Lots of broken glass and cracks in the concrete.

Next came the Tsunami alert which really didn't get me too excited. We were so close to the center of the quake the Tsunami would have already hit ( I think they travel up to 600 miles per hour). That didn't stop the locals and other gringo's for heading to high ground. In Oak Ridge they all headed for Roy Mart Supermarket halfway up the mountain. The Mayor was there handing out drinks and food to the crowd (Elections are coming up soon).

Anyway the bottom line was a few aftershocks that we never felt and for days I was getting calls from locals asking when I thought the Tsunami would hit.

Having decided that we could not easily get the Red Boat Free Radical home this season, we decided to go after the charter business for the new business. Well that involved visiting the local Lawyer and getting the ball moving on setting up a legal Honduran business.

First the Catamaran had to get properly certified by the government and pass an inspection. No problem. The Port Captain arrived and did the inspection for free and the paperwork was sent to the mainland for approval. Next we opened up a local bank account for the business, liability insurance and the business license was attained along with the proper cruising permits.

Before our paperwork all came back from the mainland the country President "Mel" was arrested by the military and kicked out of the country. Everything went nuts. Here we are starting a business in a country that has gone unstable.

We knew that Mel was trying to get the country to allow him to to change the constitution so that he could serve more than one term. He was getting his advice from Chavez in Venezuela and Castro in Cuba. Anyway the whole thing was aimed at setting himself up as a dictator. So the Head of the judicial system charged him with 15 counts of actions against the constitution and country. So out he goes.

So on Roatan were all cheering because we know he was going to turn the country towards communism and things would eventually turn dismal. The people were all happy.

Then the world press got the story and called it a "Military Coup". This lead to everyone threatening sanctions, cutting of fuel and aid etc. For Roatan a disaster. The tiny island depends on tourism to survive. Us too, and all the other X-Pats on the island. It took a couple of weeks but finally the word is out that the action was taken to preserve democracy in this small country. The real important indicator of survival for us is the Cruise Ships coming to the island. They still are so the tourists are still here.

Meanwhile back at the resort we continue to work on our fleet.

Julie was hard at work on her sewing machine making extensions off our hard bimini. The wings are intended to provide more shade as well as shelter from rain. I on the other had decided to get busy making an aluminum structure on the back of the boat which would serve as davits for our dingy. I also wanted to put 5 solar panels on top of the whole thing. The problem with getting things like that done down here are daunting. First you need to get the material and then get some one that can weld.

Our last welding job had worked out ok but all the workers spoke Spanish and no English. Also the material was not anodized so not so pretty.

I decided to build the whole thing out of plastic PVC. What they see they can usually build. I talked to Luvin my mechanic/fiberglass buddy about getting a welded. A few days later "Rocky" turned up to take a look. Yep he could do it he said and he could speak good English. No only that he would order the anodized material in and have it in 3 weeks (yea sure).

True to his word he turned up 3 weeks later with his buddy Gessler and a helper. He did a great job of T.I.G. welding all the Aluminum pipe together and quickly understood what I was trying to do. He had never welded one of these before so was anxious to see how it would work out.

I had contacted my buddy Scott on Yahoo in St Martin to send me pictures of his hinge he had built to pull his dinghy up. The idea is to bring a single line back to the large Genoa winches and use them to easily winch the dinghy up. We're thinking ahead to our old age. Each day we modified the design slightly to improve the strength and function. In the end we were very happy with the results. The two extensions on the side are for wind generators. What is not shown here is the big hinge that actually pulls the dinghy up.

The whole job took 4 days and $2400 for labour and materials, and now we don't have to tow the dinghy everywhere.

During the week we try to get our arses out and motivate ourselves to do a beach walk - it's nice to actually have time to exercise instead of just working on boats! And each Sunday we knock off about noon and resolve to do something recreational. For the past month or so it is a dinghy ride down to the "Hole in the Wall Bar" run by X- Cruisers. It a real mixture of local caricatures, and tourists. On Sunday they offer a buffet complete with lobster and typical Honduran food. The bar is owned by Bob (right) pictured below. With him is Larry an ex-pat Canuck who owns a small marina in the Bight

Last Thursday we decided to road test Free Radical to blow all the cobwebs off her. Our tough mean monohull had sat on the dock for almost a year and was screaming for some attention. We pried he off the dock and took her for a 5 day jaunt to the neighboring island of Utila. The trip down was not eventful with a 20 mile run the first day to the West End of Roatan and another run of 20 miles downwind across the channel to Utila the next day.

We walked the town, leaving the local kids to have fun using Sea Calf as a dive platform and took lots of pictures. Utila really is focused on diving and the dive boats buzzed by us all day. We sat an extra day because of the large seas outside the protection of the harbour.

The next day winds were forecasted to be about 15 knots so away we went. Being conservative we started with a double reef in the main and only our staysail. We were motor sailing and about 5 miles out when we were hit by a very strong squall. The wind jumped to 20 knots then 25, no big deal, not with small sails up. Then it jumped to 30 knots, not fun so I slacked of the main a bit. Then it went nuts and jumped to 40 knots. I hadn't seen that for years. I let the main way out to spill all the wind. After about 5 minutes it settled down again. And guess what no cobwebs...

Below is a picture of Vern on his Catamaran which goes back and forth between Roatan nd Utila each day with passengers. He was in the same squally conditions with us.

Tomorrow we return to the Blue Jewel resort and our dock. Our next adventure involves the use of our fleet to entertain 24 22 year olds flying in from England to spend 2 weeks of holidays. Yikes

More shots of Utila