“It had been light for a long time already, the ship’s boy emerged, we could go ashore. But ‘ashore’ is going a bit too far, as this strange island is for the most part made up of a tangle of constructions on stilts. Narrow channels meander amongst the roads and get lost between the houses, thus giving this island-town its nickname: the Venice of Honduras. Whilst waiting for the immigration officer, who couldn’t be found, we took advantage of the time to discover the special, warm atmosphere in this settlement. For a few dollars and photocopies, we obtained a 3-month visa and a cruising permit for the boat. Simple and cheap. We realized that here we speak as much Spanish as English: this island was discovered in 1502 by Christopher Columbus, who brought Spanish, as in the rest of the country, but the inhabitants of the Cayman Islands quickly came here to set up their fishing bases, and the two languages are therefore used by the island’s 10,000 inhabitants. They are all charming, and we already like this place a lot. We have taken up residence in El Bight, a calm, sheltered anchorage. Every evening, for an hour, violent gusts of up to 30 knots sweep the surface of the water, and it rains at least once a day. Fortunately the temperature remains at 30°C. There are no roads, no cars or bicycles, and most movement is by boat. Almost everyone has their own, and there are numerous boat-taxis for the others. The peaceful atmosphere in the anchorage and its calm waters encouraged us to tackle some improvements to the boat; we had found some black-out material in the Cayman Islands, and made up some curtains for Jingle’s saloon: summer is approaching and the temperatures are starting to rise inside the boat; this shade will help us during our stay in Central America.
Sandrine and Eric aboard Jingle, in Honduras.
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