Getting ready to leave Roatan didn’t require much, aside from gathering up groceries. The grocery store here was so good that we knew it would be some time before we saw aisles packed with food like this again. Guatemala will be loaded with fresh fruit, but we won’t be around any major groceries for a long time.

We’d tie our dinghy off to this beaten up sailboat, climb across it, pay the family that lived here about a buck to keep an eye on it, and walk five minutes down the road to the store.

Ouest’s sweet demeanor made her the favorite of the monkeys. She’d go out with our leftover salad in the evenings and he’d come right down out of the trees and over to her. On our last night he even went so far as to climb into her bowl, sit there, then reach back and put his arms around her neck like a hug.

We left Roatan with no wind—the first calm weather window in weeks.

About three miles away in another bay—a working harbor—was the fuel dock. We only had about 150 miles ahead of us, but I can’t stand setting off to sea without full tanks. It just seems like an unnecessary risk. I was pleasantly surprised by the $3.10 price tag per gallon. Cheapest diesel we’ve had in a couple years.

It actually took us a little while to spot the gas dock as it was hidden behind a tanker hull, and partially blocked by a ship that was being worked on. There wasn’t much room to work with, which would have been a trick with one engine, but with the twins it was easy enough to squeeze through and spin the boat around against the dock.

An hour later we were back on our way, headed to Utila about thirty miles away.

Clearing out was easy enough. Another three bucks per person to get our passports stamped, and a quick trip next door to get our zarpe from the Port Captain for free.

Makes me smile to see the happiness that a bag of juicy mango brings.

It was HOT in Utila without a breeze to help out at all. An open air bar with classy graffiti, cold beer, decent tacos, and a passable representation of a pizza provided some escape before heading home to swim.

All the sailboats leaving Roatan for the Rio Dulce leave in the evening, travel overnight, and arrive sometime the next evening. With our speed we would be able to go to sleep, take off early in the morning, and still get into the Tres Puntas anchorage well before dark—a nice little benefit to the trawler when there is 100 miles to cover.