With a weather-system chasing us, we set sail for Guanaja in an overnight passage. The forecasted 20-25 kt winds were behind us yet underestimated by ~10 kts, so we surfed our way west along with a pod of dolphins in a romping sail.
The new Simrad autopilot with rate-gyro performed better than humanly possible in the huge swells. Upon entry into El Bight in Guanaja we discovered that we had little to no manual steering as our cable jumped its quadrant and we had a loose connection to only one active rudder. Better than a broken cable and easily fixed.
Guanaja was a scenic, laid-back place to spend a week and start our adjustment back into civilization.
The island-locked central town was clean and industrious on supply day, although employment must be dismally low since we were hassled/hustled by a few self-appointed guides/translators looking for a tip (hardly needed since many speak English in the Bay Islands). I wonder how we made it this far in life without their help?!
The resident expats in Guanaja are open & kind and treated us and everyone like family. No pretense. Just enjoy the here and now.
The dinner special at Manati with fresh caught grouper, potatoes and bread cooked in the brick oven had a fantastic, smoky flavor.
At this point a jam session was planned, and went on for over 10 hours the next day. This was a beer-enhanced, "plugged" session and the rock-n-roll was on, groupies & all!!
