Creature of the day:  Caribbean Reef Squid


We were following a mixed school of fish, and I went to see them closer up - something about their fins looked weird.  Then I recognized- SQUID!  Though they were with other fishes, they were swimming together in a line- typical for them.

So on Christmas, in between showers, we took the dinghy over to the iguana farm- right here on the anchorage.  At midday, there are hundreds of iguanas sleeping and sunning themselves in piles.  It's quite a sight.  Their benefactor is Sherman, who owns the surrounding land.  His website informs iguanas it's a good place not to be eaten.  He very sweetly asked us to lunch with his family, quite a treat.  We look forward to seeing the iguanas have their lunch- it's supposed to be a real feeding frenzy.  

 

may you get everything you ever wanted for Christmas!

We took the dinghy over to Fantasy Island yesterday- for $5, you can sit by their pool and listen to endless reggae muzak.  There are some lovely iguanas idling about.  This one hung with us for a while, after we fed him some cantaloupe

The other day we noticed a collection of fishing boats anchored right in the middle of the harbor, apparently all part of the same fishing fleet.  Another cruiser told us they'd been seized by the authorities for trafficking drugs.  They want to send a message: No drugs here!  

He asked the police what the Hondurans planned to do with all these boats.  The guy seemed puzzled.  "Do?"

We got all the way to the other end of the island today, and found the road was missing.  This is the spot where all the divers and trekkers stay.  It's a little muddy, since it's been raining steadily all week, but has all the attractions:  diving and food, yes- and also:  parasailing, snuba, canopying (??) and power snorkeling (!!!)  We may re-anchor to check out the reef on this side.


photo courtesy of SV Sound Effect, as my camera is not working.

Here's the Caribbean weather- three days of nonstop rain, and we're not even in the giant wet spot off Panama.  Northerlies, the sailors tell us.  That's what you get in December.  It's lucky we came right to the south side of the island, and boats were streaming in here yesterday from the more exposed West End.  Things will be fine till we run out of fruit and vegetables, at which point we'll all contract scurvy.  Or brave a trip to the supermarket.

Fish I.D.

yesterday we swam with a school of these-

and there's always plenty of these-

one of these is usually hovering around

-and sometimes a couple of these!

It's still so rainy and cool here we're actually wearing pants and- last night- jackets.  We went to a new restaurant across the anchorage- very ambitious for here, with a dining room on the water, a larger restaurant up on the road, and a separate island for after hours.  The owner is an Iranian guy from Laguna Beach, and he's into fabulousity.  He brought a chandelier from an LA theater, all yellow and green mirrored glass, and built a Spanish-themed room around it.  He's got the local kids trained to wait tables, no mean feat.  And he's raising his own lamb.  This is clearly the most interesting game in town, and well worth $27 for dinner.  

a more typical restaurant for Roatan would be-

eagle rays in the anchorage- jumping out of the water.
sorry, no pic.  you just have to be here.


snorkeling on this reef is different:  it's deep, so we're not looking at coral in lovely colors (plus it's been sort of gray out)- but the fish!  we were swimming with schools and schools of who knows who.