SailingKnitter

On Tuesday we left the island of Utila and motor sailed over here to the big island of Roatan - about a 6 hour trip. We arrived to calls on the radio from our cruising friends who were already anchored here. Then a couple of hours later we had a hearty welcome at the Happy Hour at the Fantasy Island Marina resort. It's so good to meet up with friends again!

Plans were made for a girls snorkeling expedition for the next morning and off we went! Notice the wet suits - the water temps are still a bit chilly. We were out on the reef for about an hour and a half and saw so much! Lots of small fish, giant sea slugs, and unfortunately 3 lion fish. These beautiful fish are non-native and are destroying the other wildlife on the reefs. It's a real problem that the Marine Preserve is working on. We hear that in Florida they are promoting them as food eating - that way folks will actively fish them out and they'll be greatly reduced in numbers!

After all that exercise, it was time for this girl to take a nap in the new hammock! Our old one finally fell to shreds this past summer after many years of service. Jonesy strung up the new one and I was soon swaying on the bow and "just resting my eyes".

Soon enough it was time for Happy Hour again and socializing. We returned to the boat and I cooked up the fabulous wahoo (ono) steaks that we had bought from a fisherman that morning. We like to coat them with cajun/creole seasoning mix and "blacken" them in a pan. As a side dish, I mixed up some instant mashed potatoes with garlic, cream cheese, and parmesan cheese. I made patties and coated them with seasoned cornmeal (the special precooked variety we can buy down here) and fried them in a little oil. Yummy!

We'll be here in French Cay Harbor / Fantasy Island for a least a week, maybe more. Then we're planning to gunkhole along the coast to other bays and cays we haven't visited before.