Bay Islands Anchorages

[model 10]

Is there some sort of guide for the anchorages along the south coast of Roatan? I see some blog posts about some of the inlets but nothing in detail or about the whole area in general.

[chubby]

Originally Posted by Guy

Is there some sort of guide for the anchorages along the south coast of Roatan? I see some blog posts about some of the inlets but nothing in detail or about the whole area in general.

no guidebooks specific for roatan i found... but Pat Rains book was very helpful with route planning the area.."cruising ports" is the name i think. anchorages are listed

just make sure to double&triple waypoints check them in multiple nav sources/software and google earth. east of utila seems to be poorly charted especially..

[belizesailor]

Steve Pavlidis NW Carib Cruising guide has detailed Bay Islands coverage.

http://www.amazon.com/Cruising-Guide...773681&sr=1-10


For electronic charts both C-MAP and Navionics have good coverage for the Bay Islands. Although, as suggested, its still reassuring to be able to overlay and confirm using Google Earth. I've done this for most of the S coast of Roatan and found Navionics to be very good (having Internet service via Tigo along the coast and BI's makes this easy to do even underway). Only a few minor discerpancies I've found. Mostly things that won't effect navigation anyway, like the exact contour of shoreline detail.

[belizesailor]

More detail from my perspective on guides for the region.

"

Cruising Ports: the Central American Route (AKA "Rains Guide" ). Excellent guide to passage planning between cruising ports. Very good publication. It is not intended to be a "cruising guide" per se, but does also include a fair amount of information supplemental to its purpose. It's primary value is for planning routes between cruising ports.

...

A Cruising Guide to the Northwest Caribbean (Stephen J. Pavlidis).**This is an odd publication. It only covers a relatively small area of the NW Carib. For example, effectively no information on Belize or Mexico -- even the section describing potential routes from the Gulf Of Mexico to Rio Dulce omits Belize like it does not exist -- tough to do from a practical perspective (Not even a reference to Freya's guide for more information). *It's primary value is the navigation information it provides for the Bay Islands and Northern coast of Honduras (many more ports are covered than in the Rains guide...which appropriately only covers those commonly used for transiting the area). *The navigation information is sparse, but sufficient and accurate. However, there are voluminous sections on local culture and history (reasonably well done, but all this information and more is available from other sources). The sparse navigation information for each port is supplemented by much more extensive information regarding Internet access and dining options for that port. Those anchorages which lack much in the way of these services are typically dismissed as having nothing of interest for the cruising sailor (other than a good anchorage!). And, just in case you missed something, there is even more information in the appendices regarding Internet access and dining in the NW Carib. *An update that makes much of this voluminous documentation of Internet Cafe's obsolete -- good, inexpensive cellular Internet access is available through-out Honduras and the Bay Islands from TIGO -- buy yourself a TIGO stick including one month of service for less than $30US total and surf even when underway!

"

[model 10]

I did find a guide book. Cruising guide to the Bay Islands of Honduras. by Julius M Wilensky. It's old, 1979 but it has good detail.

[belizesailor]

There is also an older guide by Nigel Calder for the NW Carib. I've never actually seen it, but like all books by Calder I expect it is very well done.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/007...pf_rd_i=507846

[belizesailor]

An anchorage on the S side of Roatan I suggest you scratch off your list is Dixon's Cove. Since Pulvidi's guide was published it has been turned into a cruise ship destination in addition to the passenger ferry dock. The deep mid channel is now a marked channel for the cruise ships. Finding a reasonable place to anchor out of the way of traffic, and clear of some of the wrecks there, would be a challenge. It is very deep in the middle and then shoals up quickly.