Orlando. . . the land of plenty

Since early February we had been anchored at Fantasy Island Resort.  If you've never been, it is a  lovely place.   The have sort of a park where they feed the deer, iguana, geese, peacocks and monkeys.  The peacocks, iguana and monkeys are also hang out at the resort and are always looking for a handout.   Keep your personal items close or the the monkeys will take them!

The cruisers pulled together and built a new deck (for the cruisers). Cruisers also have access to the Fantasy Island resort, but it's kind of pricey. They have a lovely beach, and you can go diving, snorkeling, or take a plane ride. Mostly the cruisers stay at the far end of the island away from the resort, commonly known as the "marina green". There is a "cruiser happy hour" Tuesday - Saturday at discount prices. It's a great place to hang out and make some new friends.

While waiting for our generator belt, David learned that another cruiser has found gasoline in his fuel injectors. He had purchased fuel in Fantasy Island and then headed to Guanaja, where his generator and engine seized and he and his crewmember were stranded off the coast for four days without power. When David checked our Racor filter it was full of gas!!! This could spell disaster for us.

At the present, we are getting fuel from another source and trying to assess the damage to our generator and engine. Not sure if we will need a professional mechanic or not. At least, Fantasy Island is a nice place to be stuck.

We have met a bunch of new cruisers here at Fantasy Island. Jerry, the Dockmaster and Annie, Rene on Motu, Jim and Norma of Mi Lady, Mike and Liliana of Gusto, Ellen and Enrique of Pelican, Tom and Rose of Sojourn, Judy and Warren of Pioneer, Elda and Wayne of Big Fun, Karl and Mery of Engenium, Joyce and Paul of Lady H, and Jim and Judy of Makai, and caught up with others we haven't seen for a time, Bob and Peggy on Adagio, Roy of Avion, Helena and Mark of Cloud Nine, Joan and Ted of Panchita, and Jean Marie of Du Jour.  Sorry, if I've fogotten anyone.

 
On Saturday mornings, several vans transport the cruisers to Eldin's Grocery, then they load the groceries onto a box van and bring them back. How cool is that? Sure beats riding the dinghy into town, walking up a steep hill, shopping for what you can carry on your back and then riding the dinghy back against the waves, getting soaking wet. Let me tell you this is not fun. Oh, and then you probably need to do it at least twice a week. So I love going on the van to Eldins! David, not so much! Too much like "senior citizen land" to him, LOL!

Luckily, the owner of Fantasy Island has allowed us to stay at their dock and to refuel at no charge.  It has taken the better part of a month to determine that our Kubota generator may be toast.  We hired a diesel mechanic who spent a several hours over several days and he didn't find the exact problem.  We paid him only $50 US, and he has not returned.  This tells me that he either has no idea what to do to fix it or he has realized that he may have made the problem worse as he sprayed a lot of ether into the generator.  So for now, David has given up.  He is hoping to get a re-build kit in the states in hopes to get it running again.  So far it seems as though the Perkins has not been damaged.  The big test will be our trip to Turtle Grass Marina, about 6 nautical miles north east of Fantasy Island.

We took the day off and were invited to join Dave (Challenge II) and Paul (Cavalle) to tour some of the island via car.  We went to Jonesville, Punta Gorda and Oakridge.  It was fun and I got some great pics. 

We made it to Turtle Grass Marina, yeh!  No generator, but we still have an engine!

After spending about two weeks or so at Turtle Grass Marina, we have finally, with the kindness of Mark and Lori scheduled our flight back to the states (we used their computer, life is hard without a laptop). They are just lovely people.  We had several potlucks with the boats in the anchorage, Mobetah, UpJinx, Angelina and Summer Mist.   It was embarrassing though, as we only had popcorn to contribute when they had brought luscious dips and such.  In the future, I'm going to have to "hide" some things just for "happy hour".

Mark and Lori's female dog, Maggie had a litter of eight adorable puppies. They decided to name the pups after the boats in the anchorage. Mobetah (Mobi), Angelina (Angelina), Up Jinx (Jinxy), Summer Mist (Misty), and New Horizons (Susie Q), (you can't call a dog New Horizons, so it was named after me, yeh!). The others were named Yogi, named for a puppy in a former litter that died. At this writing, I'm not certain the name of the other puppy.

I'm sure Mark and Lori will take good care of our boat. Check out their website; http://www.turtlegrassmarina.net. They also have a blog detailing their arrival in Roatan and subsequent trials and tribulations in building their home and the marina. It's quite interesting.

Mid April we left New Horizons in Calabash Bight, Roatan at Turtle Grass Marina and headed to San Pedro Sula, Honduras enroute to Orlando.  It's going to be a trip filled with visiting with our boys, old friends and shopping, shopping and more shopping.  If you've done any cruising you know that getting boat parts is very difficult in the western Caribbean. It's nearly impossible to get filters, hose, stainless screws, etc. Sometimes you can find some items, but soon you realize that they are not up to US quality; a lot of China influence.

Well we made it to Orlando, however we waited six hours at the airport.  Our oldest son, Jon was at work and Matt got separated from his friends at the beach, didn't have his car.  It was a long day, beginning at 4 am, Honduras time.  Oh well, guess it could have been worse, like flying into Pittsburgh wearing islandwear (it's 55 degrees there, which is what David ended up doing ).

Gosh, it is very busy in Orlando, how soon we forget the things we wouldn't miss to go cruising!  There are many vacant store fronts, you can certainly see the effect of the economy here.  I have thoroughly enjoyed shopping for clothes and such, getting those items I can't get in the islands.  Though it's been more trying having to depend on the boys to drive me around.

We were getting acquainted with using Skype and were able to talk with David's Mom on Friday, April 22nd.  She has been battling cancer for several years and had recently completed radiation and chemotherapy.  She sounded very upbeat and healthy.    The next day she didn't show for a congregational meeting.  Our niece was worried and stopped by to see her and took her to the hospital, as she was very weak and pale.

Long story short, she was admitted and diagnosed with chemo-induced leukemia, for obvious reasons she declined the bone marrow tests.  David quickly made flight arrangements and arrived on Wednesday.  She was mostly unconscious because of the morphine, but hopefully she knew her family was by her side.  She gave up the fight at about 1:15am on Sunday.  A memorial service was quickly arranged for the next day as some family members needed to get back home.  Nearly 300 family and friends were in attendance.  She was a wonderful woman, and the best mother-in-law I could ever have had.  She will be truly missed by scores of family and friends.  It has been extra difficult for Jon, Matt and I as we were not able to make it to the hospital or to the memorial service; though we were able call in and listen via conference call. My nieces and nephews have lovingly made several collages of pictures and emailed them to us; very touching and heart wrenching at the same time.  Rest in peace Mom, we will always miss you.

We have had the pleasure of spending almost all the dinners in Orlando with our boys.  Hey, I'm getting tired of all this cooking!  I should just open a restaurant!

NOTE: We have learned from one of our friends via email that the owner has returned to Fantasy Island and he has cancelled all potlucks and happy hours at the "marina green". The only benefit for the cruisers at this point is laundry service and the bus to Eldin's. This is very disappointing. He is a stupid man. There are more cruisers at Fantasy Island than hotel guests.  Recant . . .Spoke to a cruiser who lives on his boat at FI, says the only reason there are no pot lucks is because there aren't many cruisers right now.  Cabaret left, so there is no one to run the "happy hours", and that Gusto has given the cruisers discounts on libations.  So this is good news! So it's not as bad as we thought. 

Unfortunately, we didn't accomplish all we wanted to do while in Orlando.  For one, we were not able to get together with our family in Bradenton or any of our friends. We just ran out of time.   Sorry, we hope to come back in August once we have the boat ready for hurricane season.  So now it's back to Roatan for us.   

Stay tuned!