Sailing to Cayos Cochinos

Another early morning wake up in order to get ready to leave Utila and head south towards Cayos Cochinos; we had to meet Captain Rusty and his boat at the fuel dock, and since we were unsure where it was we had to ask around for directions. Once we found it, however, we realised it would be pretty easy to get there, since the giant tanks and fuel pumps were a dead giveaway. Captain Rusty´s boat, the Brazen is a 40 ft motor sailor, meaning that it has both an engine and sails, thus ready to go in any type of weather conditions. We hopped on board where met Rusty himself, as well as Helen (his assistant, cook and sometimes girlfriend - we had a tough time actually determining the status of their relationship) and two other guys who we were dropping off at a research station on one of the islands. As we got out of the harbour, after filling up, we already started to deal with the strong winds; normally they don´t pick up until later in the afternoon, but this morning was different. Though I tried to be brave and pretend I didn´t need anything, once we were in open water, I had to reach for my supply of gravol as we were really bouncing up and down the waves. Marisa was having an even tougher time than me, so I guess I shouldn´t be complaining; I spent most of the 4 hour trip sleeping, due to the effects of gravol, waking up only every now and again, once as Rusty whistled to get our attention towards a group of dolphins who were following the boat. As Cayos Cochinos came into our view, the wind intensified even more, as some waves were even going above the boat, and right before the end of the trip, the main sail ripped into so many pieces that it couldn´t even had been possible to repair it.

So, with the ego bruised but the boat intact we entered the harbour of one of the two main islands, found a sheltered place to anchor in a bay with just a handful of houses and no other boats around. We got snorkel gear and jumped off the boat, as Rusty took the other two guys in the dinghy to their research station. The water here was really clear, and we discovered some of the best snorkeling we have ever done; there were really nice corals, we saw a yellow stingray (much smaller than the southern ones), as well as barracuda and cow fish. By the time we got back to the boat Helen had prepared lunch for us, really good spaghetti with pineapple and chicken in coconut sauce. Later in the afternoon, we left the boat, got in the dinghy to get to the island, and followed a path through the forest, next to some huge quarts rocks, towards the Plantation Beach Resort. This was the only resort on the island, almost exclusive to divers, and since Rusty knew all the owners, they allowed him to bring in his guests from the sailboat to use the facilities, shower, change and enjoy a few cold beers.

As we sat in the hammocks watching the sunset, Rusty was talking to us and telling us all kinds of stories about how he grew up in the Bahamas, which is where Marisa also spent her childhood. One story led to another, and they put the two and two together
and realised that Rusty was the instructor who taught Marisa´s mom to scuba dive - talk about a small world! After the sunset and the obligatory pictures, we started back on the path, to return to the boat before it got completely dark. For dinner, Rusty made a really good soup, and also gave us a very spicy sauce, his very own creation; the sauce was spicy in itself, but the little red peppers inside were the real killers. Josh didn´t notice a few of them fall into his soup as he was adding the sauce, and soon after he got to pay the price. All of a sudden he took a deep breath, started turning red, and couldn´t breathe or talk; he started coughing, and in between managed to say ¨This chilly is making me dizzy¨. Marisa and I were rolling on the floor laughing so hard we had tears in our eyes and couldn´t talk either, then Rusty and Helen joined in as well, and we all had a blast up until Josh started getting the first signs of a migrane, then the fun was over. We did whatever we could to make him feel better, but esentially nothing really helps except for reducing noise and light pollution, and letting him lie down and relax. He went to sleep soon after, and I spent the rest of the evening listening to music and reading before going to sleep myself.