Batteries and Fishin'

Tuesday, Feb. 6 proved to be a momentous day with the arrival of our new batteries for the lodge. Now you say, “What’s the big deal about the batteries?” Well, there were 24 of them, which Terry and Patrice had purchased to replace our aged original “house batteries.” It had been a test of patience to finally get customs to release them to us on the mainland. Dealing with officials in developing countries can be a a real test. They had been in “battery jail” for weeks as we negotiated the final payment of duty for bringing them into the country. Perry Terry, our mayor for the East end of Roatan, finally got them released and shipped over to Port Royal and the lodge.

Each battery can produce 2.2 volts DC and weighs about 600 lbs. Very heavy! With all 24 linked together, we would be able to easily power all of Mango Creek Lodge. The batteries would run through inverters, which would convert the 24 DC volts to 120 volts AC.

They arrived that bright morning in fine fashion. A huge, bright-red shrimp boat, Sea Angel, that had been converted to a freighter, arrived around 9 a.m. just outside the reef. Slowly, she weaved her way around the Cow and Calf islands. Miguel went out in one of our fishing skiffs to guide her in the rest of the way.

There was some doubt for a while if she would make it. The ship was very heavy and dragged on the bottom the last few hundred feet to our dock. The boat dwarfed our boat house. Finally, it tied up some 6 feet off the dock. That was as close as it could get being securely planted in the mud on the bottom.

A gang plank was fashioned out of about six 2x6 planks, and soon the first battery was pushed off the boat across the planks and onto our dock. We all cringed in fear as we saw that it would be easy for the battery to plunge into the water between the dock and the boat.

By this time, most of our 20 employees had managed to congregate on our dock to help or simply to watch the event. This, combined with the 10 or so sailors on the ship and Perry Terry’s six men, made for quite a gang.

The first battery finally made it across the planks, and soon there were four more right behind them. Yikes! The dock was starting to sink! "Stop," I yelled, with what I hoped sounded like authority. They stopped. Whew!

I explained the problem and said no more batteries on the dock until the ones on the dock were moved off. With a great deal of effort and eight men, we managed to get one up on the "battery mobile" and finally moved off the dock. But it was a slow process and also a dangerous one. The battery wobbled as it was moved, threatening to fall off the wagon.

Randy came to the rescue with our dolly. I thought he was nuts. It was too small to move these batteries. He gamely put one on the dolly and quickly and safely moved it off the dock. Problem solved. All the remaining batteries were moved as quickly as they were moved off the ship.

At the end of the day, the ship was gone, and the crowds cleared. Twenty-four batteries sat silently waiting for the rest of their journey to the top of the hill to their new home at the solar panel building.

The batteries rested for a few days in the shade of the palm trees surrounding our restaurant, and the "battery mobile" was altered twice before we were satisfied that it would be able to move the batteries up the hill.

Just after the arrival of the batteries, Jean Mueller and her mother, Dorothy, arrived for a holiday. By coincidence, we purchased the batteries through Jean's company, and they managed to arrive at Mango Creek just as we prepared to move the batteries up the hill.

John & Joan Fostroot also arrived for their vacation at the same time. We were all having a great time. Jean insisted on helping with the dishes each evening after dinner. Our guests spent lazy days snorkeling and exploring our surrounding bays, mangroves, and islands.

Mark Hatter and Cliff Parsons also arrived and added to the festive environment. Mark must have had about $20,000 worth of camera equipment and took some of the best photos we've seen of the lodge. He was writing an article on the lodge for Eastern Saltwater Fly Fishing magazine.

Each night, we feasted on lobster, shrimp, and fresh wahoo fish, all delivered fresh to our door by our local fishermen.

Meanwhile, all was not well on the property. High Rocks, our sports fisherman, was not charging her batteries, and we had to troubleshoot the system to find out what was happening. Our luck was holding. Two catamarans anchored in our harbour came to the rescue. Tom, off Paradox, and John, off Deja Vu, arrived with their electric meters and soon arrived at a conclusion. The battery combiner was shot, and the alternator on the starboard engine was "toast." The solution: Get the alternator fixed and bypass the combiner.

Our main generator had been making an ugly noise. Upon closer inspection, I found the bearing we had put in the previous month was loose in the alternator casing and about ready to fly apart. Our backup generator was also not operational. It needed a new injector, and that would be a problem because the Kubota diesel that powered it was no longer made.

The next day, we were off to the "rodeo" for another adventure down island. Not only were we going to replenish our food supplies, but we were also going to try to solve our mechanical problems. On this island, we consider a 33% success rate to be normal. That means for every three things you try to get done, usually only one works out. We brought Tie-Tie with us to translate (Spanish/Creole) for us.

Halfway down island is a small town, Barrio Los Fuertes, that is predominately Spanish-speaking. The inhabitants are descendants of the original shrimp fleet that is still centered on the island. We stopped in the middle of town. Off to the side was a cluster of cars having various repairs done. Outside the cars were a number of tin-roofed shacks. Each shack was busy fixing some part of one of the cars in the parking lot.

Tie Tie presented all three of our problems to the mechanics. The first guy took the alternator from High Rocks saying he could repair it. But before he could fix it, we would have to buy him some two-part glue across the street. We did that and returned it to the mechanic. The second mechanic took off in a car looking for a used alternator to replace the one for our main generator. The third guy also took off to find another injector for us.

We soon left the parking lot to continue our shopping for food and hardware for the lodge. Upon our return, all three problems had been solved. It was $30 to rebuild the one alternator, $30 for another used injector, and $80 for the used alternator. Yippee! A 100% day at the rodeo.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, more guests were starting to arrive. Jeff Wiese and Perry Herst Jr. were set up in cabanas 1 and 2. We bid a fond farewell to Jean and Dorothy, and their cabanas were now occupied by our first contingency of Frenchmen from Paris.

Neil Harrison booked in for a 12-day visit and soon became part of our staff. He refused to move off our Breakfast Flat just outside the lodge. He and Miguel fished it each day, determined to outsmart the plentiful bonefish.

Neil then took out our new Hobie Kayak, which can be peddled. Because it moves through the water by peddling, his hands were free to fish. He successfully caught a needle fish, a barracuda, and various jacks and snappers.

He also proved fearless by dropping his fly on an alligator. He thought it was a tarpon but Randy quickly let him know that he may not really want to land that one.

Feb. 12 saw the final movement of the batteries up the hill to the solar panels. It took 2 days and every man on the property. The most of the first day, the guys insisted on using brute strength to move the batteries up the hill. Halfway through the day, they finally saw the light. The use of pulleys and a long rope would make the job a lot easier. Tie-Tie and Kessel took charge of moving the snatch blocks and the rope as the battery mobile zig-zagged through the trees.

John Logan arrived here on Feb. 18. Terry and Patrice had hired him in Durango to give Julie and I some relief. John, 23 years old, had just graduated college and wanted an adventure. What better place than Honduras? Within a day, he was moved into the boathouse, and training started.

He quickly learned Panga driving, skiff driving, going to the rodeo, generator starting, and tending bar at night. Yippee! And not only that, he is learning how to do some of this Web development stuff. Our latest fishing report was written by John. He is an avid trout fisherman and is looking forward to learning saltwater fly fishing. That's is, if he has enough time to go play.

Throughout the month, Manuelito continued with his concrete/clay tile walkways. When he finished them, he painted our generator house. Next, he pushed on to paint our main lodge.

That's about it for this month. Here is a photo of Randy shows his skills with a machete by deftly husking the perfect coconut for a coconut cream pie.

Ed Kettyle

Start of Busy Season

The morning of Jan. 7 started with a bit of a scare! Chena arrived for work a little flustered. Now, to come to work, she has to leave her home in Calabash Bight and head out through the reefs in her small skiff into the open ocean. She then travels a mile or so in the open ocean until she goes through the reef into the protection of Port Royal. Sometimes, the waves in the open ocean can be very large. Many times, she does this trip alone in the dark with high wind and waves. This is normal for the Roatanians here; their small boats are their cars.

Well, she told me that while she was out in the big waves, her 15-HP Yamaha motor had broken down because of bad wires. She started working on the motor and was drifting back toward the reef when she spotted Kessel coming her way. Kessel, one of our guides, was going to rescue her. She was sure of that. But when she looked back, he was gone! Undaunted, she managed to get her motor going and finally pass through the reef and arrive at Mango Creek for work. But she was worried now about Kessel. "He must be broken down, too," she said.

Well, it was time for rescue boys. Terry Kyle and I hopped in the Panga, our big boat with the 60 HP on it, and headed out into the ocean. We tracked back toward Calabash, and sure enough, we spotted a small boat battling toward us. It was Kessel with his 16-year-old son, Jake, and they were crashing into the waves head-on and launching into the air off each crest. As they passed us, Terry and I slipped down into the hollow of a wave. Kessel and Jake's boat launched off the the crest of the next wave, and we were actually looking up at the bottom of their skiff! The only part of the boat in the water was the prop! Kessel had that question-mark look on his face that said, "What are you gringos doing out here?"

Everyone arrived in great shape, but as Kessel pointed out after all, he had his paddle and was never in any danger ... . These people are tough, and sometimes it's hard to remember that.

Projects, projects, projects! We were into them.

Miguel and Jake were put to work painting our boat house. We had decided that something had to be done to modify it to resemble the rest of the Cabanas and the restaurant. Julie selected color schemes, and Terry came up with an idea to add some thatch to the structure. Painting began Jan. 8.

A new satellite dish was bought to improve our ability to communicate. Unfortunately, it was almost impossible to get someone to install it. Finally, we tracked down Michael Senn from the mainland, and, boom, the job was done.

Terry worked away at trying to get our wind generators up and running again. He got one fixed, but it was apparent that the other one had to come down for repairs. Tie-Tie and the rest of the fishing guides and Randy are seen here lowering the towers--a tricky operation at best.

Meanwhile, Julie and I had to have fillings fixed. Off we went to French Harbour for our appointments with Dr. Carla. She worked on me for almost 3 hours giving me a new composite filling in my huge cavity. Julie was in the chair for 1 1/2 hours, too. The bill was $45 for me and $35 for Julie. Not exactly back-home prices.

On the way back, we stopped at The Galaxy ferry to pick up the axles that Terry had made up for a wagon we were making. We also picked up a winch to help bring down our wind generator.

We were expecting a shipment of batteries to arrive from China. These batteries would replace the lodge's aging house battery banks. The shipment would be made up of 24 batteries, each weighing 600 lbs. We needed to move each battery up the hill to our solar arrays--hence, the need for the wagon. Not a fun thing ...

Once back at the lodge, of course, it was discovered that the axels for the wagon were the wrong length and would have to be machined further. This is Honduras. What were we thinking? Terry dropped the parts off the next day for fixing and returned the day after for pickup. He also dropped off plans for a plate to be made up to be used for our backup generator.

When we got there the next day, we were informed that the parts had been picked up and paid for (!) by another gringo in Port Royal. But who? We called everyone but to no avail. Two projects were now on hold until the parts turned up.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the thatching of Cabana 3 was in full swing. Leaf had been purchased for the roof and had been drying for about 2 weeks. Randy, Kessel, and Tie-Tie removed all the old thatch. Next, new leaf was carried up by ladder and placed carefully by Randy. Fishing nets were then placed over the full roof to protect the thatch from big winds.

The painting of the boat house continued with Miguel and Jake working away with multi-colored paint.

The front doors to the restaurant were taken away to be sanded and revarnished by Antonio and Rafael. They temporarily nailed up a large piece of cardboard to keep the weather out.

With the Arrival of High Rocks, the new sports fishing boat, came two new projects. The first was a new dock for the new boat. Perry Terry (our mayor and contractor) had a whole gang of his men busy putting in pilings and building our new dock.

In the meantime, Manuelito, a magician in concrete work, was hired to build a new pathway to the new dock. Sand and gravel were dug out of Mango Creek for the concrete walkways.

Rigo mixed the concrete in a wheelbarrow, and Don Julio broke up clay roofing tiles to make the inserts for the walkway. As the days passed, Mango Creek Lodge increased her gardens and pathways.

During the month, we were also visited by a number of customers. Phil Clough from Toronto spent a week chasing all our saltwater fish. After catching numerous bonefish, he became totally focused on catching tarpon and permit. He was very successful, and here is Perry with one of his tarpon. After this catch, he decided that landing them in the fishing skiff was not so cool. This fish almost destroyed his rods!

Miguel got his first day fisherman from Reef House. They went out spin fishing and caught a bonefish and a nice 60-lb tarpon. The fisherman, Dave from Philadelphia, was very happy and promised to return with his wife next time.

The last week of January, the fishing really heated up. All four of our cabanas were booked, with two men per cabana. Four were from West Virginia, and four were from Utah. All eight were fishing. All our fishing guides were busy and so were all the cooks. Each evening at dusk, the tired men would return looking forward to a cold beer and a home-cooked meal.

Our luck was good in the restaurant, too. Every day or so, a local fisherman would come by our lodge selling lobster, shrimp, wahoo, and snapper.

Unfortunately, Terry left us mid month just as things were heating up. He returned for the expected birth of a brand-new grandson.

Having everyone busy fishing was good for business but bad for the projects. The answer was to hire some summer students to help out with the work.

Jake, Kessel's son, helped with yard work, and Rebecca, Ilee's sister, helped with the laundry and cleaning.

Eventually, the missing parts that were given to the wrong people by the machine shop down island were returned to the machine shop. And then they eventually made their way to Mango Creek. We never knew who the strange gringo was. So our workshop got busy right away and made up a go-cart the looked like it was on steroids. Each wheel was a special wheelbarrow wheel on bearings. We all passed inspection and decided it probably could carry a 600-lb battery. After all, it passed the Rigo test, and he bounced as hard as he could on it.

Ed Kettyle

Christmas at Mango Creek Lodge

Nov. 27 saw the arrival of Thomas Horton and his girlfriend Natalia. These guys had visited us previously day fishing but had so much fun they decided to come back for a few days and stay over in Cabana 1 (closest to the restaurant).

They wanted our guide Tie-Tie to get them "hooked up" with bonefish and permit. The method of attack was using light spinning rods with crab on the hook of the fly. Tie-Tie (whose real name is Terry) was pretty excited. Natalia was 25 years old and model material. This would put extra pressure on Tie-Tie. The other fishing guides were seriously jealous.

Special meals were prepared around Natalia's diet requests, which consisted primarily of cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, lemon, artichokes, egg whites, and grilled chicken. Now this was a challenge for our Honduran cooks. How can they cook for these crazy gringos? That problem was quickly solved by Natlia, who took over the galley and won over the cooks with her crazy sense of humor. All we could hear from the front of the restaurant was the laughter, so we knew they were having a good time.

Thomas was happy with his fishing. Each day he managed to land bonefish with the aid of Tie-Tie and our resident land crabs for bait.

One day Natalia decided she would rather hang out with the lodge managers and opted for an exciting trip down island to buy supplies for the restaurant. She was given her own shopping cart to run up and down the isles. She arrived at the cashier with a cart full of every kind of junk food imaginable. All it was a great hit when we arrived back at the lodge.

After a couple of days fishing, Thomas sent along the rest of his family for a visit to Mango Creek Lodge. A wild and crazy time was had as we got to know Thomas' family and friends. More visits were sure to follow. We met his mom and stepdad, his uncle Tony, and Sue.

About this time, the jungle at Mango Creek decided to fight back. The heavy rains we had last month resulted in a spurt in the growth of all things green on the property. We were all waiting for Terry and Patrice (the owners of Mango Creek Lodge) to arrive in early December. We wanted the property perfect. So what happens? Both our remaining "weed whackers" died within a few days. In a panic, we drove all over the island trying to buy another one. Everyone else's whackers had died, too, and there wasn't a remaining one left on the island. I wrote a panicked e-mail to Terry to bring two down with him. I hinted he might want to bring down a hay baler with him.

We were doomed to fate worse than hell by the encroaching jungle. Our guides Kessel and Tie-Tie decided it may be a good idea to take some of the pressure off us. They pulled the carburetor off one of the whackers and managed to finally get it started. They also ran one of our large whacker lawnmowers over to Oak Ridge, where its front end was welded back on. Smiles were back, and grass flew everywhere. Within a few days, the property was looking good again. We hired Kessel's son Jake, who was on school break, to help with the cleanup.

The first few weeks in December saw increased activity. Day fishing increased as local resorts began filling up with tourists for the season. Every few days, our guides would run off to BJ's bar in Oak Ridge to pick up clients. The weather had turned much better, and the fishermen were reaping the benefits of ideal conditions.

We enjoy having the day fishermen because it gives us a chance to show off the property. Many of these fishermen return to Roatan, and the next time they come, they usually book to stay with us. Many return with their family because they realize that their spouses can be out snorkeling, sailing, hiking, or kayaking while they fish.

Terry Kyle finally arrived in Roatan! Patrice had stayed behind because her daughter was getting ready to make her a grandmother. They had managed to purchase a 32' Albemarle Sport Fishing boat in Florida and had made arrangements to ship it down by to Roatan. Terry had made the trip on a roach-infested ship to accompany the boat. It took a day of paperwork to finally get the boat released from customs, and it finally sat on its mooring in front of Mango Creek Lodge by Dec. 7. It was full of goodies, including two new weed whackers (one of which died within a week of use on the jungle).

Terry got right back in the swing of things helping out solving problems and starting new projects. In this photo, he is bleeding in the main generator on the property just before we headed off to the Port Royal Day Party.

Dec. 9 was the 2nd annual Port Royal Day Party, hosted by Matt and Corrine, the owners of Royal Playa Dive Resort. The party was pretty much made up of all the residents of Port Royal. Also represented was the gang from the Hole in the Wall and BJ's Backyard. The music was live, loud, and Caribbean. What a blast!!

Dec. 18 was the first run for High Rocks, the new sports fishing boat. We needed to go to La Ceiba to check out a catamaran that we were interested in buying. We also needed to run over a 40-HP 4-stroke Mercury outboard to the marina there, and since we were going, we would drop off our 86-year-old carpenter and his granddaughter Dagmara. So off we went with Terry on the wheel at 20 knots with all 600 horses pushing us through the Caribbean sea effortlessly. Two hours later, we arrived. Unfortunately there had been extensive flooding in La Ceiba. This meant that Joe, our regular taxi driver, couldn't get through the mud to pick us up at the marina. Julie had arranged to visit three doctors while in the city, so it was a scramble.

In the end, Terry returned to Mango Creek alone and we stayed overnight at Banana Republic Hostel. The next day, we managed to get everything done by 4 p.m. and caught the high-speed ferry back to Roatan. We were to have been picked up by a taxi driver at the ferry dock, but he was a no-show. Never mind, situation normal for Honduras. So after 15 minutes, we flagged down another driver. The ride to BJ's in Oak Ridge was kind of spooky, with our driver just barely managing to work his way around large pot holes in the road that we were barely able to see. At one point, we passed an accident where someone had obviously lost an argument with a large gravel truck.

We arrived at our pick-up point at BJ's in the dark, but no one was there to pick us up. Yikes. For a while, we thought we would have to sleep under a table in the bar (not a good idea). However, it turned out that Terry had come out to pick us up in the panga but had missed his landmarks in the dark. It wasn't long, however, before he found his way in through the reef to pick us up. We were saved!

Day fishing continued and the customers poured in. We recognized a real skill in Terry and decided to promote him to our director of sales, while still maintaining his position of visionary manager of projects.

Stella and Ben Khan, all the way from London, England, dropped by to take a look at the place. With Terry's enthusiastic tour, they were soon out fishing, and Ben was thrilled to land his first permit! Stella jumped into our new Hobie sea kayak (which is powered by peddling instead of conventional paddles) and had a blast exploring while her husband battled on the fishing flats. At the end of the day, they both had smiles on their faces.

We were now rapidly approaching Christmas, and our new tree was decorated by Julie and Chena, our cook. Preparations were being made by Julie for a good, old-fashioned turkey Christmas meal complete with stuffing, gravy, and pumpkin pie. Joining us for our meal would be all the staff, sailing friends anchored in the harbor, our good friends and ex-managers of Mango Creek Graham and Pam, and visitors Tony and Lauren--18 people altogether.

It was a great time. A big leg of pork had been prepared by Elavese for all the local staff. I tried it, and it was delicious. They generally prefer the pork to the turkey we like in North America. Chena, with Julie's help, cooked her first pumpkin pie. We moved through Christmas and New Year without seeing a snow flake. Indeed, the temperature never really got below 80 F.

Tony Hughey and his wife Lauren Kerr, from Washington DC, arrived on Dec. 23 for a one-week visit. As the week fished on so did the work at Mango Creek. Mr. Terry (as the locals call him) ratcheted up the number of projects ongoing at Mango Creek.

Our new sports fishing boat took up all our remaining dock space. This situation demanded the addition of another dock. Our local mayor, Perry Terry Bodden, was given the contract, and soon the place was swarming with another 10 workers.

To link the new dock to the rest of the property, it was necessary to build a new pathway. Manuelito was hired on contract for that job, and soon he was up to his elbows in cement and broken tiles for the steps.

Our main generator used for charging our batteries had sprung leaks in its radiator. Our backup Isuzu diesel was in bad shape with either a bad piston or valve and couldn't be used. Terry made a deal with Matt next door to exchange our old batteries for his Kubota Diesel. He and Tie-Tie then settled into pulling apart the old Isuzu and installing the new Kubota. Now this was not that easy because the old generator didn't want to bolt directly to the new diesel. Terry designed a plate to try and fix the problem. When he went down island to get it built, he lucked out. The machine shop had one already built!

He also was making up a trolley for moving our new batteries that were coming. We are off-grid, you see, and the new batteries would replace our old tired set. There were 24 batteries coming, each weighing 600 lbs! All the batteries would have to be moved halfway up the mountain to our solar panels and wind generator. Ugh! The same machine shop was to make the axles for the trolley. Terry was told to return at 3 p.m. and everything would be ready. At 3 p.m., Terry, Julie, and I all returned to pick up the parts. We were told they were already picked up for us by another "gringo". Guess what? We still don't know where the parts are.

As all of the projects continued in the background, the carnival was still going on. Tony continued to catch fish, and Lauren enjoyed her days snorkeling, paddling, and peddling our new kayak and reading.

One day just before supper, Lauren and Tony were pulling the kayak out of the water to secure it for the night. I was over by the boat house talking to some of the men when we heard a loud splash. Lauren had fallen in trying to move the kayak on the dock. It was obvious she was "OK," but she sure did look like a wet hen.

There was no way I was going to let this go by without a good heckle, which I promptly did.

I then went to help Tony finish moving the kayak. I took one step back, and the damn dock disappeared! In I went over my head!! Now Lauren and Tony and every worker in the lodge had a good laugh. Later that night, Tony fell in while trying to retrieve a lure while fishing off the dock. We think we should order new t-shirts that say "I fell in at Mango Creek."

At the same time Tony and Lauren were visiting, we were joined by Gord and Cathi Joyce from Mississauga, Ontario. A few days into his visit, Gord managed to hook a huge permit. Perry, our guide, maneuvered our fishing skiff while Gord fought the monster. By the time they actually landed the fish, they had been dragged halfway down the bay. But there were big smiles on everyone's faces when they returned to the lodge for sundowners. Gord and Cathi also opted to go snorkeling with Randy, our resident snorkeling guide extraordinaire. Cathi took some excellent pictures of dolphins as they were surrounded by a school of over 100 on their way to the end of the island.

JR, his wife Kim, and daughter Gabby from Calgary arrived the end of December to celebrate New Year's with us. JR was an enthusiastic fly fisherman and started tying his own flies. Each day he fished our flats with Tie-Tie. Meanwhile, his wife and daughter were busy each day snorkeling, sailing, and kayaking.

Kim, Randy, and Julie did the big hike over to Paya Bay resort for lunch. Julie was a little sore the next day but thoroughly enjoyed herself as did Kim. This was Julie's first hike since we arrived here and she managed to take pictures of the event.

Ed Kettyle