IN LATITUDES
comparison, Mexico has someting like 3,000 slips. Given what Croatia has to offer the cruising sailor, it's no wonder. About half the Croatians speak English, and all the ones we met were very helpful. Croatia has a few downsides. While you can get very decent local wine for $6 a bottle, the food isn't bad, but isn't up to Italian standards either. While annual berthing fees aren't too bad, single-night rates are ridiculous. The marina at Korcula wanted to charge $200 a night for Escapade, and Greg was still charged $35 by some authority to anchor out about half a mile from the dinghy dock. There are plenty of places to anchor for free, but not right next to tourist centers. If we make Croatia sound too good to be true, consider the fact that Andrew Vik will be returning to cruise the Trogirto-Split waters for the ninth season this summer. And hosts Greg and Debbie said, "Croatia is better than anything we
saw cruising last year." Last year they were in Spain, France and Italy, including their favorite, Sardinia. Yes, if somebody could just solve that distance from California problem, Croatia would be the bomb. — latitude/rs 07/15/2016 Abracadabra — CS36 Molly Arnold and Bryce Andrews Pacific Coast of Honduras, Part II (San Francisco) [Continued from last month.] After three nights we left El Tigre and continued on our 'less traveled' Pacific Coast path by motoring 24 miles up the clearly marked shipping channel toward Puerto Henecán, Honduras’ only port on the Pacific. Our destination was actually San Lorenzo, which we expected to be a sleepy backwater town a short distance from the port. Thanks to good charts and a
Puerto Henecάn is one of the more unusual ports on the west coast of Central America, as it's inland, about a mile from San Lorenzo. COURTESY HONDURAS TOURISM
It's entirely unfair that Croatia has beautiful anchorages such as this all-weather one at Prozura on Mljet just a few miles off the mainland coast. There are countless others like it. Imagine if California had anchorages such as this, as well as warm water during the summer months.
cruising guide, we took an unmarked turn northwest off the shipping lane one nautical mile before Puerto Henecán. We then threaded our way through some mangrove swamps to San Lorenzo, and anchored off a row of picturesque restaurants. In the last several years San Lorenzo has become less sleepy, and is now a popular day trip for visitors from Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. There are now three nice restaurants and a hotel on the waterfront, and several other restaurants on the other side of the three-block 'tourist zone'. Soon after our anchor was set we were greeted by Edward, the Englishspeaking local lancha driver. Edward picked up English when he was a kid while swapping Honduran watermelons for US military MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). His watermelon customers were there as support for the CIA on El Tigre. Edward had also met some of our sailing compañeros — apparently San Lorenzo sees a sailboat every three months or so — and purported to be well-versed in taking care of visiting sailors. We weren't completely convinced, however, because his ability to bring his lancha alongside Abracadabra in wind and current didn't improve during our week stay. Edward arranged for water delivery — via horse-drawn cart — a lancha, and a driver to take us to the grocery store.