August 18, 2024

Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day comes from Alex Fleig, taken at the top of the hill overlooking Jonesville Point and shows a great view of the swimming hole here. If you want to take a dip but don’t like waves, the swimming hole at Jonesville Point is the place to go!
We’ll start getting a little wave action back on the seas this week, with seas up to 3 feet, but definitely not too bad. Today should be dry but tomorrow evening we will have a good chance to get wet.

On satellite things look a lot clearer than they did yesterday. Yesterday the east side and Guanaja got good rains from half an inch to an inch and a half. Today there is a VERY small chance of a morning shower, but we should be mostly sunny and dry.
Tomorrow, especially in the evening and overnight we have a good chance of a shower or thundershower. As we get into next week we will have decent chances of scattered showers, especially overnights and mornings. As we get into next weekend, things look a little drier.

Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: We wake up to east winds 10 mph and seas 2 feet southside. As the day goes into evening, our winds will pick up to 15-20 mph and seas 2-3 feet. Starting Monday winds will be mostly around 15 mph and seas 2-3 feet southside.

If it’s Sunday it must be Lobster Sunday at Ikigai by Robby Molina, the best lobster deal on the island. Today will be a great day to sit out on their deck and enjoy the bay at French Harbour!

Low tide is 1:40 p.m. Have a great Sunday!

August 17, 2024

Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of they day comes from Stephen Cox in West Bay. I get some feedback that maybe we should have fewer sunsets, so this photo is that time of day before sunset when the sun reflects brightly on the sea and we need sunglasses. Today we will have scattered showers around, especially in the evening. Tomorrow looks like a drier day.

On satellite at 7 a.m. we see a thundershower to the southeast of Guanaja moving northwest. We will see if it can hold together to give us a shower this morning. Otherwise we will have partly cloudy skies and a shower here or there and the chances will increase as we get into the evening.
Tomorrow looks drier, but from Monday evening through Wednesday morning it looks like we have good chances of scattered showers.

Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: We wake up to east winds 5-10 mph and seas 1-2 feet south side. This afternoon we should get a little winder, with east winds 15 mph and seas 2 feet. Tomorrow will be much like today, calmer in the morning, slightly windier in the afternoon. Early to midweek we will see slightly windier conditions with east winds 15 mph daytime and 20 mph nighttime and seas 2-3 feet.

If you are visiting our forecast because you will be visiting Roatan in the next few weeks, you picked a great time of year — a little less crowded and quite calm on the waters. I always recommend this time of year to visitors, and you can do no better for your daytime excursion than Jolly Roger Roatan, with a free open bar after snokeling off their comfy catamaran.

Low tide is 1 p.m. Have a great weekend!

August 15, 2024

Good morning Bay Islands! This morning’s photo comes from Larry Cox and was taken from the dock of Turtle Beach between West Bay and West End. I love the watchful herons. Don’t forget the most-liked photos compete Sept. 1 for a free cleaning at Dilbert-Thompson Dental in French Harbour. Send your photos to bookmybio@gmail.com with name of photographer and location.

On satellite at 7 am we can see some dying storm clouds to our north and lots of popcorn clouds around our islands. It’s not impossible that one of these popcorn clouds has a brief shower, but most of us should stay dry. We will have mostly sunny skies today with VERY low chances of seeing any showers. As we get into the weekend we will see the return of scattered showers and thundershowers, especially at night and in the early mornings.

Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: We wake up to east winds 5-10 mph and seas 1-2 feet. We will be quite calm the next two days. The weekend looks only slightly windier, with daytime winds 7-12 mph and nighttime 10-15 mph. Winds and seas look fairly good into next week.

I’m pleased to introduce our newest sponsor, Roatan Life Real Estate.

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Low tide is 11:40 a.m. Have a great Thursday!

August 14, 2024

Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day comes from Toni Cecilia Parkins, who took this photo of West Bay during a helicopter tour. She had great weather for that tour and we will have great weather for the next three days, with a small chance of a scattered shower today and likely very dry for Thursday and Friday. Winds and seas will be nice, too.

On satellite this morning we can see lots of rain over Belize, but only a few popcorn clouds, especially around Guanaja, which has picked up .15 of an inch in the early morning hours. These popcorn clouds will continue to weaken, but we will have partly cloudy skies today and a 30 percent chance of a shower today and this evening.

The reason we are saying Thursday and Friday will be dry is that the air over our heads will be drier (shown in yellow) and we will be in between wet air masses (shown in red). The red, moist air will move back in for the weekend, and we will go back to having scattered showers.

Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: This morning we wake up to 15 mph east winds and seas 3 feet south side. Today we will have east winds 10-15 mph and seas should calm to 2 feet.
Thursday and Friday look gorgeous. In addition to dry conditions, we should have daytime winds at 5 mph and seas around 1 foot. So go out on the sea and have fun!

I’ve talked a lot about the awesome international dishes at Ikigai by Robby Molina in French Harbour. This past weekend I had the Greek dish, souvlaki, which is a lot like a gyro, but is meat (in this case pork) cooked on a grill on a skewer and then placed on hot pita with tzatziki sauce. It was awesome!

Low tide is 11 a.m. Have a great Wednesday!

August 13, 2024

Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day is sunset at La Sirena in Camp Bay.
This morning we had a lot of rain on the east side and on Utila, where at 7:20 a.m. it seems to still be raining. We will continue to have scattered showers and thundershowers and mild winds and seas.

On satellite since midnight you can see rain clouds not moving a whole lot to the east of Roatan and over Guanaja. The edge of these clouds brought rain to the east side and none to the west side. At the end of the video you can see a storm building over Utila around 7 a.m.
As is normal at this hour, these storm seem to be weakening a little. We will still have a small rain chance during the day today and a much better chance the evening and overnight into tomorrow morning. That cycle will continue throughout the week.

Here are rainfall totals as of 6:30 a.m. As of 7:22 a.m., Utila now has over 2 inches since midnight.

Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: We wake up to east winds 10 mph and seas 2 feet southside. We will continue to have daytime winds 5-10 mph and seas 1-2 feet and nighttime winds 10-15 mpha nd seas around 2 feet.

If you are a reader on Utila or Guanaja or even on the coast (we have a few subscribers in La Ceiba) and you want the best food for your good boy or girl, get in touch with Mitch Cummins and make arrangements to get a delivery of his Roatan Pets all natural food on the ferry. Your dog will thank you for the extra effort.

Low tide is 11 a.m. Have a great Tuesday!

August 12, 2024

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Good morning Bay Islands. This morning’s photo comes from Christina Matthews and shows a fire dancer in West Bay bringing quite a bit of fire. Last night was kind of strange. I was getting all kinds of messages about meteors (Perseids peaked last night) but also about strange white lights at dusk going back and forth. If you saw anything stranger than lightning or meteors, let me know at bookmybio@gmail.com.

Here’s the rainfall from last night, which mostly concentrated on the west side, though Guanaja got a little rain this morning.

At 7 a.m. we see a few popcorn showers moving westward, one that produced some thunder east of the island, but seems to be weakening as it moves west. We have plenty of popcorn clouds out there, so I will go with partly cloudy skies today and a small chance of a thundershower during the day, and a better chance again tonight. We are in this cycle of a few scattered daytime showers and even stronger nighttime storms. But, hey, it’s better than a drought.

Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: We continue to have nighttime and early morning winds from the east at 15 mph and 2 foot seas southside, with 5-10 mph winds middays and 1 foot seas. Those will continue this week but, as always, watch out for winds and waves in squalls.

We have another fairly calm week to take advantage of the great sale that Galaxy Wave has going on at roatanferry.com and the many locations across the island. $25 each way for the Roatan/La Ceiba ride. I will be on that ride next week Wednesday morning on my way to a Christian convention in San Pedro Sula. I can’t wait!

Low tide is 9:10 a.m. Have a great week!

August 11, 2024

Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day comes from Elizabeth Sherry and shows the iconic Camp Bay at sunset. Camp Bay is an underrated beach with visitors, but is among the most popular with locals. If you want to enter this month’s contest with a chance for a free dental cleaning at Dilbert-Thompson Dental in French Harbour, send you photo with name and location to bookmybio@gmail.com.

There will be plenty of nice days at Camp Bay Beach this week, with most of our showers overnight and in the early morning.

Our satellite shows a few popcorn clouds, including a big one southeast of Guanaja. There will be a small chance of a shower through the morning hours, but we should be mostly sunny today. Toward evening chance of a thundershower increase. We continue the cycle of low chances of rain midday and afternoons and better chances overnights and early mornings. Looks like the west side got around a tenth of an inch in early morning showers this morning.

Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: We wake up to east winds 5-10 mph and seas 2 feet southside. Winds will remain mild today with seas 1-2 feet. Winds and seas look fairly calm this week. As always, be careful of winds and waves in squalls, but other than that it looks like smooth sailing.

The storm in the Atlantic may be of some concern on Puerto Rico, but after that it should turn out to sea and become a fish storm, in other words a storm that is only a worry for fish in the ocean and not to any landmass.

Today is one of my favorite days — the day I get to go to Ikigai by Robby Molina for lunch. Hope to see you there. It is Lobster Sunday, but there are lots of options on the Asian-island fusion menu of one of the best chefs in Central America.

Tides continue to be mild. Have a great Sunday!

August 10, 2024

Good morning Bay Islands. This morning’s photo of the day comes from Josh Gravitt and shows a full rainbow over the Black Pearl Golf Course in Pristine Bay. Josh assures me that he didn’t find a hole in one at the end of the rainbow. Our rain chances are a bit lower today, but come back tonight and tomorrow morning.

This morning’s satellite shows a big complex of storms over Belize, but nothing much here. Today looks mostly sunny and dry. Tonight and tomorrow morning scattered showers and storms return and we will have that cycle most of this week, with a low chance of an isolated shower during the daytime and better chances overnight and in the early morning.

I want to talk a little about the nature of tropical weather. This satellite image is throughout the day on Wednesday. You will remember Wednesday produced the storm that created the waterspout that was our photo of the day Thursday. It was produced on a day that was clear almost everywhere in our part of the Caribbean, but around midday you can see one burst of yellowish orange that was this storm that also poured between 1-2 inches of rain on the west side.

Compare that with Thursday night’s satellite. There are lots of storm clouds around, but especially to the east of Guanaja. In the end, the islands got no rain from these storms. We see these storms moving west and weakening as they go, then reforming to the east of Guanaja and continuing the pattern. One thing I’ve learned about large complexes of storms is that unless you are right in the strongest part, where the cloud tops are the highest (represented by red on infrared satellite) you probably aren’t getting any rain.

Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: This morning we are having one of the windier mornings we’ve had in awhile, with 15-20 mph east winds and seas around 3 feet southside. We will keep those winds and seas today, even a little breezier this evening with east winds 17-22 mph. Tomorrow and the week ahead look calmer, with east winds 10-15 mph and seas 2 feet southside.

It’s looking pretty certain that a tropical storm will threaten Puerto Rico midweek, but most of the models say this system will then turn out to sea. This is no threat to us.

High and low tides are hardly noticeable. Have a great weekend!

August 8, 2024

Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day comes from Clyde Meyer, who captured this impressive waterspout yesterday afternoon in Brick Bay. I was actually driving by at the moment and saw my second waterspout in six years here. This was a rogue storm that formed suddenly yesterday afternoon, the kind of thing that can happen in the tropics. I always say waterspouts are generally harmless, but I guess if you were right under this one you would have gotten shaken up a little, judging from the way it stirred up the water at its base.

Here’s the rain totals from yesterday. Very little rain fell on the east side. The north side of the big island of Guanaja got .18 of an inch and no rain was recorded on Utila.

Here is the satellite from 6:30 a.m. We see a lot of showers and storms to our east moving toward us as our tropical wave nears. We should expect to see storms increase in the afternoon and evening, so keep an eye out for lightning and locally windy conditions in squalls.
Rain may linger into tomorrow morning, but the rain chances during the day tomorrow look a little less, around 30 percent with mostly cloudy skies.
Tomorrow night into Saturday morning rain chances are 50 percent, but go back down to 20 percent midday and afternoon on Saturday.
Sunday into next week there will be scattered showers around, 40 percent chances each day.

Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: We wake up to a 7 mph east breeze and seas 1-2 feet southside. Today looks like a quite calm day, except that squalls and quickly create gusty winds and stormy seas, so keep an eye open.

Tomorrow winds will generally be from the east 10-15 mph and seas 2-3 feet southside.

Sunday will be a bit breezier, with east winds 15-20 mph and seas around 3 feet southside.

Next week looks quite calm for the most part, so a great time to be on the sea if you can dodge the showers.

I don’t know about you, but I get excited just looking at the menu at Ikigai by Robby Molina in French Harbour. Between the risottos and pad thai dishes, Jamaican pasta and Korean and Japanese tacos, I don’t think I’ve been in a fusion restaurant this good in Atlanta or Dallas.

High and low tides continue to be mild.

Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: We wake up to a 7 mph east breeze and seas 1-2 feet southside. Today looks like a quite calm day, except that squalls and quickly create gusty winds and stormy seas, so keep an eye open.
Tomorrow winds will generally be from the east 10-15 mph and seas 2-3 feet southside.
Sunday will be a bit breezier, with east winds 15-20 mph and seas around 3 feet southside.
Next week looks quite calm for the most part, so a great time to be on the sea if you can dodge the showers.

I wanted to say something very briefly. There is a tropical wave coming off the west coast of Africa that all three computers (GFS, Euro and ICON) turn into a tropical storm/hurricane next week. The National Hurricane Center hasn’t identified it yet, but all three models have it going well north of us. We will keep an eye on it.

August 7, 2024

Good morning Bay Islands. This morning’s photo of the day comes from Erin Maria who was visiting West End from Northern Ireland when she captured this man contemplating a Roatan sunset. We should have another nice day today and increasing clouds tomorrow as our tropical wave nears. The National Hurricane Center has taken us out of any risk for tropical storm development, so that is good news.

You can clearly see the tropical wave in the Caribbean east of Nicaragua. Today will be mostly sunny with only a very small chance of a passing shower.
Tomorrow we will have increasing clouds and an increasing chance of rain as we get into the evening and overnight hours.
Right now, tomorrow night into Friday morning looks like our best chance of rain.
Friday into the weekend we will have 30 percent chances of rain.
Next week it looks like 40 percent chances each day as we enter a period with lots of scattered showers.

You can see that the National Hurricane Center has taken us out of any risk of tropical storm development and the Gulf of Mexico only has a 10 percent chance.

Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: We wake up to east winds 5 mph and seas 2 feet southside. We will remain calm today with seas 1-2 feet. Tomorrow will also be calm, but watch out for squalls tomorrow afternoon and night that can whip up the seas. This weekend we should have east winds 15-20 mph and seas 2-3 feet south side and next week looks quite calm again.

I’m going to be my own sponsor today. I’m selling my 2012 Ford Escape.
It has a new paint job and undercarriage rust protection
New suspension
Cold AC
127,000 miles
I’m asking 175,000 lempiras ($7,000) negotiable. I’ll be heading toward Coxen Hole this afternoon if anyone wants to take a look.

High and low tides are quite mild. Have a great Wednesday!