Good morning Bay Islands. Today’s photo comes from Kristi Voves in Palmetto Bay and gives us happy rays of sunshine above and below. We will continue to have plenty of sunshine, but tomorrow we will see less wind and Sunday through Tuesday morning we have a chance of rain.

Let’s talk first about wind. Today we will see winds much like yesterday, calming to 7-12 mph from the east through the middle of the day with 2-3 foot seas on the south side. Except for Utila where today will be a quite calm day. We will get back up to 20-25 mph east winds tonight, but tomorrow through Thursday morning winds will be quite calm at 5-10 mph and seas will be 2-3 feet, even through Wednesday night. We get windier Friday and Saturday, but Sunday winds turn to the west, and as islanders know, a west wind has a better chance of rain.

With those west winds will come chances of rain, but we probably won’t get a whole lot of rain. This GFS rain forecast through Tuesday at noon shows an inch to our west, but mostly a quarter to half an inch for our islands. The small rain chances (30-40 percent each day) start Sunday and run through Tuesday morning.

In the extended forecast, we have hopes of an even stronger rain system coming March 17-20. You can see that most of our rich moisture (red color) has been down around the equator. In fact Peru has had some pretty devastating flooding. But we have been in the dry greens and blues. But a cold front will drag some rich wet air down our way, so hopefully we can get an inch or two out of this two weeks from now.

I will be heading down the line to deliver calendars today. If you want one at 200 lemps, send me a message.

Low tides are 11:30 p.m. and 11:30 a.m. Have a great Tuesday!

Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day comes from DF Jones in Parrot Tree and shows a few more clouds than we’ve been having recently. We had a very nice midmorning and early afternoon yesterday with winds down to 5 mph and we will have a similar experience today for all the cruisers coming in on the Icon of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship.

I’m very excited to announce a new sponsor for our weather forecasts, Galaxy Wave. In the coming months I’ll be testing out their service to Guanaja and visit that island for the first time. I can’t wait to share a video of my experience.

In honor of our new sponsor, I thought I’d bring out the wave map for the 2 p.m. ferry to La Ceiba, showing a very smooth ride, with 1-2 foot seas between here and Ceiba. The further north and east you go, the choppier the seas get today. But we should have another period of midday calm with winds around 10 mph from the east. We will continue to have windy evenings and overnight around 20-25 mph, with the exception of Wednesday night, which looks to be a calmer night at 15-20 mph.

I’m trying to give us some hope of seeing rain, but in this GFS forecast, the rain that is forecast to come through March 11 looks pretty light and spotty. The GFS is giving us a stronger rain system around March 18, but that is a long way off and forecasts that far out are unreliable. But still there’s hope.

I will be heading down the line tomorrow morning to deliver calendars in Sandy Bay. If anyone wants one for 200 lemps, send me a message. They are also still available at La Sirena de Camp Bay, Restaurant & Bar.

Low tides are 10:40 a.m. and 10:40 p.m. Have a great week!

Good morning Bay Islands. This cloud formation that looks like a cruise ship was captured by James Oden back around October 2023. He thought it might be a good way to welcome the largest cruise ship in the world — Icon of the Seas — into port tomorrow. It can hold between 5,600 and 7,600 passengers, so tomorrow is going to be a busy day on the island. They should have decent weather, especially in the middle of the day as the winds die down.

We will start with the wind and wave forecast, since there isn’t much rain to speak of. At 7 a.m. we have 20 mph east winds and seas 4 feet on the south side and 2-3 feet on the north side. Between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. things should get much calmer, with east winds 5-10 mph, but seas on the south side will still be around 3 feet, 2 feet on the north side. Tonight winds get back up to 30 mph and seas to 5 feet on the south side.

Tomorrow looks much like today, so cruisers will have an opportunity for some nice excursions midday.

BTW, our trip to Santa Helena went quite well with Hanford at the wheel. If you need a solid boat and driver, you can do no better than Hanford, whose dock is on the north side in Diamond Rock, just west of Paya Bay.

Our 7 a.m. satellite promises clear skies all day, with may a cloud here or there. This will be the story all week.

If you’re looking for hope that it will rain, look at the forecast map for March 10-11 and you will see the tail end of a cold front bringing some rain for those days. Forecasts a week out are not very good, but we’ll keep an eye on this system and hope it brings us something for my cistern.

Today is Sunday and that can only mean one thing, Lobster Night at Ikigai by Robby Molina. You can’t beat two expertly prepared lobster tails with succulent sides. The special is available from 4-9 p.m. When you arrive, meet Melissa Dixon who will make sure you are satisfied with your experience.

Tides continue to be on the low side. Have a great Sunday!

Good morning Bay Islands. Today’s photo of the day is the Skittle-colored sunset at West Bay from Kelly Kosmin. The longer we go without rain, the more colorful our sunsets get as pollution and particles in the air don’t get cleaned out by rain. So lots of nice sunrises and sunsets are on the way because no significant rain is in the forecast.

Really quick forecast today because I’m hoping to get to Santa Helena today. Seas on the southside are 4-5 feet at 6 a.m. with east winds 20 mph gusting to 30 mph. We should get a bit of relief from the wind as the sun comes up and winds lower to 15-20 mph and seas to around 3 feet. Winds get strong again tonight, but tomorrow during the middle of the day looks much calmer with winds 5-10 mph and seas around 2 feet as you can see in this chart. As we go through the next week we will continue to have strong trade winds in the evenings and overnights, but somewhat calmer conditions middays. Still no rain in the forecast until perhaps March 10-11 when a small disturbance is forecast.

If you are planning your cruise excursion for the next week, don’t forget to check out the Jolly Roger Roatan. Their trips are cruise-certified as safe and 100 percent fun. They will get you back to the boat on time no sweat.

Tides continue to be mild as we enter half moon phase. Have a great weekend!

Rainfall for February 2024: We’re putting 1.46 inches in the record book for February. That is well below our average of 5.21 inches and indicates that we entered dry season early this year. Our rain totals were remarkably similar across the islands, with 1.4 recorded both on Utila and Guanaja. As we look to March, our average rainfall is 5.21 inches, but the forecast for the next two weeks doesn’t look promising for much rain. They always say dry season allows the mangos to grow out nice and sweet. If so, this should be a good year.

Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day for the last day of February is the first contestant in the March Photo of the Month contest. Matt Harper took this photo from Rocky Point in Saint Helene looking toward Guanaja. He said normally Guanaja is just a gray outline, but during our dry weather last week he could see the hills and shadows very well. Sadly we will continue to get more haze as we return to normal humid conditions here.

Before I begin the forecast, I want to mention that it seems the kelp monster is back on my beach. Anyone else noticing this?

We had another blustery night of trade winds. I wanted to show you a chart of my wind monitor yesterday. This chart is typical of easterly trade winds. The worst of the winds comes between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m.. They calm a bit toward daybreak and are calmest late morning and midday before getting windier again toward late afternoon. This is the pattern we will see through the weekend into next week and also the pattern that will dominate the next two to three months.

We start out with east winds at 20 mph and seas around 4 feet on the southside and 3 feet on the north side. Winds should calm to 15-20 mph from the east by midday before getting up to 20-25 mph this evening. The next few days will not be QUITE as windy as the last couple were. We’ve been getting winds 33-38 mph at night and the next few night should only be 22-28 mph.

The next week looks quite dry. One of the these mornings someone is going to get a light shower out of one of these popcorn clouds, but don’t bet on it.

We want to thank Roatan Pets for sponsoring our Photo of the Month prize for March! A great product support a great cause over at Roatan Operation Animal Rescue.

Low and high tides are quite mild.

Don’t forget to vote for your favorite February photo for Photo of the Month!

Good morning Bay Islands. Today’s photo of the day comes from Ontario resident Sylvia Lockard showing two very good boys frolicking in the waters of Half Moon Bay in West End. Sylvia’s photo is the last to compete for a $50 gift certificate to La Sirena de Camp Bay, Restaurant & Bar. The top five most-liked will compete in a poll tomorrow over at Roatan Weather on Facebook.

Here is the report as of 6:30 a.m. from the weather station in Keyhole Bay in West Bay. It shows a top wind gust overnight of 38.5 mph.

This wind chart shows that we are expecting similar winds through the week and the weekend. We start this morning with 20 mph east winds and seas 4 feet on the southside. Winds should calm a bit to 15-20 mph and seas to 3 feet on the south side but we are in for another quite windy night with gusts to 35 mph and seas 5-6 feet on the south side. There is some indication late next week we may get a little calmer, but these trade winds are a trademark of March/April in the islands.

When it comes to rain, we look quite dry for the next week. There is a slight chance of a shower Thursday night into Friday morning, but that is about it when it comes to rain. We will have very few clouds, in fact.

Tomorrow the photo of the day will be competing for the March prize of $50 in food from Roatan Pets. If the winner doesn’t own a dog, he or she can continue the great work that Mitch Cummins is doing by donating it, along with the 10 percent of proceeds Mitch already donates, to Roatan Operation Animal Rescue. I think we can all agree the animals of Roatan need all the help they can get and ROAR does great work.

The full moon is on the wane and high and low tides are mild. Have a great Wednesday!

Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day comes from Randy Newman in West Bay. Remember the five most liked photos compete on Thursday for a $50 La Sirena de Camp Bay, Restaurant & Bar gift certificate. It is appropriate that this photo shows a cloudless sunset because we will have very few clouds and no rain this week.

Is it impossible that sometime this week someone will get a morning shower? No, it is not impossible, but it is highly unlikely. We will be mostly sunny all week. This is shaping up to be a typical dry season week with strong easterly trade winds and seas around 4 feet on the south side. We start the day with easterly winds 10-15 mph and seas 2-3 feet. Those will get up to 15-20 mph and 3-4 feet on the southside by evening. Wednesday will be even windier, with 20 mph east winds during the day and 25-30 mph winds at night. Our temperatures will be back to seasonable with around 74 for lows and 84 for highs. (23-29C)

Let’s talk about one of my wife’s favorite topics: dessert. Always ask your server if there might be some off-menu offerings. The last time I was at Ikigai by Robby Molina they happened to have a wonderful mango cheesecake that was the perfect complement to a great meal. There’s always something to satisfy your sweet tooth at Ikigai, in the old Romeo’s building in French Harbor.

We’re at the end of the full moon period and our low and high tides are becoming a little less extreme. Have a great Tuesday!

Good morning Bay Islands. This morning’s photo comes from Dalton McCoole (no, I didn’t make that name up) and he gave us a great overview looking down over Oakridge Cay, Lucy Point and Jonesville. I love photos that feature our communities. Remember that the five most liked photos compete on Feb. 29 for $50 in food at La Sirena de Camp Bay, Restaurant & Bar. Some of us got a little rain this morning.

A few of us, especially on the east side and on Guanaja, got a few hundredths of an inch of rain this morning.

On satellite we can see some clouds moving from east to west. We will continue to have chances of light rain today under partly to mostly cloudy skies and some peaks of sunshine. Tonight into tomorrow morning we will also have a small chance of light rain. After that, we get dry an sunny for awhile.

Wind and wave forecast: We start out the day with east winds around 5 mph and seas from the northeast around 2-3 feet on the northside and 1 foot on the southside. This afternoon east winds will increase to 10-15 mph and seas to 2 feet on the south side. Tomorrow morning winds will be from the east 15-20 mph and by evening 20-25 mph and seas increase to 3-4 feet. The rest of the week we will have strong trade winds 20-25 mph and sometimes 30 mph at night, and seas 4-5 feet on the southside. Our temperatures will return to seasonal averages — mid 70s for lows and mid 80s for highs (24 to 30C).

Tuesday through Thursday are always the biggest days for cruise ships and if you are planning your cruise, don’t forget to look up Jolly Roger Roatan for the best and safest excursions.

Low tides are 3:45 p.m. and 4 a.m. Have a great week!