Crazy boat times

Well we tried to head out from Roatan, Honduras to Panama Saturday afternoon. The boat did fine at first, headed nicely into the waves. Took some big ones over the bow but we stayed dry once we found all the different windows to latch down. Then inexplicablly the engines started cutting out again. So I was down in the engine room again and again bleeding out the lines. Finally we had to turn around. Only problem was we were gone long enough to make it night by the time we would return. There are no lighted channels on roatan into the anchorages, the wind was blowing right onshore (not good if you lose your engine), and once you are in the anchorage there are still treacherous shallow shoals (invisible unless you have a high sun).
I was worried most about getting close to shore and then having the engine cut off. The waves and wind would dash up on the reef in no time. So I had Jim on the bow (ready with the anchor in case of dire emergency), heidi at the helm (following our last path out on our chart plotter), and me down in the engine room with wrenches ready to get the engines back online if needed.
We had our jib up, going about 6knts with the engine on idle ahead. Once we got within a mile Jim and I struck the jib and we were still cruising over 4knts. To us it looked as if there was no channel, no anchorage, just lights from shore that we were headed towards. But we trusted our plotter so we headed closer to the reefs and shore.
Just as I expected the engine cut off at the worst time. But luckily we were all ready for it and it started after a few seconds of coaxing fuel thru the lines. When I looked up Heidi already had us in the chanel. Now to navigate the shoals and find an anchorage.
We turned the depth finder on as we were easing over a 6.8ft shoal (the boat draws 6ft). So a sharp turn to starboard and then we were in the safer 20ft depth range. Heidi snaked the boat thru the field of other anchored boats and we dropped anchor between a couple. The anchor didnt catch at first but soon we were holding fast. (this turned out to be very lucky as I dove on the anchor the next morning and found it on its side hooked onto a lone coral head/rock). We all slept very well.

Yesterday was spent trying everything we could with the fuel lines/pumps/filters to get the engines running. The strbd engine wouldnt stay on longer than 10minutes and the port not more than an hour. It was driving me crazy. No mechanics to be found on a sunday so we were stuck. Luckily there was another boater who invited us ashore for a beach volleyball game followed by beer in the pool. White face capuchins (little monkeys) and huge inguanas circled the volleyball court with a beautiful turqois bay off to one side.
After the break we went back to possible scenarios with the engines. We finally decided to call it a day and get a mechanic tomorrow. But I had one last idea. So I crawled way back behind the strbd engine and disconnect the fuel hose running from the filter, under the engine, to the fuel pump. I was going to clean the fitting and blow out the hose. When I took it outside under the light I noticed a big tear in the hose which must have been sucking air in, clogging up the fuel intake system. Wallah! We had discovered the culprit. I cut off that section of the hose and reattached the fittings, luckily it was long enough still, and then Jim started up the engines. The worked great. So now we are back on track. We need to top off the fuel and get some more water (man do you go thru alot down here), hopefully the wind will die down alittle this afternoon and we will head off to Panama....again.

So wish us luck and hopefully the next email will be from Bocas del Toro, Panama. (maybe a quick one from San Andres, a little island owned by Columbia).