Hans’ Pizza

We made our way back to Guanaja, to pick up our refrigerator parts that have been delivered to Graham’s Place, and spend more time on the island. After a short visit, we’ll return to Fantasy Island Marina, where Scott can fix the refrigerator and cool it back down while we’re plugged into shore power. We paid for a month’s slip rental Steve, the dockmaster, was nice enough to let us split our time, leavnig for Guanaja, and coming back to our slip when we returned.

With head seas forecasted, I was not looking forward to the six hour trip. We only had a three hour ride from West End around to French Harbour, but the head seas made it a nasty go; a repeat made me cringe. Thankfully, the winds were much calmer this time, and aside from having to cool Howard down we had a good run back to beautiful Guanaja.

The forecast calls for strong winds this week (surprise), so we tucked back into El Bight. It offers more protection for us, than if we anchor off of Graham’s Cay. We were surrounded by the familiar sights of Manati bar and Han’s place.

Monday morning brought pouring rain (not called for), a beautiful rainbow and then more stormy clouds. It was neat to watch them settle down onto the mountains around us.

By mid morning, there was a break in the weather, so we jumped into the Aluminum Princess and headed for Graham’s Cay to pick up our parts and grab some lunch. It was just a quick 20 minute ride, and the sun came out to greet us as we arrived at Graham’s Place.

However, not two hours later, as we were finishing our yummy fish sandwiches (mine blackened and Scott’s fried), I noticed the sky darkening again. We paid our bill, jumped back into the boat with our boxes and set off for El Bight. Within minutes, the seas went from calm and clear blue to threatening grey. We made our way through an angry chop back to the boat, amidst building white caps. As usual at times like this, we were glad to be tucked into the Aluminum Princess.

Once aboard Sea Life, we unpacked our boxes in the cockpit. Corrugated cardboard is a favorite place for cockroaches to lay their eggs, so we bagged it up (unbeknownst to Howard, as he can’t resist a box) and set it out into the Aluminum Princess. Our parts now wait in the saloon, until they are installed.

The process was costly (2,000.00 in total: cost of parts, shipping to Miami, shipping to mainland Honduras, customs fees, and shipping to Guanaja..plus a tip for Alex, the manager at Graham’s, who was such a great help to us), but took just under two weeks. All in all, we can’t complain, especially since Defender was great enough to refund Scott the cost of his first order to Mexico (minus the shipping). It seems that they are having such a problem with Mexican Fed Ex customs that the parts will just be written off as a loss. Their customer service is fantastic!

In the meantime, our windlass had decided to give us attitude as we came in to anchor from Roatan, so Scott spent a day taking it apart and repairing it. Thankfully, no part ordering necessary! He promises to do a short Captain’s Corner post on the repair soon. Once the windlass was back together, he fixed a problem with the valving in our shower fixture in the guest head. Because why be bored?

The heat and humidity are in full force (86 degress, with 70% humidity by 8:30am), so we do our best to move as little as possible. Howard doesn’t quite understand the heat. He’ll get a wild hair and have a crazy session in his latest play area, an Ace Hardware bag. The thing has been torn almost to bits.

Exhausted and hot, Howard will splay out for a nap in his Africa basket taco. If his breathing gets consistently fast, we’ve started placing a cold, wet towel on him. It seems to work well at cooling him down (with great success on our trip here from Roatan). I’m shocked though, at how much he’s starting to tolerate it.

Once cooled down, it’s into a good, deep sleep.

Last night we visited Hans’ place, catching up with the regulars and enjoying some pizza. We’ll stay in Guanaja for a week or so, before returning to Roatan. Here are some photos of our trip back, and the last few days.

“Shells Sink, Dreams Float. Life’s Good On Our Boat!”

As you know, Scott and I loved pizza night when we were in Isla Mujeres. We looked forward to chatting with fellow cruisers, and then the yummy pizza and garlic knots at Oscars. As we left to head for Honduras, and Guanaja, we wondered when we’d get really good pizza again. Well, our wait was short!

As we checked online for reviews of local places to eat, only three showed up. Mi Casa Too, our place on the hill. Manati, run by Klaus and Annette, who helped us with our propeller. They moved here from Germany over 20 yeas ago, and run a beautifully casual bar, specializing in German food and beer. The third listing was for Hans’ Pizza. The reviews raved about his pizza, and stated that Monday was pizza night..”If you see smoke, he’s making pizza.”

There were no photos with the reviews, and we could see no visible evidence of a third restaurant in the bight. After scanning the shoreline with our binoculars, we caught sight of the top of a thatched roof, just down from Manati. We learned that it was indeed Hans’ place, when Klaus sent us there to talk with him about our propeller.

Hans is originally from Germany, but has called Guanaja his home for more than 40 years now. He owns a large piece of land here in El Bight, that sits on the water’s edge. There is a small bar, large outdoor kitchen, and several spots for enjoying shade, all built by Hans.

After meeting Hans, and talking about our propeller, we ended up staying for a few hours, enjoying cold beer and meeting the others who were gathered there.

He seems to have a group of regulars who come every morning and spend the day. Some are cruisers, who linger longer than planned at anchor before continuing on, and others call Guanaja home permanently. They pitch in with food preparation, tending bar and other things to help Hans around the property.

As we talked that first evening, enjoying his homemade red wine and bread, Hans offered to make pizza for us that Friday (and a loaf of bread for me!). We considered ourselves quite special, not having to wait for the usual Monday treat!

When Friday came, I arrived with dessert in tow, as a thank you for Hans’ extra effort. There were several of us gathered, and we chatted while he got to work. Hans makes his own dough, and the only ingredient that isn’t raw or fresh made, is the Hunt’s tomato sauce from a can, used for the red pizzas. We’ll forgive that. His oven is a large barrel, fueled by a roaring wood fire underneath.

Most chose to have half of their pizza with tomato sauce and half with white. The white sauce is a fresh made crema, that is sold in town. It’s similar in consistency to sour cream, but not taste. We followed suite with a half and half, and our pizza was delicious! We left with full, happy bellies, and looked forward to returning on Monday!

When we returned for dinner on Monday, there were many more people. There was a large group of local residents seated at one of the long wooden tables, who were there to celebrate a 13th birthday. Inside the bar, and throughout the property, other locals and “regulars” chatted and drank.

After the birthday group was fed, it was our turn. We were told that some evenings, the wait is quite long. John, a cruiser who’s spent a month of Mondays here, didn’t get his pizza until 10pm one night! Hans tries to accommodate tourists and larger groups first. Fair enough, we were content to watch and wait.

We chose to go with an all white pizza this time. Hans’ traditional way is topped with caraway seeds, onion and bacon…delish!!

He even whipped up some key lime pie in the oven, but we were too tired and stuffed to wait for it to cool. We will leave soon, to visit Roatan, and return here for a few more weeks. Hans has promised to smoke some fish and make us our first breadfruit, which will be in season when we return. Cheers to our chef and new friend!