New Judge in Town

Guanaja has a new judge and he is cracking the whip.  First order of business is making sure everyone has their boats registered. 

I know this sounds really simple and no big deal but it's been an ordeal.
I would say 10% of the islanders and expats have their boats with the proper Honduran title and registration.  It is the law but this law has never been enforced.

Bob & I got caught in the sting a couple of weeks ago.  While enroute to our favorite watering hole we were flagged down by a group of men heavily armed Naval Officers and the Municipal Police.  At first I thought they were just being friendly (as we all are on the water) and waving at us.  So, I wave back.  But then their hand motions were more intense and we knew we need to pull over.  As we pulled over they were asking for our paperwork.  We asked, "what paperwork"?  They said, if we didn't have our registration and title of the boat on hand we needed to go to the Municipal dock and wait for them.  UGH!  We got in line with the other boats they had pulled over and we were followed by smaller boat with 3 officers to make sure we complied.

We waited about 20 mins for the policia to arrive and give us further direction.  Well their direction was to leave the boat in their possession until we could produce the documents.  We're thinking "no way"; "They really want us to abandon our boat".   Most everyone that was pulled over, handed over their boats.  The policia were nice and offering all of us a ride home.   We boarded their boat with cloudy judgement due to the shock.  Luckily the clouds cleared quickly prior to pushing off and we decided to stay with the boat.  We were told we could talk the Chief of Police to get more info on other options other than leaving the boat.  He unfortunately was in the other boat that was pulling everyone over.  So we waited and waited and waited; not knowing when they would return; afterall, it was early in the day we were sure there were plenty more offenders to rally up. 

While waiting we had learned that the police was in full throttle because they had been caught sleeping.  Apparently their boat was stolen literally from right behind their station.  Whoever stole their boat took the motor and left the boat abandoned.  Yikes.  Not a good thing.  So now they are pissed and ready to take action. They probably came to the realization that they're never going to find the true culprit to punish, so why not make everyone suffer for the actions of a few.

Guessing after 3 1/2 hours we finally get to talk to the Chief of Police.  Short story is that we were handed all the paperwork that outlined the criteria of obtaining a Honduran title and properly registering the boat; we thanked them and went on our way with our boat.  

We fully support the law and if that's what it is, we will definitely comply and get the documents in order.    

It's been a few weeks since we were pulled over and the boats are still not registered.  Not from lack of trying.  Since we are registering the boats on the Pullum's behalf, we've been waiting on bill of sale, passports copies, and personal fotos from them.  Which we now have.  So, our first thing to accomplish is getting the proper Honduran Title in their name.   To do that we must use a lawyer.  Hey...Hey...the Municipal is supplying the lawyer for us.  How nice of them?  For a low cost of 2500 lps ($133) we can obtain a title.  Seriously?  How unfortunate for a lot of the islanders.  That truly is expensive.  The average daily wage of an islander is 300 lps ($16)  You do the math.   Fortunately, word is getting around to other islands and lawyers are offering to help out and file the documents at a much reduced cost.  Once we get the title lined out then we take it to the Port Captain and register for yet another small fee. 

This has been a process.  And we have 4 boats (3 different owners) to register.  Wish us luck!

Hugs to all,
Bonnie & Bob