Part IV---Next stop: Los Aves de Barlovento

Heading for our last stop in the Venezuelan Out Islands....

Monday Aug. 17th
0715 hours. Rand and Derek reviewed the weather. Storm “ Anna” has been downgraded, however, “Bill” is travelling at 19 knots with 65-80 knot winds. He’ll be a category 3 or 4 hurricane at 20*N 65*W and in the Caribbean Wednesday. For us this weeks weather looks like today and Tues 15-18knot winds Wed. 12knots, Thurs 10knots and Fri. ESE 15-18knots with squalls on the weekend.

We’ve decided to leave this morning while Idyll Island will stay behind for a couple more days.

By noon we still have virtually no wind----Where is the 14-18 knots????

By 1440 we’re working our way into the Southern Los Aves Barlovento anchorage off Isla Sur. The visibility is excellent. I am on the bow as again the charts are not accurate. Chris Doyles guide continues to be an asset. Zigzagging our way into the anchorage I am amazed at the birds flying all around my head.

Randy checking anchor.

…And the mangroves….they’re like large gnarled monsters. The white egrets are a gorgeous contrast.

This evening our first tank of water has ran out. We’ve used 70 gallons in 18 days averaging out to 3.8 gallons a day---pretty darn good; plus 1.1 gallons of bottled drinking water a day.

Tues. Aug. 18.
We had a very windy, choppy, wakeful night. I am using the last of our eggs this morning.

0900hours.. It’s time to go exploring. We found a dinghy landing hidden in the mangroves so we hiked over to the windward shoreline.

We found a Cairn, so we beach combed for the perfect rock to engrave.

We could not believe our luck to find two heart shaped stones which of coarse made us think of Maureen and Glenn's upcoming wedding. We are sorry we are not there in person. We wish you both all the happiness you deserve. Our love to you both.

Later we dinghied through a channel of mangroves where we saw thousands of Boobies….No Margo, these boobies are birds. I particularly loved the red-footed booby with its blue beak….

Many were sitting on a nest.

Back on High States; Dremel in hand.. This cruising is alot of work.

Of coarse there is no better way to end the day than snorkelling. The water is so clean. We found a healthy reef to the East of us with lots of fishes and a good assortment of coral. We saw all types of grunts, blue tang, four eye butterfly fish, parrotfish, and wrasses to name a few. We saw hundreds of tube sponges and baby sea fans.

Wed. Aug 19
We hiked back over to the Cairn to leave our rock.

Cathy and Derek arrived this afternoon. We all went snorkelling and then they came over for pasta. Another great day in Paradise!!!

Thurs. Aug 20th We explored by dinghy out to the SE edge of the reef and snorkelled with Cathy and Derek.

Back on High States Randy decided to repair the Port head while I downloaded pictures. Unexpectantly we heard whistling??? Sure enough it’s the Guarda Costa from Aves de Sotavento , a few miles to our East wishing to come aboard. They have the gun, so we say Okay. It seems they have hitched a ride with a sport fish boat to check out boats in our anchorage. We answer their questions as best we can for their Transitio paper. Turned out the young man with the rifle was celebrating his 19th Birthday. We told them and showed them in our passports that my birthday was tomorrow with Rand’s being on the 27th. The young man filling out the Transitio said if we stop on Satavento we must come to his house for a visit. Again, there seems to be no urgency for us to leave their waters. Four beer, two packs of cigarettes later they’re off to Idyll Island.

Aug. 21.
Rand’s question: Lynn, did you ever think you would celebrate your Birthday in Los Aves Barlovento???? Where’s that I would normally say!!! Now that I know where this small Paradise Island is, I can’t think of a better place to celebrate. Rand spoils me all day, making the morning coffee, which he often does. No cooking for me today he states. Cathy and Derek dinghy over, singing Happy Birthday, bringing a freshly baked loaf of bread with a candle on it. We all went snorkelling then Randy and I went beach combing. The day ended with Cathy and Derek having us over for a fabulous meal of Pork Tenderloin.

Aug.22 Again the weather is deteriorating so we will sit tight a few more days. We’ve heard VHF chatter the winds are 30 to 40 knots. Rand has let out more chain. Another snorkelling adventure and we’re gradually learning the common names of so many fishes thanks to Cathy and Derek.

Sund Aug. 23 We had more 30 knot winds last night plus enough rain to give High States a good wash down. Again our batteries are acting up so Randy is doing maintenance while I do my favourite passion---CLEANING!! Yeah right…

Monday Aug. 24th. We’ve decided to move to the furthest SW anchorage for tomorrow’s departure to Bonaire. I sure will miss this tranquil anchorage. We have had the most amazing 26 days travelling through these Out Islands.

Part III---Los Roques

Cathy and Derek hailed us and asked us to join them for dinner. They are anchored at Sarqui approximately 5nm away so we decide to up anchor.

By 1730hrs. we’re re-anchored in 14.9 feet of water in sand ending a long day catching up to friends. The 130nm took up 19 hours. It’s turned out Cathy and Derek were admitted to Los Roques for only one day at the cost of $60US….no consistency here...

Tues. Aug. 11th
Los Roques is a National Parque made up of small islands and reefs. It’s protected on its East side by a 15 mile reef Bajo de la Cabecera.

There is a really nice reef where we enjoyed snorkelling from the boat.. We saw lots of beautiful coral and sponges. Some coral looked like upside down enormous Portebello mushrooms.

We also hiked a short trail to the windward side of the island. The anchorage is really getting busy---we’ve gone from three boats to nine; which includes one very large cat with a 24 foot runabout which is going full out in the anchorage. Time for us to move on.

Wed. Aug 12th Initially we wanted to check out the anchorage of O. Fernando. It turned out too shallow for us so we turned around and headed for Isla Carenero. The chart definitely is not accurate for this area. After two tries and the water getting way to shallow Idyll Island have caught up to us and using their last years information we followed them in. We’re anchored in 5.6feet under the keel. Our first priority is to jump in the water and cool down. During the evening a storm surrounded us entertaining us with a considerable lightening show.

Thurs Aug. 13.
The winds will increase tonight and tomorrow so we will move to a more protected anchorage. We initially thought we would head back to Sarqui when Isyll Island hailed us and say they’re going to check out the anchorage at Cayo Remanso which is at the SE end of Carenero. They hail us back and say there is lots of room and the entrance is 16 feet deep so we’ll go there.

As we enter this lagoon type bay we have a four foot shoal on our port side, but the visibility is excellent with me on the bow. We anchor wth 27 feet under the keel. This is a very nice bay protected by mangroves to the NE and East side. Snorkelling was pretty good to our West side where there’s a good size reef.

We explored by dinghy

Not bad snorkeling off this reef.

Ending another glorious day with Cathy and Derek

Unfortunately time to continue heading west so we’ll head for either Elbert Cay or Cayo de Agua. We sailed almost the whole 8nm trip….not in a hurry, just enjoying our day.

Heading West---Part II---Isla Blanquilla 100 nautical miles

Aug. 2nd 2000 hrs and Anchors are up.
Unfortunately we’ve got fluky light winds but are averaging 6 knots. Heading 300 degrees W., the full moon is smiling down on us.

0500hrs and we’re closing in on the Los Hermanos Islands which are 6 miles East of La Blanquilla, the tallest being 650 feet compared to La Blanquilla’s 50 feet. We’ve got dolphins playing off our starboard.

1010hrs. We will anchor at Playa Yaque. Going into the anchorage our visibility is excellent. We found a good holding in sand. The 100nm trip took 14 hours averaging 7.1knots…

Aug.4. High States anchored off Playa Yaque .

Exploring Americano Bay with Cathy and Derek. The fossilized coral some as wide as 5 feet were absolutely gorgeous.

There's room enough in the Bay for only one boat which unfortunately is not us. This would be a great place to stay for a week or so.

Rock archway.

Snorkelling under and around this rock formation was fabulous.

Another beautiful sunset after an excellent day

**** Before we left Grenada friends Val and Lloyd on Puddle Jumper recommended that we take items for trading with the local fishermen such as boxes of matches, Coke. We did this plus we bought small bottles of RUM…Well, WE SHOULD OF BROUGHT MORE RUM!!!! ****

Aug. 5th
This morning one of the local fish boats came by to sell it’s fish and lobster. Getting out our Spanish book we asked “Lobster, out of Season?” They did not understand us. So, the long and short of this experience--- We traded the Lobster for you guessed it- a bottle of Rum. The lobster was not only alive but full of eggs so once the fish boat was out of sight we hopped in the dinghy and motored over to the near reef and let the lobster go. Our good deed for the day.

La Blanquilla is approximately 25 sq. miles and 50 feet high. Walking inland with Cathy I was amazed at all the small valleys…I thought we’d be able to walk to the windward side of the island…No Way…There are so many cactus we had to stay on the donkey trails and even then the soles of our shoes were full of thistles. This is one of the salt ponds.

Cathy and Derek have decided to leave to-night for Los Roques. We have decided to stay probably until Monday. We want to rest and do more exploring. The local fishermen are also using this bay. The smaller boats go fish all day and then bring their catch back to a larger holding boat. We assume once it is full it will head to Isla Margarita.

Thurs Aug.6 Our fridge is not working to its potential so fresh fruit and veggies are meeting their demise. Also, the grapefruit we purchased in Grenada is sour and pulpy. Therefore, it’s a good day to defrost the fridge and freezer. We had another great day snorkelling. The nights are beautifully serene . The fishermen are asleep before us. We enjoyed another bewitching sunset.

Friday Aug 7th
Today the anchorage is really roily. We forgot to purchase a Venezuelan flag before we left Grenada so we decided to go over to the large fish boat and see if we could trade a bottle of yes, Rum, for a flag. Unfortunately the Captain said he had only the flag he was flying.

Later in the afternoon the fishing boat’s skiff with a man and young boy (maybe 12) came over and had a small flag to trade. We offered a snorkel and mask as trade which brightened up the young boys eyes, however, the man was hesitating to leave; you guessed it he wanted RUM. So, the flag has turned out to be the most expensive and smallest we have “purchased” to date, but that’s okay as each day we have been in Playa Yague we have watched the young boy out snorkelling.

Now we are getting better known with the fishermen. At dinner time one of the mid size fish boats came by to see if we wanted any fish. We say “Manana” ---"tomorrow" as I am already cooking dinner. They asked us if we had any cigarettes. “Si” we say. We give them four packages, one pack each, that we have had since our stay at Luperon, DR. We try and explain that they are old packs and may not be any good, but they do not seem too concerned. “C’est le vie”…

Sat Aug. 8 It’s very windy today and again roily. Between resting we went for a nice hike and snorkel. Of coarse we were waiting for the fishermen to come by so we could have fish for dinner, having our Rum handy for trade but no one came by. Was it the cigarettes??? In fact only the large boat is here. Possibly all the local fishermen went home for the weekend. Randy continues to check the weather and tommorrow looks good for us to head to Los Roques.

26 Days Traveling Venezuela's Out Ilands

HEADING WEST --Part I- Los Testigoes

Thank you for your patience.... We now have a new computer that Sean and Carlie brought down with them on their visit to us in Bonaire. Sean helped me pull all the important data off the old computer which was so exciting...So here we go. We have actually separated this voyage into four parts. We hope you enjoy this passage in your minds as we did in real time.

26 Days Traveling Venezuela’s “Out Islands”…And what a fabulous time we had.

It has been recommended these islands are very remote, a cruisers dream; but go prepared…

July 30th..Meeting with Cathy and Derek (Idyll Island) this past week we have decided today is our last opportunity for provisioning for this leg of our journey. To protect ourselves even with a buddy boat we have decided not to travel along the coastal mainland of Venezuela.

We were able to check out of Customs & Immigration at Prickly Bay. Cruisers still need to check in only at Grenada Yacht Club, St. Georges.

July 31st. Pulling up anchor 0330hrs not only has the wind pcked up but we have a squall on to of us.

It feels great to be underway. We've got "Auto" on. The wind and seas should be behind us for this crossing.

What a real roily ride.`Auto` has definitely worked hard for us today. We're travelling anywhere between 5.4 to 7.7 knots depending on the following seas....as we ride down the surf. The seas are confused and sloppy, worse than any roilyness we've ever encountered.

We seem to be very close to our planned coarse so we'll go to the Southern end of Los Testigos as recommended in the guide.. The currents are set to the NW and can be as strong as 2.5 knots.

By 1730 we are anchored just north of the gap between Testigo Pequeno and Testigo Grande in Playa Real off a beautiful sandy beach where the surf crashes onto the windward shore.

Los Testigos (The Witnesses). This group of nine islands has just over 250 inhabitants, their source of revenue fishing. Los Testigos is approx. 2 miles long and 1.5 miles at it's north.

First on the agenda today is our one mile dinghy ride over to the fishing village of Isla Iguana Grande to check in with the Costa Guardia outpost. Check in was a very simple one page form. The young officer was very friendly enjoying our attempt at speaking Spanish.

Crossing back over to Testigo Grande we decided to stop at Ballandra Bay and hike over to the Sand Dunes. Absolutely beautiful. Being the windward side we were amazed to find very little garbage. Normally the windward side of an island will be strewn with garbagge---primarily plastic, a cauldron of bottles, shoes, toys etc. etc. But not here.

We did see tracks from the big leatherback turtles in the sand.

Aug.2nd. Getting a bit of exercise.

Back to High States…Rain is coming
Cathy and Derek swam over, we reviewed the weather and have decided to pull anchor around 2200hours tonight for our trip to La Blanquilla.

After lunch we noticed the Bay to our North is full of local fish boats. The Bay is closed off with a yellow net. We decide to investigate.

The people were friendly even with the language barrier. We asked why it was taking so long to net the fish. One local who spoke very good English explained they were waiting for the confirmed price they would get from the Venezuelan mainland. If the price was good they would take fish; if not, they would only take what they personally eat….What a novel idea..