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Alarm was set for
We were anchored for about one hour when a dinghy approached us. It was two Venezuelan Coast Guards to inspect our papers. We were surprised about that as nobody every told us there was a station here. They were very friendly, wrote up the paper then wanted to see if our flairs were up to date so we invited them aboard. After all was done we offered a beer which they gladly took and enjoyed then they wished us a good stay, invited to visit them at the station on the island and told us that we could stay one months here and also one months in the Roques. There was only one other boat here, we had the place to ourselves. With the sunset the warmth of the day disappeared and it got down right cold that we made some hot toddies. We needed blankets for the night as it was 75 degrees, wow, we went from summer into winter LOL.
Early I woke up to what I thought was the daily power outage when the AC would turn off, but then realized with a huge grin on my face that the refrigeration pump had stopped, we were not on the dock any longer but in a beautiful anchorage. We didn’t do anything but relax all day and watched as one boat after another arrived. Venezuelans don’t anchor their boats, they park them and not one boat sat the same way. It was the weekend of Valentines Day and on the 15th Carnival started so everybody was off and joined us at the remote island.
Planes flew in and out all day long and we indeed enjoyed watching how the boats parked. The good thing was they all were leaving the coming Tuesday again.
I3 boats had anchored amongst us and everybody seemed to have a great time and so did we. Amazingly for how much Venezuelans like to party with very loud music it was very quite. Valentines Day we had an early dinner with a bottle of champagne and a Swiss Cheese Fondue, life can’t get any better.
The following night we feasted on lobster so after 4 days of doing absolutely nothing we decided it was time to venture ashore and to walk the good food off. By now everybody had left and we had this
The following day we headed across the isthmus to an incredibly beach which extended miles and miles, the water was clear and showed off all the shades of blue. Big rollers hit a shoal that protected the beach from the shore break that was further along.
Where the sand stopped and the flat lands of the island started was the biggest eyesore we’ve ever seen. We must have walked 2 miles along this gorgeous beach to realize that it was all polluted with piles and piles of trash, mainly plastic bottles. There also was a huge tree including roots that had washed ashore, would be a pisser to run into something like that at sea as it was at least 60 feet long. At this point we had seen enough trash and slowly headed back. Sid had fun, he had a goal to pick up every single flip flop he could find in the trash pile and strung them up on a long line and pulled them behind himself. You should have seen the pile he had when we got back to where we had started. The flip flop string was at least 8 feet long. Sid then assembled them above the beach and we counted 120 of them and he was very proud to have left a little flip flop shrine and I’m sure many will wonder “What the Heck”!!!
Later in the afternoon same day we took a couple of cocktails ashore and played boccha ball as the sun sank to the horizon. We plaid 3 sets and I beat Sid big time on each game, guess we have to have a rematch soon. I have to add we were very sore the next day from all the walking and exercising.
The weather had been great and the nights down right cold. After sundown we both put our sweater or jacket on and sipped on hot tea, well I was, Sid thinks the rum works better. Night temperature is around 75 and water temp is a cold 72 degrees, brrrrrrrr,
February 19th our buddies Captain Jack and his Crew Rob and Debi on Wind Shear dropped anchor next to us and planned on spending some time with us before heading to Trinidad.
Wind Shear who sat in the Redonda Marina for over six months working hard on their boat were overjoyed to finally be out at anchor relaxing. Captain Jack was especially excited when we finally went ashore to explore the beautiful beach. He’s a pretty short guy but outran us all. The swells in the mean time have subsided and made it for a very pleasant walk, except for speedy Jack. At the end of the beach we all put our crocks back on, except for Jack, yes Jack’s special, and hiked across the sharp coral rocks which are all black like the sun had burned them. We were following the cliff and watched as the water turned from blue shades into all kind of green shades and then we noticed hundreds of big size chitons sticking to the rocks. On our way back we harvested some and had a wonderful appetizer with cocktails. The same day I noticed the local fishermen, called them over and ordered some lobster for Wind Shear. Captain Jack and especially Debi couldn’t wait to get their teeth into some lobster. Two days later the boys came back with 5 lobsters of almost 8 kilos total, 5 nice red snappers, three for Wind Shear 2 for
We spent one more day and showed Captain Jack and Debi the mile for mile
Rob staid behind doing some chores, Captain Jack really runs a tight ship. We ended the day with another fun Boccha Ball game on the beach, which Rob again won then watched the sun disappear on the horizon before heading back to our boats, had dinner and settle in for the night.
At
We were tucked in safely behind the fairly small reef and enjoyed watching waves crash onto the reef with a roaring sound. Around cocktail time we picked up Rob and Debi, Captain Jack stayed on the boat, and went over to the reef sat or stood in waste deep of crystal clear water, watched waves crash onto the reef just few feet from us but where we were the water was calm, just a dream. The tide was on it's way out and on some corals fairly big sea urchins were halve way out of the water and a at some spots giant black parrot fish were rolling on the surface while we sipped on some ice cold cocktails.
The next morning Captain Jack gave the crew off and we ventured over to the mile and mile
Unfortunately the following day Captain Jack decided it was time to leave for
We pulled anchor a few hours later and motored to Cayo Herradura 3 miles further west and yet another beautiful anchorage.
Cayo Herradura is the most favored of the
We’re out of cheese, fruits, salads, coke, wine, beer and had only 4 carrots, 1 zucchini, 3 onions, 3 potatoes, one cabbage and one dozen of eggs left, freezer was still full of meat, lobster and conch and I guess our can opener will work over time in the next month or so, LOL.
Cayo Herradura is a very busy fishing island, there are about 6 camps and not one day goes by where not at least 4 pangas knock on the boat to either sell fish but mostly to ask if we had hats, sombreros, matches, sodas, epoxy, fan belts, motor oil, eye drops and mostly cigarettes or cigars.
On our walk around the island we were greeted at one of the fishing camps by a friendly older man named David, his weathered brown face showed the brightest smile with a few teeth missing. So we talked to him for a while and watched his fellow mates sitting in the sand fixing big fishing nets, while others hauled fresh caught fish to two guys cleaning and salting them. They wanted us to buy a lobster the size of about 8 to 10 pounds, a bit too big for our pot or liking. We like them a bit smaller they are more tender and easier to cook. The jolly old man was very happy talking to us and invited us to come back to his camp at any time. From that day on he knocked on our boat daily to bring his battery operated phone. There is no power on the island and therefore no way to load his phone. We were actually amazed that they had phone option here but my cell phone didn’t show any bars. While loading the batteries around 4.30 the phone started ringing and ringing. We gave David a hard time about having too many girlfriends on the mainland. We were happy to fill the batteries for him daily, even when they started bringing a second phone to load and a third. David brought me some onions one day and the last day they took our months worth trash ashore, I would say that was a good trade.
We truly enjoyed our walk around the island, well almost around, the northwestern shore is nothing but sharp rocks the rest is surrounded by beautiful fine white sand. The beach is steep too and on the southeastern end the beach narrows and ebbs out to give away to a long reef which extends southward. Here small waves run over the side from both sides and clash together towards the middle, a fun place to walk through. On the north shore the waves were quite a bit higher and crashed towards the beach with a roaring sound, a very beautiful scene. A red and white striped light house lies on the northwest shore which adds a lot of charm to this horse show shaped island. No matter where we were the view was spectacular and
While at Los Palanquinos with horror we found a lot of mildew in the V-Berth. All the shopping bags I used going shopping in the dinghy were gray. The humidity had been high and it didn’t help to get an invisible spray of salt air from the waves breaking over the reefs on the other side of the island to keep everything damp and eventually it will mildew. We went through the whole boat and whipped down anything and everything. Even our upholstery showed some mildew and had to be hand washed right away. The water maker was working over time. We have never had a mildew problem before. While here in Herradura I found some more mildew this time in all the cockpit cushion covers so I did some more laundry. Never a dull moment in and on
Gustav was going to sail to
We left with about 15 knots of wind, which dwindled away over a few hours and left us with 5 to 6 feet rollers on the beam, not a very comfortable ride. Sid was on watch until one in the morning while I tried to sleep in the tossing waves. The wild ride finally started to calm down and Sid was able to sleep most of my 4 hour watch. By 5 am it was a fairly comfortable ride and I laid down for some sleep again and didn’t wake up until 7 when I don’t know what woke me up first Sid standing over me yelling “I got a fish, I got a fish” or the loud BZZZZZZZZZZZ sound of the overheating reel. In any case my adrenaline was rushing, didn’t need any coffee anymore, I jumped up turned the throttle down, brought the jib in while Sid tried to crank in on the fish. At this point he didn’t know yet what it was but then a blue marlin jumped a couple of times out of the water while the reel was still sizzling. It took him a while to get the fish along side the boat. Sid finally managed to get hold of his bill and counting the sweat dripping of his forehead my guess was the fish was about 100 pounds. He managed to get the hook out of his bill and with a good luck wish he sent him back into the deep. Blue marlin is an excellent eating fish you probably are saying right now but we do believe in catch and release in bill fish, especially when one does not fit in both the fridge and freezer. It was fun and Sid finally caught his first marlin. The funny thing was Sid was just in the process to put out the reel, the lure was barley touching the water when the marline hit. He didn’t attempt to catch another one but an hour later when we saw some tuna jumping we tried to catch one without success. By now we were only 10 miles away from the Roques but you can’t see the islands until about 6 miles out. We headed for the lighthouse and about one mile out we could distinguish where the entrance was and followed the darker blue water into the sheltered bay inside the reef. There we had to follow another reef to our anchorage. It’s beautiful here and our first visitor was a big school of calamari under the boat. There I said it again calamari, I meant squid. Lucky devils it’s a national park here and fishing is not allowed.
Conch mystery: in Caldera one of the fishermen gave Manuela a beautiful queen conch, so how do you get the meat out and not damage the shell? We heard many stories over the years: hang the conch up in the sun and it will slowly come out (pew can’t imagine the stink!). The other is to put the conch in the freezer and the other boiling. We were not sure which one we would use and talking about it with Wind Shear someone mentioned that the snail was all muscle so the idea came up giving some muscle relaxant. Sid ground up some Flexeril. Mixed it with a little water and filled the conch up with it. An hour or so later the conch started crawling out and a couple of hours later it was so relaxed Sid just pulled it out of there. So the conch mystery is solved. We definitely did NOT eat the relaxed muscle!
Drinking tip for cruisers:
When to drink your Martini on deck or in the cockpit? When you see white caps appear in your martini glass and vodka waves are sloshing up the martini glass wall like waves crashing onto a beach, it’s time to retreat into the cockpit and continue enjoying your martini there!
We were lucky we left
A small mangrove overgrown island separated us from the reef and as far as the eye could reach there was nothing but waves breaking over the reef with a thundering roar. A wreck of a once big fishing vessel stranded on the treacherous added to the atmosphere. Behind the rocky reef shore the reef ebbed out to a flat sandy area with occasional coral heads the water was anywhere from ankle deep to shoulder deep and about 100 to 150 yards wide then it came to a abrupt halt and plummet down to 30 feet of water the color there was incredible as it went from a light turquoise green to a dark emerald green just like that and that color change snaked along the entire reef for miles and miles. The reef then gave way to a deep body of water anywhere from 300 to 500 yards and was interrupted by yet another narrower reef and behind yet another body of deeper water and then bigger mangrove over grown islands. Behind those island lies the flats of the Roques which is claimed to be the best bone fishing capital of the world. The ever changing watercolor keeps you in ah. The exploring of the reef was fun and at times we had to pull the dinghy as it was too shallow. Watching the sunsets while heads of turtles popped occasionally out of the water, some schools of fish gathered under the boat and the far distant roar of the waves made this such a relaxed atmosphere. We spent three days in this bliss and only saw a few small boats blasting past dropping tourists off on some of the little sandy islands on the outer reef for the day, other then that we were all alone.
We also had some repairs to do, in we I meant Sid. We lost our wind instrument on the way here so Sid had to climb up there to get it. Out of all things a long hair was wrapped around the baring and I’m telling you I never, ever climb up to the top of the mast, it’s beyond me how my long hair got up there?!!! Sid had a wonderful few from up there and took some awesome photos. Later on when I looked at them I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw a round Jacuzzi on our deck, wait a minute……oh…. blond moment it’s the radar!
By the way the Roques is a national park and lies about 70 miles north of
As we headed up the reef we follow the inner reef for about 8 miles and kept an eye out for the many smaller reefs popping up anywhere. Knowing of all the hidden dangers you’re at first a bit nervous but then you realize the water is very clear and the sun will reveal every little hidden rock or reef there is and they are easily detected to the changing of color. Sid stood up on the boom to see the hidden reefs better and we coasted along the reef with amazement, it was so beautiful. After the 8 miles the reef gave way to a really large body of water and about 2 miles across is the main island Grand Roques. We turned left and headed towards
Two years have passed since we met Irene und Otto and for the two days in Casqui we spent a lot of time catching up with them and met their friends Ines and Peppi on Captain Morgan, she’s from Brazil and he’s from Spain so between the six of us we spoke pretty much anything from Spanish, Portuguese, German, Swiss German and English, it was fun. We had a wonderful rack of lamb dinner on Ottifant, met on the beach for cocktails while cooling off in the water on noodles with our floating bar with champagne and beer and went for long walks along the beach. Sid and I had the feeling that we should move from Crasqui on the weekend but since we waited along with Ottifant for the fuel guy to arrive from
With the thought of visiting Grand Roque last I didn’t bring my camera, should have listened to my inner voice again. This place is really cute, very clean with narrow paths of sandy ground, just charming. After we got all done we races back to the boat, pulled anchor and hoisted sails again and headed towards the west side of the Roques. We arrived mid afternoon in Cayo de Agua one of the two most SW island in the Roques where John on Tazzady arrived one hour prior to us. Another good reunion and
Anybody who is thinking to coming to the Roques should have a National Zarpe from the Port Captain from wherever they leave, but you cannot check out of Venezuela from the Roques so you have to go back to check out.
Cayo de Agua is part of a little archipelago consisting of four islands along with many reefs, beautiful beaches, great snorkeling and excellent fishing. It is a delightful island with tall sand dunes, a palm grove, mangrove trees, lagoons and water holes. Walking along the mile
The weather prediction had 30 plus knots of wind for the weekend and since John had a time schedule he decided to leave and sail straight to
The weekend was over, the wind still howling and the future prognoses didn't look much different and since it was too windy to even take the dinghy out Sid hid behind a good book or two while I battled some more mildew and got creative in the galley. Making fresh Yogurt out of powder milk is easy and for the first time I placed the yogurt in a cheese cloth and let it drain over night, result a very smooth and wonderful tasting cream cheese that was delicious with a few herbs, seasonings and garlic added, with the home baked Sourdough Rye bread. When the fridge gets empty and the fresh produce is disappearing I get really creative in the galley. With no cheese on board I was thinking about how to cook the cheese tortellini and going through my dry goods cabinet I found a package of blue cheese dressing, not seeing any vinegar in the ingredients I cooked up a Béchamel sauce and added the powder of the Blue Cheese dressing and it made the very tasteful blue cheese sauce for the pasta. Next time I'll try it with potato Gnocchi.
Next to relaxing we've been watching the boobies playfully flying around Paradise, one especially kept picking up a floating mangrove seed and tossing and twirling it up into the air and trying to catch it at flight. When it would fall into the water he'd go back and pick it up again and kept practicing it over and over. To our dismay the much bigger frigate birds who by the way are thieves and bullies attack the poor boobies as soon as they catch a fish, the frigates then fly above them pick the booby behind the neck and toss them up into the air, trying to get them landing in the water on their backs. They do that over an over again until he Booby either looses it's pray, throws it back up or reaches the safety of the mangroves. I tell you they frigates are so mean.
Bill and Soon on Gaia found a little weather window to leave the Roques and rendezvoused with us. We pulled anchor and joined them in the anchorage closest to the reef. To get there we had to maneuver
The wind finally died down a bit (17-20) for one day then it will be back to 25 plus so Gaia took the opportunity and got underway towards
The Remedy to cure Hiccups:
I know you probably think that this is just another one that will not work as I'm sure you've tried sipping water through a napkin or standing on your head while sipping water, holding your breath for several seconds and on and on to find out it does not work. Well, I tell you this one works, ready:
Eat 1 Teaspoon of Peanut Butter
The eventual squall that were predicted finally arrived and we were ready for it but all we received was about 100 drops in 30 seconds while all the other clouds parted in front us and left us between them watching them empty out over the ocean, bummer. Our daily visitor was a Turtle now and then popping up just a few feet next to the boat to get some fresh air before disappearing again under or around the boat. What beautiful creatures. The wind has been blowing above 25 knots for a while now and since we needed to clean bottom and propeller we moved back to our old spot in the second anchorage. We were surprised to find 2 boats there plus a 4th one arrived later that day. We also found a weird algae bloom which under water looked like a light green cloud of gas and over the day it spread out even more. It did not look appealing to go swim in this but we did clean the bottom. We took the dinghy to the first anchorage where a big mangrove gave way to a channel. We followed it in and were amazed how the mangroves opened up to big lagoon. The booby nests with the white fluffy little birds were abundant here and totally protected from the wind. We trolled a lure along the mangroves and bingo a big mangrove snapper followed it with his lip pierced by the hook and before we knew it we had 3 more good size mangrove snappers wanting to get the same lip piercing, we found us a fine spot for fishing and found a good place for some of the fish in our freezer. After a wonderful fish dinner and another night of the wind howling through the rigging we decided we had enough of this. The rattling of the rigging and the screaming of Maxine our wind generator for almost 3 weeks now, not being able to sleep a night through; started to get to us so we fled this anchorage and dropped the hook in the first anchorage. Wow, what a difference! Protected behind the mangroves the wind dropped down to a pleasant 10 to 15 knots instead of the 20 to 25 knots and instead of a wind chop the water was flat calm, Ahhhhhhhhhh life is good again. The fisherman after two week finally came by again, they were laid up by the wind as well and talking to them I found out that their boat to release them here was overdue since two weeks. We gave them some weather update and they were realizing that they may be stuck here over easter instead of spending it with their family home in Isla Margarita. It’s funny though how cruising has changed as these five guys brought a cell phone over to be charged. We boaters are now officially cell phone battery loading stations, CPBLS LOL. They also asked for some onions, flour and onoto (food coloring) which I just so happen to have. I asked them about the lobster and just a couple of hours later we bought 8 nice lobsters for 50 bucks. Sid also helped them fix their spear gun, I had made them a bread gave them ice cold water and found out about their families at home. What a nice bunch of guys, all were in the 29 to 39 year range with 1 to 3 kids all between 8 and 19 years old. They also gave us a present: an octopus! ”What am I going to do with an octopus”, never cleaned or cooked one before. They laughed but showed me how to clean the pulpo and then hammered it to a pulp. They told me then to boil it in water for 40 minutes and make salad out of it. I cut some pieces aside and marinated them Hawaiian style with sesame oil and hot peppers, that was tasty but octopus after all is very tough. The rest of it I cooked in the pressure cooker for 20 minutes, cut it in pieces and made a marinade (red wine, vinegar, anchovy past, garlic, hot peppers, bay leave, capers) and marinated it. It actually came out very tasty. The heads of the lobster I baked in the oven first then made stock out of it and it so happened that they fishermen came by and I gave them half of the salad and soup. Couldn’t wait to see them the following day to return the bowl and to find out how they like my first pulpo salad. For dinner we enjoyed cracking he lobster legs and antennas which were dipped in butter and garlic. This feels like good old time in the
The mangroves fishing was so much fun we had to go back and to do some more casting practice to get the lures as close under the mangroves without snagging on the roots or leaves. When done so, bingo another nice snapper was landed. We caught 4 more mangrove snappers. The hour we thought we were fishing turned into 3 hours and just before sunset we returned to
Aves de Sotavento lie about ten miles WNW of Barlovento with a few pretty islands with white powdery sand beaches and all protected by the reef. We first anchored between Isla Palmeras and smaller unnamed island and had a very spectacular view through the window of the islands to a deep pool of water which gave way to the inner waters of the reef. The snorkeling on the south side of the smaller island was full with the most colorful tropical fish including huge black parrot fish with cobalt blue heads. Normally parrot fish are very skittish and shy away but not here, some came so close I could have reached my hand out and touched them. One of my favorites are the box fish, not just do they have the cutest faces, the coloring is incredible and they are so curious they come right up to you and follow you wherever you go.
A bit later while Sid relaxed and I prepped dinner a northerly swell started rolling in so we put the flopper stoppers out. Over the next few hours the roll got worse and early the next morning we pulled anchor and headed one island up, Curricai, where we set the hook in 10 feet of water of the whitest sandy beach.
“IF IT HAPPENS IT’S GONNA HAPPEN OUT THERE!” our favorite speech of Captain Ron. By the way if you haven’t seen Captain Ron yet I suggest you get a copy and watch it, its funnier then heck, no it’s hilarious and you’ll enjoy it even more so if you are a boater. We lost count how many times we’ve watched it so far, but it’s over ten times. According to our experience it’s also “IF IT HAPPENS IT’S GONNA HAPPEN AT NIGHT!” We were anchored just off the
Late afternoon before the squall one yachty knocking on the boat brought a message from the Guardia for each boat to call them on VHF 16 to tell them who we were and that their motor was broken down so they could not come out. We all did as they asked and the Guardia offered then to call them on channel 16 in emergency. Good one!!! How are they coming to help us with a broken outboard.
One squall after another was passing by but none as furious as the one in the middle of the night. In the morning we waited for two squalls to pass, pulled anchor and headed to Isla Larga the biggest
Bird population here is about 12 if not counting the 20 flamingos. So far we’ve seen 1 heron, 1 king fisher, 2 turns, 2 osprey, 3 pelicans and 3 frigate birds all attacking one single Booby. There are a few turtles hanging around the boat and now and then popping their heads out of the water. After seeing the flamingos I was determent to find out where they are as they flew to the eastern end of the mangrove island. The following day we hopped into the dinghy and explored the island. Almost towards the end of the island we found a small sandy beach and went ashore. About a 3 minute walk brought us to the edge of a big stinky lagoon, just the kind flamingos like. Unfortunately we did not encounter any and there was no way to walk around as it was slippery and overgrown with mangroves. We headed back to the dinghy and ventured out to the end of the island where the reef starts and went for a hike along the reef. We found beautiful tidal pools and an area where the reef gave way to the sea like flat tables with cut outs. All Tables were overgrown with a mossy looking sea plant. The gaps between the tables filled and emptied again and occasionally the waves flooded over the top. It was breath taking. Not just that but we found lots of snails again and finally figured out where the big ones hide, now that is our secret. We came home with a huge bag full. The biggest snails I prepped like Abalone, pounded, breaded and pan fried. Hmmmm, they were good.
Our provisions were getting really low now. We have 1 carrot, 1 onion, 2 cloves garlic, very low on coffee and power milk, few canned goods, no more pasta, little rice, no wine, beer and are on our last roll of toilette paper. The stores in Bonaire are going to love us! Oh we’re almost out of rum, we had one bottle with about 2 inches of rum left when I found the bottle on its side and the lid not screwed on tide and some rum spilled. Luckily there was a plastic bag that caught the spill. Both of us reacted immediately by closing in on the spill on hands and knees, assessing the situation then grabbing the bag on four sides, gingerly lifting it up and even more so carefully moving it over a ready wide mouth glass and finally saving the rum in the glass, it was about 1 ½ shots of rum. Then we realized what we just had done, we laughed our butts off, it was too comical, well you had to be there.
We were still waiting for the squally weather to pass so what all can you do. Sid climbed the mast twice and fixed the wind instrument. The wind from that squall was so strong, Sid figured over 50 to be able to seize the instrument. Then for two days he cleaned stainless, while I combat mildew. Of course we had fun too. I became a huge fan of mangrove fishing and being surrounded by it again you couldn’t keep the two of us away from it. We followed the mangroves along our anchorage and at the southwest corner little bay opened to the south, we followed it and half way in we positioned the dinghy close enough to the mangroves and started throwing the lure and bingo a huge, huge snapper bit my lure. Wow, what a fight. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we landed the fish in the dinghy, it must have been 12 pound and barely fit in the bucket except the tail was sticking out. At the end of this little bite of a bay the mangrove gave way to a narrow canal and opened up to a lagoon all surrounded by mangroves. As we headed through that cut another mangrove snapper hit my lure. Inside the mangrove we tried to catch fish at any odd places but nothing. Through the very dark colored water we did see some rays we scared of with the motor and many barracudas. Sid saw one that was about 5 feet long. At the very end of the lagoon are some taller mangroves and you can drive right under them, we thought for sure we’ll catch some more snappers here and what a surprise to get hit right away. Then we realized they were tarpons. We had about 20 around and under the dinghy and no matter where we tossed the lure they got it. Amazing how high they jump out of the water. One tarpon broke my lure off, my favorite to boot, but luck was on my side, he spit it our it surfaced and I got it back. By the way, we did have to put bug spray on as the no-see-ums were very thick and Sid brought up the fact of the low bird population might be cause due to them. Back at the boat Sid cleaned the fish there was enough meat for 4 dinners for us with just half of the fish. The second fish we caught we brought over to our neighbors we haven’t met yet, but saw them in the same anchorage in Barlovento. We chat for a bit about this and that and provisions what we had left, especially the one roll of TP. About an hour later a knock on the boat and a roll of TP came flying into the cockpit, I would say that was a good trade again LOL.
Sid fixed up some poles for the tarpons and the following day we headed back into the mangrove. Unfortunately the tarpons were not as playful as the previous day but Sid managed to hook one. Amazing how high they jump out of the water to shake loose the lure. By the way they are pretty difficult to hook as their mouth is hard but have no teeth and their gills are dangerously sharp so you have to grab them by the lips to take the lure out before releasing them back into the water. I definitely got hooked on mangrove fishing, it’s very exciting and I did catch another one nice size mangrove snapper not quite as big as the last one but bigger then the ones before. Sid is getting tired of cleaning fish, but he said he likes to be the bait and cleaning guy LOL.
It’s been a very enjoyable stay here, especially the fishing. But sitting on deck a couple of hours before sunset to the many turtles popping up their heads all around us and the very few birds feeding and along the mangroves fish feeding while wispy clouds pass over us makes us realize we did find another Paradise. This has been truly a wonderful and enjoyable trip we’ll always treasure. Weather has finally cleared and it’s time to go on to find new adventure. This is a final goodbye to Venezuela.
After being awaken by the morning star
The anchor is pulled and out at sea again we are
With a fresh cup of coffee in our hand
We are leaving another beautiful land
As the island is slowly fading
Some yet new ones are waiting
For our anchor gently settle in the sand
And our bare feet touching another new land
While our minds are wondering how it will be
Mother Nature is cradling Paradise across the sea
What a beautiful life we have and what bliss
Something we definitely don’t want to miss
Manuela Olshefski 03/17/2010
