Venezuela to Bonaire 12.09.33N 68.16.91W

Chaser 2
Yvonne Chapman
Sat 5 Oct 2013 15:38
Finally a blog, we've been busy since arriving back in Venezuela!
Having arrived back at Medregal Village haul out yard, we quickly prepared
Chaser for launching. As usual one or two things had stopped working after
such a long spell of laying idle, Chaser I'm talking about not me.
Nevertheless we decided to move west to Puerto La Cruz, (PLC) to do the work
necessary.

En route we stopped a few nights in Cumana and a night in Mochima to visit a
favourite restaurant.
We received an email from our friends Jaco and Christelle aboard 'Songerie'
they had left Dominican Republic heading for Cumana, so we decided to wait
for them to arrive. It was good to see them again, it had been more than a
year since our last encounter. Only by email had we been in touch and
sometimes only briefly. We too were in Spain and UK much of the time and
fortunately for Jaco we were able to order a new gearbox for them and get it
shipped to Jamaica as theirs had failed.

During sundowners us and Songerie made plans for the coming months. They
needed to visit PLC to do some repairs and maintenance and we did too, so
having cleared in to Venezuela and getting all our paper work correct we
moved on. Mochima our first stop for a meal in our friends restaurant
'Puerto Viejo'. People say Mochima is dangerous, but, as usual, they have
never been there. We anchor off the village, we've been there many times
over the past 6 years, sometimes alone and sometimes in company of another
boat. We are the only boats in the anchorage. We have never had any problems
or seen any, or heard of any. So don't believe the anecdotal rumours spread
by people like Frank Virgintino.
The following day we sailed to PLC, TMO Marina, the start of 3 weeks or so
of work. One of our priority jobs was a new spray hood. We needed to buy
'Sunbrella' material. It's expensive and long lasting. Making this spray
hood is not something you want to do often. It has lasted nearly ten years,
so it's done well. I won't go into details, but Yvonne made this in 3 days,
and it's better than the original. To have one made would have cost around
2000US$, so our hard work saved us maybe 1500US$.
Also our radar had stopped working, I went up the mast to investigate and
found the cable had been 'eaten' through at the point where it came through
the mast. Two of the wires were broken. I managed to cut back the wires and
extend, solder them and all worked fine after. We think it was a woodpecker
that did the deed, trying to enlarge the hole in the aluminium mast to make
a nest.
Jaco also welded on a reinforcement bar to our davits, a lot of work while a
boat is floating in the wind, but he did an excellent job.
We also had to solve our fuel problem, which we found to be a blockage in
the metal cap of our fuel filter, the only thing we hadn't changed or
cleaned.
Work completed we headed out to Isla Tortuga looking forward to some diving
and spear fishing. Jaco left earlier than us and arrived first, only to be
told 'very politely' by the Guardia Costa, that we couldn't stay. Apparently
the island was having a big cleanup campaign and the military were using
prisoners to do the work. The leeward side of the island is always clean,
but the windward side collects any floating garbage. The work should have
been completed by July but obviously the inmates strung it out, I suppose
for obvious reasons.

We were allowed to stay overnight but had to leave in the morning, so we
headed off in good wind to Carenero on the mainland. Reaching over halfway
and a good sail the wind died, and later of course became noserly! But we
arrived in the anchorage in time to watch the parrots and the red ibis
coming home to roost, while we take a sundowner or two.

We had a meal the following night in the restaurant of Bahia Las Pirates,
and ordered 4 rum and cokes, we actually received 1 small bottle of coke and
4 glasses full of rum and ice. The small coke was sufficient for another
round, that's what you call a good measure and for 35 Bolivares (1US$) each
you can't go wrong, unless you have a 3rd round then maybe finding our way
back to the boats maybe a problem!
Our plan now was to make our way slowly to Bonaire, we headed for the
western end of Los Roques 'Cayo de Agua'. It was beautiful, we stayed a few
days before moving on to Las Aves Barlovento, 30 miles to the west and the
following week onto Las Aves Sotovento another 16 miles. These islands are
amazing, the water is crystal clear, the coral and reefs full of fish, conch
and some lobsters too. Spear fishing is Jacos passion and I joined him with
my gun too. Las Aves islands are what the rest of the Caribbean used to be
like 50 or more years ago. Deserted Islands, white sandy beaches, a few palm
trees and lots of fish. During our three weeks we never touched any meat
stores, we caught or shot Snappers, Grouper, we free dived for Lobster using
a snare and we collected a few Conch. Sometimes we took the fish to the
beach for one of the very special 'Songerie' barbeques. Or we'd barbecue on
board with some hickory wood chips which give a beautiful flavour. Jaco also
has his Smoking Bin (BBQ) with this he cut up strips of fish and slow smoked
them, it keeps for days, a great lunchtime snack or an accompaniment for a
sundowner.

Conch is a different story, it can be nice but you have to cook it
correctly, something we haven't quite mastered which then gives it a
delicate flavour with the consistency of a Dunlop 4x4 treadmaster.
Yvonne and I had to be in Bonaire by around the 20th September, the weather
was good for the next few days but later in the week was becoming a little
unfavourable, Bonaire's southern tip can get a bit lumpy, so we decided on
our leaving date. The day before leaving we decided to have one last beach
Barbeque. The approach to the beach by dinghy was a little tricky because of
some very shallow coral heads. During the afternoon when the light was good
we check a route in and put down a marker buoy so we could navigate through
a safe channel after dark. The theory was good but after a few rums, a
drop of wine and a glass of bubbly to celebrate Jaco and Christelles 18th
anniversary it wasn't so easy. Or, maybe it was, we were back on Chaser,
that's where we woke up in the morning, the dinghy was with us and so was
our marker buoy, but we don't remember too much about the trip back, unusual
for us!
With us that evening were Russell and Nataylia aboard SV Be As You Are. They
arrived in our anchorage that afternoon so we invited them to join us. They
were only staying the one night then heading east to Los Roques. Chaser
headed west the following morning, slightly hung over, for Bonaire, leaving
'Songerie' sadly alone. They couldn't come to Bonaire because they needed a
visa which is expensive and impossible to get locally. I don't think they
would like it too much because of the restriction of fishing and anchoring,
also the noise. Having been in deserted places for a time, a car horn or
motorbike becomes really intrusive.
Our plan was to meet Susie and Evie in Curacao, spend a few days there then
head back against wind and current to Bonaire. If the weather window is good
it's not a problem but we do want them to see Bonaire because the waters,
diving and fish are lovely. So we decided, having got here early, to stay
and fly them in to Bonaire. We can collect them from the airport in the
dinghy and come straight back to Chaser. We then thought after 10 days or
so, we'd sail downwind to Curacao and spend time there. We would anchor free
of charge in Spanish Water, but the water is not good for swimming and the
town is a bit city like. So, maybe we shall head back east to Las Aves, if
the weather is good, if not sail south to the Venezuelan coast. We shall
see, Susie and Evie arrive tomorrow.



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