Bonaire to Puerto La Cruz
Chaser 2
Yvonne Chapman
Wed 13 Nov 2013 20:10
We had hoped to stay longer in Las Aves but our plan was to sail to Bonaire,
stay for a few days and then on to Curacao to meet Susie and Evie. The
weather forecast was good but wind was building the following days so we
decided to say our goodbyes and leave the following day. As it turned out we
could have waited longer because once in Bonaire we decided to fly our
daughter into Bonaire instead of us sailing to Curacao and then sailing back
to Bonaire. Sailing east from Curacao can be uncomfortable at best
especially with a 4 year old. This of course meant we were in Bonaire much
longer than we anticipated.
For those who haven't been to Bonaire, anchoring, spear fishing, collecting
of shells, corals, or anything under the water is forbidden, and with so
many good meal size snappers can be a little frustrating, didn't see any
lobsters or conch though. The authorities have provided about 40 mooring
buoys, 20 on the inside, 20 outside. The water is 5-7 metres deep and those
on the outside moorings leaves ones stern over the drop off. Unless the wind
turns westerly in which case those on the inside buoys are too close to
shore. Some of the buoys are in my opinion too close to each other and in
slack winds and slack water the boats could drift around and touch. Having
spent so much time in Venezuela and the islands where you can be totally
alone and peaceful, here you are close to the road with car hooters and
motorbikes making as much noise as they possibly can. After a while though
you become accustomed to it. Moored in an 'aquarium' makes up for that,
nowhere in the Caribbean that we have visited apart from Venezuelan Islands
and some of the mainland have we seen such beautiful waters.
Susie and Evie arrived in a tiny plane which they thought was great. We were
able to take our dinghy to a nearby dock, walk across the road to the
airport to collect them, then dinghy back to 'Chaser'.
Evie is a fish, you cannot keep her out of the water. The following day she
was off the back of the boat with her mask, fins and snorkel feeding the
angel fish, it was so good to watch, 4 years old and despite wearing a small
neoprene lifejacket she could still dive down a couple of meters before
popping back to the surface. Although we are with her and she can swim
without the extra buoyancy we prefer she has it in case the current picks up
as it did for one young lady skinny dipping early morning and ended up at a
neighbours boat having to ask for a lift back.
Bonaire is a charming island if you are interested in water based
activities. If you are not I'm sure it could be a boring holiday, because
there is little else to do. We however enjoy all things wet and what better
place to do it. The diving is superb, snorkelling too, Susie,using Yvonnes
gear, took to it very easily diving to 30 meters at one stage. We also have
a small inflatable sailboat that we could take Evie on or without the sail
rig we can tow behind the dinghy. One of the other boats in the mooring
field 'Biami' had their young daughter Darian living aboard who loves to
meet other young children. Although Darian was 7 she and Evie became good
friends and they either played on 'Chaser' while mum and dad went diving or
they played on Biami while we 'rested'. Evie was a bit upset when they left
for Panama.
The donkey sanctuary is a place not to miss in Bonaire, donkeys have been on
Bonaire since the abolishment of slavery, but come machinery donkeys too
became redundant and left to roam. They breed of course and hundreds of
donkeys roam the suburbs and occasionally wander into the path of a vehicle
and end up dead or with broken bones also leaving young babies. The donkey
sanctuary takes care of these animals in what is now quite a large park
area, it's a good visit for young and old. You do need a car to get there, a
taxi is possible but renting a car is favourite, which is what we did. After
the Donkey sanctuary we drove to the east of the island to visit Jibe City
hangout bar an excellent windsurfing ground for experts and beginners. You
can rent boards with very small sails for youngsters to learn, if they fall
off they can stand up in the shallow waters behind the reef.
The Washington Slagbaii park is promoted everywhere but to us it was a
little disappointing, the rugged coast interesting but nothing we haven't
seen before, nevertheless a trip to do to get away from the water.
After a couple of weeks we decided to leave Bonaire, our original plan was
to sail to Curacao do some sightseeing shopping etc and Susie and Evie could
fly back from there to Caracas, their flight was booked, but an alternative
was to go back to Las Aves or sail south to the Venezuelan coast and back to
Puerto La Cruz to do some retail therapy. Upon reaching the southern tip of
Bonaire we turned east, the forecast was 10-13kts, the waters here are
always a little rougher because of the shallows, but our boat speed slowed
to about 3 knots while motoring. A unanimous decision was to head south to
Punta San Juan to anchor for the night. We sailed the 55miles on a beam
reach, 8 knots SOG in good seas to arrive at 2.30pm.
So now back in Venezuela our task was to sail along the coast to PLC, our
next anchorage 60 miles distant being Ensa Cata or Bahia Cata as it is
sometimes called. It's a lovely anchorage but we didn't arrive early enough
to enjoy the swimming and corals, just a sundowner or two before our evening
meal. Evie watched TV most of the way, while we sailed on a close reach. Up
early the following day our destination was a marina where we could tie to
the 'pavement' as our granddaughter calls it. This stretch we sailed and
motor sailed as the wind came round a little too close but we had the
current with us. We arrived at Marina Caraballeda, we drifted around waiting
for someone to respond to our repeated calls on the radio. Finally somebody
shouted and told us where to moor. Reversing slowly into position watching
carefully a buoy with a lot of floating rope attached, we failed to see a
submerged boat just under the surface until the last minute. Full ahead
briefly but it didn't stop us. I put the engine in neutral for fear of
damaging the prop, but our rudder hit the wreck and dropped into a kind of
groove. Nobody came to help, I put on a mask to take a look, it appeared the
rudder was about 2 or 3 inches into a grooved steel girder. The rudder being
curved at the forward edge I hoped we may be able to power over it but no
joy, the girls all went forward leaning over the pulpit which helped lift
the stern just enough to power over. This wreck was in the centre of the
channel, no marker buoys, nothing. Having got to our berth the harbour
master finally came round and asked us to go to the office. He said nothing
about the lack of communication, the wrecks, and there are more than one. I
informed him of the situation and said I will be making a denuncia in case
there was damage I had not seen and my insurers would then need to contact
the Marina. I suggested the wreck should be removed but they said there was
no money available for such things. Four water bottles painted red tied to
some rocks would be a simple way to at least mark its position. My mooring
fee for the night (160 Bolivars or 3US$) should cover it.
Fortunately we have a strong boat, a Hunter 44 though a spade type rudder is
always vulnerable, no damage was done.
We stayed the night and the following night, I wanted to buy some diesel
but the fuel station would not sell it because we had a foreign flag. I
grabbed a taxi and he took me into town with two 65 litre jerrys, I paid 6
Bolivares for the fuel and 300 for the cab. Total 6US$.
We had a good meal in the converted boat restaurant, probably one that had
been sunk and lifted. The food was good but alcohol was not allowed to be
sold, can you believe it? Like criminals we smuggled in some rum and ordered
4 cokes! The chicken or fish meal came to 10US$, for the 4 of us, a little
different to 100US$ in Bonaire.
The morning came, we departed at 0'crack and made our way to the next
anchorage, Puerto Francis just north of Carenero. During the sail the
Venezuelan Navy called us on Channel 16 to ask if all was ok, we responded
positive and then they asked the usual questions and again like the
coastguard in the islands told us to enjoy our sail and call if we encounter
any problems.
Our plan was to leave from Puerto Francis in the morning to return to Isla
Tortuga, which was now open again. However having had 20kts of wind almost
on the nose for most of the way, albeit in calmish seas with current with
us, we decided in the morning to go round the corner and spend the day in
Carenero. Evie then had a play in the swimming pools and playground while we
relaxed and took a cold one or maybe two. In the evening we grabbed a
takeaway meal in the restaurant and the four of us had our sundowner rum and
coke while waiting, (Evie without the rum of course, but she still asks for
a rum and coke when she's in the bar)
Then next morning we headed for Isla Tortuga in a forecast of light south
easterly winds. We managed to motor sail most of the way, still dragging our
lures behind us. Upon arrival having settled at anchor, some fisherman came
to our boat to see if we wanted to trade for some fish. Embarrassingly we
had to say yes. But, at least we had some good Snapper which we smoked for
our evening meal. The following day was a Saturday, weekends are when our
peaceful anchorage becomes a playground for the 'great whites' the big motor
boats from Carenero or Puerto La Cruz. We always anchor far out mainly
because of the depth, we could have anchored closer but we new what was due
to arrive.
0230hrs Sunday morning we were boarded. There was a banging at the stern,
Yvonne got up to see what the noise was,(she is the Captain) and quickly
called me. A big black Labrador was desperately trying to get up our
boarding ladder, which of course was impossible but it was his attempts that
woke us. I managed to grab his collar and get and arm under his bum to hoist
him aboard. We were the last boat in the anchorage. If he hadn't made it to
us he would have been lost, he was very tired, as we were by morning having
to keep an eye on him not trying to look for his owners. But, he slept and
come 6am I take the dinghy over to a small open boat anchored to the beach.
The previous day I thought I'd seen it with two dogs aboard. The owners, a
young couple were dosing in the bow, he heard me coming and looked up, I
asked if he had lost a black dog, and he immediately jumped up and said 'Si
SI', I said 'I have it', his wife burst into tears, they been looking around
all night but they had no dinghy and it was too dark for them to lift their
anchors and motor around the anchorage. So a happy ending for them.
As the afternoon approached all the motor boats began heading back and our
doggy friends past to say 'gracias' one more time. Then we had our island
back to ourselves again. We played on the beach again the following day and
I managed to catch a lobster and a fish for dinner. The following day we
moved to the eastern end of Tortuga for an early departure to PLC, still
dragging our lures I might add.
We left at 0500hrs in light winds sailing or motor sailing to PLC, midway,
finally managed to catch a Mahi Mahi, not big, but more than enough for the
four of us. In fact up and till then Evie was the only one to catch a fish
on a rod, and, we cleaned it and she ate it.
Once safely tied up in Marina TechMarine Oriente, we booked a new flight for
our Sooze and Evie to fly back to Caracas then spent the last few days of
their holiday shopping, going to the fair, and some more shopping.
Long showers were the order of the day for Yvonne and I, having spent
August, September and October on anchor, water was rationed to a slight
extent, not that we were smelly, swimming two or three times a day took care
of that, just a little salty!
So our route took us from PLC,Tortuga,Los Roques, Las Aves, Bonaire, then
south to Punta San Juan, Ensa Cata, Caraballeda, Puerto Francis, Carenero,
Tortuga to Puerto La Cruz, an easy sail both west and east and reassuring to
have had so much contact with the Venezuelan coast guards and navy along the
coast.
Yvonne and I now have Chaser to ourselves once again, we had a great time
with Susie and Evie and we all enjoyed Bonaire, but now we have to put the
boat back together, scrub and clean away the salt and sand encrusted
cushions etc, until the next time.
Try these links of Evie snorkelling, 4 years old.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56tfocxytX8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5YTNS7gcSQ
These pictures were sent with Picasa, from Google.
Try it out here: http://picasa.google.com/
