Bonaire to Venezuela Nov 2014
Chaser 2
Yvonne Chapman
Sun 23 Nov 2014 17:25
back to PLC (Puerto La Cruz) and prepare ´Chaser´for haulout on 5th
December.
Having left PLC in July , we sailed WNW to Tortuga, Los Roques, then west to
Las Aves Barlovento, and Las Aves Sotovento, then onto Bonaire.
We shared our trip west with Jaco and Christelle aboard their boat
´Songerie´, and anchored in sheltered waters behind reefs or small islands.
We spearfished, and we caught some lobsters. We had some great meals, all
fish or fish barbecues and fish curries. We had stocked up our freezer with
fillet steak, pork fillets, chicken and mince and it was untouched until we
reached Bonaire.
Bonaire is expensive for most things, especially compared to Venezuela, so
our meat and fish stocks lasted us for all our time there. Only Vegetables
and fruit to buy, plus things like Edam cheese, which you cannot buy in
Venezuela.
The noise of Bonaire is a shock to the system having been in such remote
islands for the past few weeks. Motorbikes roar up the roads making as much
noise as possible, but you get used to it. We met some nice people in
Bonaire, Doug and Meyka aboard ´Banjo´, Jeremy and Susie aboard ´Joy of
Shamrock´. Patrice, the owner of the Bistro de Paris restaurant in the
marina, they have a special night for cruisers, half price wine or beer and
an excellent burger meal for 8US$.
I have to say we met many people that failed to stop in the Venezuelan
Islands because of propaganda put out by the misinformed. Those that decided
to visit the islands all want to return. They found nothing like it on their
travels. They say it was the Caribbean they dreamed of but never found
anywhere else. So for those that avoided the area it´s a shame, for
themselves and for the local people that depend and enjoy the company of
sailboats. Even the Guardia Costa like to talk to us, I these remote
islands.
Leaving Bonaire on our own, the decision had to be made whether to sail
south to the Venezuelan coast or take a last look back at Los Roques. In the
past, we have always gone south, 50 miles then anchor for the night and move
on next morning to another anchorage. This part of the coast has some
beautiful safe anchorages and marinas, stopping overnight would take us
about 5 days to reach PLC. But, a friend said, why not try going west to
Roques if the weather window is good, you could do it in a day, then drop
down to the coast and onto PLC 3 days total. We should have known better,
we wanted to return quickly, because we had some paperwork to deal with in
Spain via the internet. It took us 3 days to get to Los Roques, then wait
for a weather window to sail to the coast, all the time cursing ourselves
for doing it this way.
So, anybody travelling east from Bonaire or Curacao, always go down onto the
Venezuelan coast, with contrary currents and favorable winds, you can sail!
Now we are back in Puerto La Cruz, we have cleared in for a cost of 5000
Bolivares, doing part of the work ourselves but also with the help of an
agent. It works out to about 45US$ at todays rate, 113 Bolivares to the
dollar. Backin 2007 we received 3.5 Bolivares for one dollar. In 2010 it was
8.5, 2011 14, 2012 30, 2013 60 to 80, and now the official black market rate
is 123. Yesterday we bought two flight tickets from PLC to Caracas for 809
Bolivares for the two of us, that’s about 3 euros each, a crazy system, you
can buy 2000 litres of diesel for one US$ and two liters of milk for the
same price. The poor people are getting poorer and the wealthy are getting
richer. A socialist system similar to Spain, just doesn´t work and the
people don’t see it. 50% work for the government, they would lose their jobs
if they vote against the government so far from a democracy.
Now we are preparing ´Chaser´for haulout on the 5th December, removing sails
etc, we also need a bit of work doing on the engine and on the sails,
something we can´t do ourselves.
Because of the problem getting international flights we have had to go the
long way round to get back to Europe, Puerto La Cruz to Caracas, overnight
in a hotel, the international to Aruba, another hotel, then long haul to
Amsterdam. We then take a train to the southern end of Holland before flying
out to Alicante. Leave on the 8th arrive on the 12th, should be interesting
and not too tiring with the overnight stops.
We been 8 years in the Caribbean now, we have sailed from Martinique, St
Lucia, Bequia, St Vincent, the Grenadines, Union Island and Mayreau,
Cariacou, Grenada, Torbago and Trinidad. We sailed to Venezuela and many of
its offshore islands, and then back across the Caribbean to Dominican
Republic onto Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba, then back across the Caribbean to
Curacao, Bonaire on to where we have considered our base of Venezuela. We´re
thinking maybe its time to move on, back to the Mediterranean somewhere,
Gibraltar first then maybe Malta, we´ll decide over Christmas and the new
year.
Below are some photos of interesting fish, people and islands we came across
during the past months.
Until the next time in Spain
These pictures were sent with Picasa, from Google.
Try it out here: http://picasa.google.com/
