Venezuela....the nice bit.
MALARKEY
Jo & Trevor Bush
Thu 18 Dec 2008 15:48
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Los Roques 11:57.23N 66:40.75W, Tortuga and Islas
de Aves.
We left sharpish in the morning, (that means
pre-noon for us sleepy heads), and we literally yomped to Tortuga.
We had a fantastic sail, very fast...almost too
embarassing to report, except to Ade off S/Y Squander, my mate and racing arch
rival.
We arrived just in time for lunch and
dropped the pick in Cayo Herradura, one of the little islands off the main
island of Tortuga. It was gorgeous. Your typical dreamy kind of desert
island.....you know, bleached white soft sandy beaches and a clear turquoise
coloured sea. The sort of place one could run naked along the shore, or
at least Joanne could, the thought of me doing it, is scary.
 We stayed here for a few days just soaking up the
ambiance and kicking back big style. It is not 'til you get to somewhere like
this that you realise how wound up you had been in a place like Puerto
La Cruz.
We did some trading with the local fishermen. They
were interested in booze and we were interested in fresh fish....a deal was
afoot. Jo, immediately piped up and shouted out 'lobster, get some lobster'. But
unfortunately, on that particular morning, there was no lobster to trade,
just a bucket of fish, so we had that instead, much to Joannes disgust. But,
even Jo had to admit, they were quite scrummy.
We also acquired a pet. A Gekko. Jo called him
George. And I guess now that he has got a name and does good things like eating
bugs, he can stay.
 But as for our other unwanted guest, Colin,
the giant flying cockroach, well he had to go. But catching him was not an easy
thing. He would come out just after dark and Jo would chase him around the
boat with a torch and any heavy object she could find close to hand. Me, on
the other hand, would sit back and enjoy the show, making sure that I was
always available for consultation if needed and that my feet were up on the
couch safely out of harms way. Cripes, the little blighter was
elusive. Just about everything on the boat was wacked bar Colin. Jo finally
took more serious and effective action. She sprayed him with deadly poisonous
roach nerve gas and he promptly adopted the dead bug posture....on his back with
legs in the air. Of course, he got what he deserved, a burial at sea with full
honours, via the dustpan.
So off we set to Los Roques with only one pet on
board.
The weather was almost too kind to us. The
light wind died completely at dawn and we had to motor the last 20 miles or so.
But it was worth it.
Los Roc's is a low lying archipeligo of reefs
and desert islands surrounded by a beautiful crystal clear sea of various shades
of blue. A truly stunning place. It is sparcely populated by Venezeulan people
living in sympathetically designed and decorated houses, - very much to their
credit. There were a couple of shops and a few more bars and restaurants. It is
the sort of place one could while away the hours for many a week.
Photographs, or at least my photographs, of this place would not do it any
justice, so I wont include any...just go there if you get the
chance.
The only down side, as we saw it, was the mozzies
on light or no wind days. They were so bad at times, even during the day, that
they could be sucked up through your snorkle pipe while swimming on the
reef....mmm protein, just when you dont need it!. Islas de Aves were along
a similar vein but not so well protected from large swell the Caribbean
Sea can sometimes produce.
We really didnt give these islands the time they
deserved, 'cos we were meeting friends for Christmas in Bonaire. We had to press
on. Jo & I are simply not the types to be 'Billy no mates' at Christmas,
regardless of how beautiful the place is that we are in. We do like a good
party at Crimbo & New Year and the Bonaire bash promised just
that.
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