Medregal Village posn 10.31.85N 63.47.84W
Chaser 2
Yvonne Chapman
Tue 5 Aug 2008 10:23
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We left the scruffy marina in Cumana to travel up
the Golf of Cariaco to Medregal Village at 10.31.85N 63.47.84W. This deep
indented golf about 33 miles long and 8 miles wide can give some good sailing in
calm waters amidst some stunning scenary. There are desert landscapes to the
north and mountains to the south with a mangrove lined river at the far eastern
end. Our plan is to stay in Medregal Village for a few days and wait for
Waylander who have by now left Puerto De La Cruz with two other boats
Hoofbeats and I-Lean.
Medregal village is a small hotel type complex
which has a yacht haulout facility alongside. Consequently they welcome visiting
cruisers that anchor in the bay outside. We anchor about 400 metres offshore, so
we have only a short dinghy ride to the dock. The complex is owned by a Belguim
guy Jean Marc and his wife, the bar is run on a trust system, there is no
barman, you just help yourself to a beer or rum and coke and write your
quantities on a piece of paper with your boat name, then put it in a glass
behind the bar. We had a meal in the restaurant one evening, but even that we
didn't pay for at the time, we were told just to add it to the list in our
glass. Food and drinks here were quite expensive, and the food wasn't too good
either. We had a fish fillet, that was ok but the veg of plantains, aubergine,
pepper and something brown had the life boiled out of them, then they were all
covered in balsamic vinegar, confusing the colours of everything, only the
runner beans looked edible, unfortunately they weren't they had been boiled
seperately in clorinated water, so at 20$US we thought it rather expensive as
far as Venezuela prices go. The place has so much potential but maybe Jean Marc
relies on the haulout and not too interested in the hotel idea anymore, who
knows?
We've been catching some good little fish with
feathers, just off the back of the boat, we'd catch about twenty and smoke them
over the barbeque, they're just like sardines but now more kipper flavour,
delish!
During the day we jumped on a 'bus' come pickup
truck for the market in the local town of Cariaco. This end of the Golf and
Venezuela seems to have a different race of people, more amazonian looking. They
have a market in town each day, good to stock up a little with some fresh veg,
fruit and salad. Everyone else on the 'bus' were cruising people so we ended up
meeting up before getting the bus back for a beer. Also in the market is a
'juice' seller, there are many of these on street corners everywhere. They have
a kinda 3 wheeled bike with a framework on front holding a giant lump of ice
about 2ft x 1ft x 1ft surrounded by all different flayoured syrops. For about 20
pence they shave off ice with a special little plane and put it in a plastic cup
then pour syrop off your choice on top, very refreshing.
Back in the anchorage we meet with some old and new
faces and have a beer or two with them the following evening at the helpyourself
bar.
Chris and Tony arrive the following day and we make
plans to go further up the Golf, only a short distance to the next
village. jpgO6sYKjKd6t[1].jpg jpgDyeusHI9ME[1].jpg jpgngMJEVHI6I[1].jpg jpgvVJ2PsFXLm[1].jpg jpgolnRkADkZA[1].jpg jpgSFg9cqrZh1[1].jpg jpgqUAfaknMAn[1].jpg jpgaFMLBVZXX8[1].jpg These pictures were sent with Picasa, from Google. Try it out here: http://picasa.google.com/ |
