Isla la Coche
Gaviota
Sun 1 Jun 2008 15:06
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10:48.508N 63:49.903W
Isla la Coche since Wed 28 May.
Anchored in a wide sandy shallow bay with a few other yachts
including Trevor and Jo on 'Malarky' and Troy and Winnie on 'Lucky Dog' who we
met in Porlamar - great to meet some young British people again ! Alex and
Maria from Venezuela are also here on their british boat, 'Friendly
Rival'. This bay is very popular with kite surfers and Alex and Maria used
to run a guest house here; now they just do kite surf instruction; Troy and
Winnie are the pupils this weekend! We might have a go later in the
summer, but haven't decided on this or diving; both need quite a bit of
instruction and hiring or buying kit every time you do it.
One night we had the crowd over for sundowner drinks, which
turned into an all night party; we had a bad hangover the next day, but the
others all popped over to say they'd had a great time and the after effects
hadn't spoiled their kite surfing. Oh, for those non-beach types amongst
you, kite surfing is a bit like wind surfing but standing on a smaller board and
harnessed on to a huge kite up in the air to pull you along - the good guys go
really fast and do lots of jumps too.
We had an interesting trip into the little town a mile or so
across the bay by dinghy - bought 3 litres of petrol for about 50p, had a wander
round through the town with people sat out on the pavement, lots of big
truck-style vehicles, mostly old, battered and smelly, a few shops, bars and
restuarants, sometimes difficult to tell what was a house and what a bar as all
the same single-storey small buildings with walled in courtyards and grilles
instead of windows. Wandering out towards the sea again we came across a large
pig wandering along, obviously knew exactly where it was going, like a dog
! Of course that was the day we had no camera!
Yesterday we got the bikes out to cycle round the island
without a map but Alex said it was safe and there were many tracks in the
hills. We started off down a long straight road against the wind(which is
a steady 14kts here, stronger in the afternoons), salt flats on both sides, all
completely dry, low red/orange hills in the near distance. The road ended
in a village and we carried on on a track leading over to the other side of the
island. Sometimes the track was firm, sometimes we were wallowing in soft
sand and had to walk a bit. But at least the sand would have swallowed the
thorns from the cacti which were the only vegetation. Saw a few goats near
the village, but otherwise no signs of life in this arid landscape. The
low hills are a real bright red/orange colour. We met one car coming the
other way and eventually found our way down onto a sandy beach with eroded
cliffs and many frigate birds and short-necked vultures wheeling above.
We ate our sandwiches under the much-needed shade of a deserted
fisherman's hut, until Syd got cold(?!?) and off again on the sandy track along
the coast. Then back inland again up through the dry red hills, past a
large salt production/sewage/oyster farm with barking dogs which we gave a wide
berth so couldn't decide what it was. Then across a large oil pipe being
laid, so the track, which had been definite, disappeared a bit, but we
eventually found it again and made our way back over the hills, down past a
glass bottle dump, so worried about all the broken glass on the track as well as
the cactus thorns ! Onto another flat, empty road, through a couple of
villages with people sitting out - Syd got the most wolf whistles as
usual. Annabel called for a rest before what looked like the final uphill
on the road, and we decided to follow the track we were on rather than continue
on the road and after cycling past the big rubbish dump(we always seem to find
at least on our bike rides, don't we?!?) where the plastic bags had blown into
the scrubby trees. We were pleased to come out on the hills above where
the boat is anchored but still had to cycle back up the straight, flat, empty
road against the wind again. Syd's now got a big job cleaning the sand off
the bikes, and we've found 2 punctures this morning.
The two hotels on the beach here do buffet meals so we paid
our 60Bolivars each (about £12) and had lots of salad, great roast beef for Syd
and fish for Annabel and strange sweets, plus several glasses of wine and rum to
finish - definitely the best value meal out we've had. We've heard from other
sailors that eating out is cheap here, so we'll definitely try it more often
!
We'll probably be here for another night or so, then sail on
via another island anchorage or two, down towards Puerto de la Cruz, on the
mainland at about 10.13 north and 64.40 west. According to our
recently-published guidebooks there are several safe marinas and workshop yards
there. One was even recommended by our boat insurer ! When we found
the leaflet he'd given us, we also found it was the one recommended by the
Americans we were talking to in Antingua, because they have come down here for
the last few summers. Trevor and Jo who we met in Porlamar and here, also
said they were good and recommended which yard to go to as well. Annabel's
flying back to the UK for a few weeks on 11 June and Syd will stay to get the
boat hauled out for a much needed bottom scrub and re-anti-foul as well as
several other jobs. We're sure he'll find several other yachties to
socialise with, including those we already know, as it seems to be where
everybody goes.
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