Trinidad to Curacao
October 20, 2008
Aloha Capt Koo,
I am at sea from Curicau to Cartagena, Columbia today. All is well. More about that later. First let me bring you up to date.
Back on August 5 I sailed from hot and sticky Trinidad for Los Testigos, a small group of Venezuelan Islands with just a few fishing folks and the Navy. I was hoping for cooler breezes. The overnight passage was pleasant. I stayed well away from the Paria Peninsula a to avoid a meet with Venezuelan bad guys. I enjoyed 2 beautiful anchorages and developed a friendship with a Sergeant who gave me as long as I wanted in the islands (usually restricted to 2 days). While anchored at Playa Real I met up with a Venezuelan family from Caracas who threw a birthday party when they learned the 8th was my 69th birthday. They were a great bunch and eased the birthday pain.
A long day sail took me to Isla Margarita, the big island off the Venezuelan coast where I anchored at Bahia Palomar, the only “safe” anchorage in the area. From the sea Margarita looks great with lots of architecturally striking high rise buildings. Close up it is not so hot. In the shadow of the buildings are shacks and garbage. There has been a lot of theft in the anchorage and moving around on land at night is discouraged. I spent 2 days and checked out of the country reserving the ability to make intermediate stops in the islands before arriving the Dutch ABC Islands. Venezuela was a popular cruising ground until a couple of years ago and a good place to get repairs done. Now lawlessness is keeping cruisers away. It is a shame and a beautiful country.
The next stops were at the reef islands in Venezuelan waters called Los Roques and the Aves Island groups. All three are shallow areas with cays scattered over the shallows. Los Roques is the largest. A real tropical paradise. I spent over a week in 6 anchorages snorkeling and visiting with other cruisers. The water colors were spectacular in all those spots due to the reflection of deep blue shies over the white sand bottom and coral banks. My favorite spot was Cayo de Agua; no residents, cooling trade winds, lots of sea life and solitude. What a life!
I arrived the more westerly of the Aves Banks just as a big nasty black squall approached and I was winding my way through shallows to an anchorage. I feared loss of visibility so left and sailed 60 miles in strong wind to Bonaire, Dutch Antilles.
Bonaire is a divers destination back in the western world. The lights work. Tap water is pure. The restaurants are good. There are 90 dive sites marked by a buoy that names the spot and is set up for mooring a dingy. Most of the dives range from 30 to 110 feet and have reasonably good visibility, coral growth and fish life. I became friends with a couple from Nebraska and did a lot of diving with them and some other boats for almost 3 weeks. Bonaire is a bargain. Very secure moorings rent for $10 per day. The dive shops fill tanks so cheaply that it was senseless to run my compressor. Bonaire exists on tourism and the production of sea salt, mountains of the white stuff visible from miles at sea. It should not be missed.
I sailed on 9-11 to Spanish Waters, Curicau, just a 40 mile hop. It is easy to see why a lot of boats get “stuck” in the three Dutch Islands, Aruba, Bonaire and Curicau. They are out of the Caribbean Hurricane area. Spanish Waters is a fully enclosed anchorage that is easy on the eyes. I always felt welcome. All marine services are available on Curicau, less so on the other islands. Air travel to the USA and Europe is easy and reasonably priced. A day after arrival I took a bus in to Willemstad to clear with officials. Willemstad is a lovely old city. It is at the entrance of another well protected harbor with a historic fortress on each side of the narrow opening. It is reminiscent of Amsterdam, but with lots of bright colored buildings. Tourism certainly is important here, but not intrusive. The place feels more cosmopolitan than other island capitols I visited in the Caribbean. People were unusually pleasant and helpful. I managed to injure my back in Spanish Waters, probably while loading the outboard on the dingy. I spent two weeks getting to know the local chiropractor. She was very good and trained in Georgia.
There was excellent diving on Curicau if less easily accessed than on Bonaire. I had earlier met Dominique Serifini, who was the illustrator for the Jacques Coustou dive team. We did a number of very fine deep dives off the coast near the Spanish Waters opening. Dominique is a fantastic diver who is free in the water in the extreme. Diving with him was a great experience.
So, now I am on the 450 mile trip to historic Cartagena. More later.
Love, Denny