I finished this trip with
a fiancé!
Leaving Bequia early in
the morning we were excited to be commencing our longest sail yet. Wanting to
avoid the piracy areas off the coast of Venezuela, I had plotted a route that
took us from Bequia, keeping along the 13th parallel 100 miles off
the coast of Venezuela and then dropping back down again after we had cleared
Blanquilla to Los Roques – our first landfall. We estimated this would take us
3 /4 days depending on our average speed as we had yet to do a passage totally down
wind…we were also yet to find a spinnaker pole to pole out the gib.
A most uneventful 3 days
of sailing, we caught no fish and we saw no boats. We had taken some precautions
should we come across a stray pirate but there was nothing to be seen.
On our fourth morning at
sea as the sun was creeping above the horizon, Dylan was on watch with the gib
decreased to a handkerchief, trying to slow us down so we could enter the reefs
surrounding the Los Roques islands in good light. So excited to get to Los Roques, Dylan
helmed for most of the morning, day dreaming of all the fish he was going to
find and spear whilst I snoozed down below. As we approached the land mass,
there were no other masts in sight so we were spoilt for choice on where to
anchor. Navigating through the archipelago, a pod of 15 dolphins came to say
hi, nattering away to me as they surfed the bow waves. I must admit I was teary
eyed, such a treat to see so many so close to our boat.
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| Bequeve |
We chose to anchor in 9ft
water near Bequeve. I was on the bow flapping my arms around as I guided Dylan
in and out of the corals below. Huge pelicans eyeballed us as we approached
their territory and dared to interrupt their morning dip. As with all remote
places in the Caribbean, the water was beautiful and the island we had anchored
off presented us with a gorgeous white sandy beach to explore. Unfortunately
the lack of fish during this trip continued, as we swam ashore there were none
to be seen. We had read an article recently on how this group of islands have
been fished out and we tend to agree! Swimming ashore to explore, we had seen
what looked like a mast about half a mile along the beach on the windward side
so we started off towards that. At times the beach disappeared and gave way to
rocks that we walked across, turned out the mast was a big stick! Luckily we
brought shoes with us as the island was home to prickly burs. We walked to the
windward side where it was a beach combers delight. I spent ages picking
through the debris whilst Dylan route marched ahead. Nothing much of interest,
just a ton of plastic washed up. Some decent shells on the shore but with the
sun so hot, we cut it short and swam back to the boat.
Whilst anchored in this
spot we were very aware that we hadn’t cleared into the mainland so were chancing it
with the Venezuelan coastguard. Through extensive research and speaking to
other yachties that had done the trip, we decided not to venture anywhere
nearer the coastguard station on Grand Roques, sticking to the West Cay group
of islands shown in the Doyle Guide. During the afternoon of the first day and
towards sunset, rather a lot of fishing boats zoomed past, most unfriendly and
made us feel uncomfortable. Without the necessary paperwork, all alone with no
buddy boat and no fish to snorkel with; despite ashore being lovely, we decided
to commence the 30 mile sail West to Las Aves the next day.
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| Looking out to the reef on Isla Sur |
Running all the way with
little wind and a sizeable swell, we rolled our way towards the next island
group. Dylan poled out the gib on the boom to stop it flogging so much every
time we did a violent roll. We got to Isla Sur (part of Ave de Barlovento) after midday
and navigated easily between the reefs to a bay with 3 other boats. Quite a
surprise as we weren't expecting company. Anchored opposite mangroves with
hundreds of boobies and frigates squawking in the sky we marvelled at the sea
even clearer than the previous island. Isla Sur is covered in mangroves and not
that appealing to go ashore competing with the thousands of birds and mosquitoes
so we stuck to the water. The snorkelling on nearby reefs was great for looking
at coral but the fish weren’t of an acceptable size for Dylan to spear. With no
hurricane damage on this island the coral was thriving, if only I could have
captured the colour and sizes we saw, quite amazing. Brain corals 8ft tall and little
octopus waving their tentacles at us, daring us to come nearer to their hidey holes.
With still no fish to dine
on I made Dylan an unforgettable meal – rice, beans and spam. We bought this
tinned meat /dog food (!) back in Puerto Rico and I had threatened to use it
multiple times when we ran out of fish and meat. Now was the perfect time to
bring it out of the cupboard and hide it amongst a heavily seasoned pile of
rice. God it was awful!
Waking on the second day
at Isla Sur we found that we were alone in paradise. The squawking of the birds
awoke us from our slumber and just as we were thinking life really couldn’t get
any better…the head blocked! We had sailed for 10 months without this inevitable
chore happening to us so it was only a matter of time. All I’m going to say on
this topic is, thank goodness I bought a 100 pack of silicone gloves just
before we left Grenada!
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| Barry the Giant Barracuda |
Not wanting to push our
luck with the Venezuelan coastguard we were hiding from, we continued to Ave de
Sotovento. Although only a 15 mile trip, it took most of the day as we only had
4 kts of wind and a big swell on the beam. However, we caught our first fish of
the passage, a giant barracuda we called Barry. Our biggest catch to date and
Dylan enjoyed a good fight with Baz whilst I depowered the boat.
We arrived at the islands
a little before 4 and decided to anchor off Curricai /Long Island. I think I
have probably said in a few posts now ‘the best beach so far’ but everything is
relative right? Well this place is now the best beach /island /waters
/snorkelling /place I have ever been to! Dylan agrees. I shall let the
picture I took from our bow do the rest of the talking:
 |
| Curricai |
Despite the vile sailing
that day, we raced to don our swimming things and jumped into the water with
our masks and dry bag. The visibility here was just unbelievable, at 300ft
approaching the anchorage the water was bright blue, at 40ft you could see the
bottom and at 10ft where we were anchored you could make out the marks of a
crab trail on the sandy ocean floor.
 |
| Adding to my shell collection |
Circumnavigating the small
island we did another beach combing mission. Dylan found a plastic sheep which
must be a sign as I headed back to Wales the next week. On the north side of
the island we had our first conversation in Spanish with some fishermen that
had come ashore to sleep in their shack and tents. It went like this -
o
Sally:
Hola!
o
Fisherman:
Hola, [+ something I'm yet to learn on my rosetta stone]
o
Sally:
[slightly perplexed] sorry, what was that?
o
Fisherman:
[thinking how he can simplify for me] Good?
o
Sally:
Aaaah bueno bueno!
And may that be the first
of many ‘spanglish’ conversations! As we rounded the tip of the island to head
back to our dry bag we left, we spot the coastguard approaching the island. O no!
Typical, the hour we arrive we bump into the coastguard yet blog posts we have
read say they don’t visit this island for weeks at a time. Keen to start off on
the right foot (bearing in mind we have none of the right paperwork having not
cleared into Venezuelan mainland) Dylan went to speak to them to ask if they
wanted some of Barry the cuda. Sure they say, we shall stop by your boat anyway
as we need to check your paperwork…doh!
 |
| Curricai |
Swimming back to the boat
we admit defeat and are expecting a fine or being shooed away that minute to
Bonaire. Having a rule about entering a strange port at night we really didn't
want to do that. About an hour later the coastguard show up. 4 young guys, 2
stay in their boat and 2 others come aboard. Dylan, getting his priorities
straight asks them if they want agua, cevesa or 'juice'. Beers handed to them
all the main guy then asks if we can conduct the conversation in English as he
is trying to improve. No! The one chance we get to try out our (weak) Spanish
skills we are asked to speak in our own tongue. Wanting to keep on the right
side of these guys, we keep our poor Spanish annunciation to ourselves. Cutting
to the chase, Dylan asks for 2 nights stay and we brace ourselves for the
consequences...none come. The guy says 'sure' and the fills out the paperwork.
Digging out the EPIRB, fire extinguishers, flares, first aid kit, lifejackets
etc so that they can note how many we have (if any) of each. There is only one guy
who can speak English – Charlie. Poor Charlie has been on the island without
any communication to the outside world for 50 days now, with 15 days left. The
coastguard are dropped on the island for 2 months at the time before they
rotate. Paperwork completed, we give them the majority of Barry and they wave
us off, whilst the other guys wave us farewell whilst saying 'hello'. O that
did make me giggle. No money exchanged, no fuss and Charlie ensuring we call
him on VHF16 if we need any help! By far the nicest officials we have come
across so far and certainly not what we were expecting. We were then able to relax
for 2 days before we headed off to Bonaire.
Friday 5th October,
a day that I shall always remember. We had a lazy morning and then took the
dinghy all the way to an outside reef near a wrecked container ship, about 3
miles away and a very bumpy journey. We snorkelled on a few spots and the
sealife was INCREDIBLE. We saw 3 huge parrotfish about 3 ft long and almost as
wide. They looked like something from the prehistoric era! Also loads of big
squid and a few eagle rays. Listen to me now so nonchalant about seeing an
eagle ray! In reality I still get very excited and flap my arms and legs about
trying to get Dylan’s attention so he too can witness the sight in front of
me.
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| Just before he proposed |
Making our way back to the
boat via other coral spots to snorkel in we ate the bread rolls I had baked
with an entree of lobbie that Dylan had caught on the reef. Fed and watered we
lazed around for a few hours then packed a bag and went ashore for sunset
drinks. As we watched the sunset, Dylan proposed J I shan’t go into the details as I
think Dylan did an excellent job in the previous blog post, suffice to say it
was an absolutely perfect setting and I honestly didn’t see it coming – don’t
roll you eyes, I truly didn’t! Dylan had managed to hide the ring from my hawk
eyes for over a year, I was most impressed.
Back to reality once he
had proposed and we both had a good blub, Dylan happened to glance to the left
and saw our dinghy about to float away as the tide was coming in. Breaking the
spell Dylan sets off at a run to rescue it then we pile in and head back to
Orion as we had planned to leave at midnight for Bonaire. De-rigging the dinghy
we were treated to a fantastic light show of phosphorescence around us. I
reckon it was Mother Nature’s way of saying congratulations.
Las Aves to Bonaire took
us 11 hours. As I was dozing (was impossible to sleep given the news!) Dylan
called me to the bow and I was greeted by 5 dolphins playing in the spray. Then
as we neared the South of Bonaire, 3 bright pink flamingos flew past. With the turquoise
waters and bright white salt dunes, the intense colours combined with the bright
pink birds made me feel like I had just stepped into a Disney movie! That or my
already overwhelmed senses from the previous evening were working overtime.
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| South Bonaire shoreline with the salt dunes |
Its here where my fiancé (swoon)
and I part for 3 weeks. I’m off to the UK to see family and friends whilst
working through a looong to do list whilst Dylan welcomes 3 of his South
African friends aboard Orion.
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