07/08/07

Out to sea again we are at last
and we're not going very fast,
as a gentle breeze is sweeping the bay,
once more we are on our way.
On our way to find new exciting places
and to meet new friendly faces.
Through the rigging the wind is softly whispering a song,
lightly heeling Paradise as we sail along.

07/08/07 Manuela Olshefski

We left Puerto La Cruz around eleven and motor sailed pretty much all the way to Arapo Island. Plan was to anchor in front of Emir's house, but the beach was so steep too it was impossible to anchor, so we pulled the sails up again and motor sailed 15 miles to El Culto in the Mochima National Park. We could turn the engine off for about 5 minutes and as we closed in on the park the wind started blowing a steady 20 knots with some 25 gusts of course right on the nose, but no big deal as we were protected
from the islands the water stayed relatively calm.
By Sunset I brought the cold bottle of Moet Chandon out and we celebrated the hard work we did on Paradise to make her look so pretty again and also to be out here again doing what we're doing best "cruising".
The night was so peacefully and quite, the only sound we could hear was the high pitched chirp of bats and an occasional fish jump out of the water and along the shore fire flies were glowing, it could not have been any more romantic. (Google Earth 10.22'109N / 64.22.751W)

07/09/07
For some reason we cannot send email out via our Ham radio, we can talk but not send email, we tried and tried and tried so unfortunately you don't get to our entries until we find an Internet. We left El Culto the following morning and motored the whole 24 miles to Laguna Grande in Golfo de Cariacu as there was no breath of air. Three miles out the wind started to kick up and finally blew a steady 20 knots and of course right on the nose.
Sid detected a leak and tightened up the stuffing box. The leak persisted and first thing in the anchorage he checked the engine. The seal on the raw water pump was leaking and when he took it off he found that the bearing had self-distructed. He found some water in the oil, not good. After further investigation he was happy to see that he caught the water on time, non had gone into the engine yet. But we still have a leak somewhere so he's still trying to find it.
The Golfo de Cariaco Bay is very long so when the wind blows hard it can build a 3 foot chop and that's what we had. It wasn't too bad but in any case we reefed the main. Laguna Grande is a huge bay and breathtakingly beautiful with an endless variety of contrasting hills in whites, beiges and glowing reds. Small island are surrounded of dense green mangroves so is the bay and above in the hills are cactus in all shapes and sizes. It's a total desert landscape with the most incredible colors. The
wind kept howling all day long, we think it's a local condition. Right at sunset a dark cloud closed in and dumped rain on us for a couple of hours. For as dry as it looks here rain must not happen all too often. The Sunrise was spectacular as it was so calm and you could see everything reflected in the water like a mirror image.
The second day we took a dinghy tour around the whole bay, not is ist just huge it has the most incredible colors. We also hiked up a hill above our anchorage and what awaited us was just the most spectacular view. We also saw the wild goats that roam the area and an occasional gun shut tell you that somebody is having goat stew for dinner. We are amazed about the temperature as the wind was blowing a cool breeze, we had 82 degrees during the day and the nights were pleasantly cool if not almost
chilly. The sky was covered with millions of twinkling stars which reflected in the now calm water. The phosphorescent in the water was so thick that when you spit into it or moved a line it was glowing. Yes, we had a little spitting contest. The pelicans even feed at night as they can see the fish surrounded by phosphorescent. Tika is so happy, she does not have to be locked in at night but can freely roam the deck all night long, she walks around with a constant purr. We can see a huge difference
in her, she's a happy kitty again and stays up all night chasing bats. There are plenty of them and we think that they are vampire bats as they dive for her. Her favorite mew thing is to lick puddles of water off the deck. (10.35'553N / 64.01'954)

07/11/07
The radio is still not working, very frustrating as we cannot send our reports into the Blogg for you to follow us. We left Laguna Grande early in the morning to avoid the daily strong winds and are now in Medregal, which is a little resort between Cachicotas and Guacarapo. It is owned by Jean Marc from Belgium and his Venezuelan wife. He lets cruisers use the facility which includes a nice pool, email, showers, game room, TV and best an honor bar, help yourself and just write it on a piece of paper.
We had a wonderful steak dinner and that also went on the bill. The view from the anchorage is stunning. It's a peaceful area with a thin strip of beach miles long, behind them flat lands overgrown with lush bushes and end on the foot of lush tropical mountains. This area gives you the feeling to be on a big lake, Sid said kind of reminds him of the Chesapeake Bay. At night you can see the twinkling lights of the villages across the bay. Sid will try to fix the email problem today so keep your fingers
crossed. We decided to enjoy this little Paradise for a few days.