Los Testigos

After listening to Chris's weather prognoses we decided this was the perfect time to head for Los Testigos with only 10 knots of wind in the forecast and the northerly swells to disappear. At 17:00 we pulled the anchor up hoisted the mainsail and headed out of Prickly Bay with some tears in our eyes as we remembered having to leave Tika behind, she is and will be missed. It was promising as we pulled the jib up and watched the knot meter climb. We had 10 knots of wind that pushed us along with a two knot current at almost 7 knots. As we got further away from the island we lost the 2 knot current but the 10 knots of wind stayed and kept pushing us with almost 6 knots towards Venezuela. The sunset was beautiful and as the night sky took over the stars started to twinkle. Just before 20:00 the moon came up over Grenada and was amazingly big but then lost her size as she climbed up into the starry sky. The moon is always a welcome sight especially during night crossings as we can at least see where the water and horizon touch. The first few hours it was pleasantly calm but then as we got into swells it started to get a bit rougher. At times we realized that this was caused due to different depths of the water the shallower it got the more lumpy it was and vise versa. But then as we were in more then 600 meters of water the lumpy seas staid just that and made it hard to sleep for the off watch person. I did the first off watch and I think I managed in the three hours to sleep a total of 20 minutes. Sid managed to sleep the first hour then we realized that our green starboard running light was not working, Sid got the hand held running light for the dinghy out and mounted it with ducked tape to the bow then he caught some more sleep. As we changed watch we both saw the most incredible shooting star, this one's tail was so bright and full of explosions we thought we could here it sizzle. On our next change of watch an odor of burning plastic got into my nose and I immediately alerted Sid while I followed the smell in the cockpit Sid followed it inside and as he opened our electrical panel he saw a spark coming from the main wire. At that time we had the refrigerator, freezer, water maker running and also tried to load the batteries of our two cell phones, let alone radar, GPS, Autopilot and a few lights guess a little too much for the little wire. Good thing is we caught it on time before it could turn into a disaster. The rest of the night went without any glitches and as Sid laid down the seas got calmer and he slept for a good two hours. The sunrise was spectacular and the seas a lot calmer and as the sun crawled into the sky we could see the Testigos islands from 18 miles away. As we approached the Rajahd rocks we noticed a red buoy to starboard and then we noticed the current that pushed us sideways directly at the buoy. There was nothing we could do the boat got pushed into and over the buoy and caught up on the rudder. Not good as we could not start the engine it could get wrapped on the prop. As fast as we could we pulled in the jib and as soon as it was in the buoy broke loose made some knocking sounds against the hull and we were free. We immediately started the motor and headed to the lee of the island where we were protected from the fast current. Talking about an adrenaline rush, no thanks not this early in the morning and we never had a coffee, didn't need it anymore. An hour later we pulled into the anchorage, got settled in and ventured across to the village to check in. Although it's not an official clearing port, cruisers are advised to check in anyway and they will allow us to stay 2 days. Since Sid's back was still a mess I did ask for a few extra days, at first the officer was not willing but when I told him that I was not able to manage the boat by myself he gave us an extra day. One extra is better than none. Back on the boat I prepared some pizza dough for dinner then crashed for a good 3 hours and caught up on sleep I didn't get during the passage. Sid went right to work on the wiring problem and replaced the burned wire with a much bigger one. Pizza dinner was wonderful and the night sky staid clear and all our hatches staid open all night long which we haven't been able to do in the Grenadines. After a good cup of coffee Sid decided he was not going to do anything that day and I decided to go fishing. Sid hooked me up with a pole, a bucket, pliers, cloves and off I was. First I trolled along the rocky shore let the line loose and just the second I set the clicker a fish snapped it, wow, that fast. I stopped the dinghy and started reeling the fish in. It was a good size needle fish but as soon as he saw the dinghy he managed to break loose and took off. The lure went back into the water and I continued trolling along the rocky shore and I noticed an awful lot of frigate birds soaring above me but it was too late to realize that one was interested in my lure and the lore started soaring up into the sky. Luckily the bird was not strong enough to lift the fishing pole up into the air but he did some circles and nose dived into the water. I pulled him gingerly to the boat and with gloved hand grabbed him by the peek and pulled the lure out with the pliers. As he panicked a bit he now got the lure into his wings but luckily I was still holding him and managed to get that out of his feather. I lifted him a bit out of the water as they have a hard time to get out of the water and he started to fly away to fall into the water again. Oh no, I thought and started to close in on him to get him into the dingy for an easier take off, but finally he managed to get his wet body out of the water. I kept fishing but as soon as these giant birds circle above me I pulled the lure in.
When I returned Sid was not laying on his back as he had said he was rummaging around the boat and then he fixed our running light. So here we are wondering what we'll have for dinner since I didn't catch fish, wondering how that frigate bird would have tasted? Just kidding.