Wind Shear arrived on a weekend and so did a few more boats but coming Monday we were all alone again. Wind Shear who sat in the Redonda Marina for over six months working hard on the boat, are just as happy to be here and are finally relaxing. Captain Jack was especially excited when we finally went ashore to explore the beautiful beach. He's a pretty short guy but outran us all. The swells in the mean time have subsided and made it for a very pleasant walk, except for speedy Jack. At the end of the beach we all put our crocks back on, except for Jack, yes Jack's special, and hiked across the sharp coral rocks which are all black like the sun had burned them all. We were following the cliff and watched as the water turned from blue shades into all kind of green shades and then we noticed hundreds of big size chitons sticking to the rocks On our way back we harvested some and cocked them up as soon as we got back to the boats. The same day I noticed the local fishermen, called them over and ordered some lobster for Wind Shear. Captain Jack and especially Debi couldn't wait to get their teeth into some lobster. Two days later the boys came back with 5 lobsters of almost 8 kilos total, 5 nice red snappers, three for Wind Shear 2 for Paradise which will be fried up in butter and garlic, yummy. The crew of Wind Shear has never cleaned any lobster so I went over to their boat and taught them how. It was too funny when Debi tried first. Her arms weren't long enough to stay away from the spiny, still moving lobster and I think her screams could be heard on the other side of the island. Rob took to it like pro and Captain Jack as always let his crew do the dirty work. Most people toss the head and legs of a lobster overboard not realizing what a good meal they can make. So later on that day Captain Jack invited us over for cocktail and lobster legs Debi had prepared for us, what a treat. We were so full that our dinners were postponed for the following evening. Here is what I do with the head (by the way it works for shrimp the same): I place them on a baking sheet, bake at 400 for 40 minutes, place into a big soup pot or pressure cooker and make the most wonderful stock. The stock then can be frozen for later use. I freeze the stock in packages of 1 ½ cups each to that when I cook rice I bring broth to boil and add one cup of rice to it, cover and simmer over very low heat for 20 minutes, remove from heat and let steam for 10 minutes. Just before serving I add some fresh Parmesan to it and voila the best Risotto you have ever tasted. Captain Jack was happy I taught his crew well so now he's all set with more gourmet dinners onboard his ship, boy he sure rules his boat.
We spent one more day and showed Captain Jack and Debi the mile for mile long beach with all the trash. I forgot to add that this breach is on the windward side so all the trash from Puerto La Cruz area will get stuck here. I was really amazed as I saw the 60 foot tree trunk including roots 180 degrees turned around on the beach, wow. Rob staid behind doing some chores, Captain Jack really runs a tight ship. We ended the stay with another fun Boccha Ball game on the beach, which Rob again won then watched the sun disappear on the horizon before heading back to our boats, having dinner and settle in for the night.
At 10:30 am the anchors were lifted and Wind Shear with Paradise left Paradise for another yet even prettier one. The northern shore of Tortuga is surrounded by some rocky cliffs between pristine white beaches as we motored along the coast. It was only a little over 7 miles to Los Palanquinos which is a mile beyond Punta Ranchos an offshore reef with a few rocks sticking out. We're tucked in behind this beautiful reef which is painted with all the blue colors imaginable which reach to the fairly close white sandy beach. I'm sure we'll have some re-matches of Boccha Ball games, can't have Rob win all the time, now can we?! Not even anchored 30 minutes a fishing boat came by an offered us lobster. Debi jumped on it like hot cakes and Rob and Captain Jack are drooling already.
I3 boats had anchored amongst us and everybody seemed to have a great time and so did we watching them. Amazingly for how much Venezuelans like to party with very loud music it was very quite here. Valentines Day we had an early dinner with a bottle of champagne and a Swiss Cheese Fondue, now life can't get any better. Following night we feasted on lobster so after 4 days of doing absolutely nothing we decided it was time to venture ashore to walk the good food off. By now everybody had left again and we had this Paradise to ourselves. We walked along the beautiful beach surrounding our anchorage of the finest coral sand. I thought for sure with the high waves that had crashed on shore over the weekend I would find tons of shells. All I found were little smooth clams of pure white and also some very small pieces of the most beautiful white coral which are perfect for making pendants. The following day we headed across the isthmus to the most beautiful mile after mile long beach where the water was clear and in all shades of blue. Big rollers hit a shoal that protected the beach from the shore break that was further along. Where the sand stopped and the flat lands of the island started was the biggest eyesore we've ever seen. We must have walked 2 miles along this gorgeous beach to realize that it was all polluted with piles and piles of trash, mainly plastic bottles. There also was a huge tree including roots that had washed ashore, would be a pisser to run into something like that at sea as it was at least 60 feet long. At this point we had seen enough trash and slowly headed back. Sid had fun, he had a goal to pick up every single flip flop he could find in the trash pile and strung them up on a long line and pulled them behind himself. You should have seen the pile he had when we got back to were we had started. The flip flop string was at least 8 feet long. Sid then assembled them above the beach and we counted 120 of them and he was very proud to have left a little flip flop memorial and I'm sure many will wonder "What the Heck"!!! Later in the afternoon that day we took a couple of cocktails ashore and played boccha ball as the sun sank to the horizon. We plaid 3 sets and I beat Sid big time on each game, guess we have to have a rematch soon. I have to add we were very sore the next day from all the walking and exercising. The weather has been great and the nights down right cold. After sundown we both put our sweater or jacket on and sip on hot tea, well I am, Sid thinks the rum helps too. Night temperature is around 75 and water temp is a cold 72 degrees, brrrrrrrr, February 19th our buddies Captain Jack and his Crew Rob and Debi on Wind Shear anchored next to us and will spend the next two weeks with us before they are headed to Trinidad and us to the Roques.
Alarm was set for midnight and what a surprise to see our neighbors Debi and Rob on Wind Shear already sitting in their cockpit waiting for us to get up. They wanted to send us off. We sure had a good time with them, especially Manuela with Debi on all the shopping trips. They are planning to finish up their work and follow us in a couple of days. At 00:30 we left the dock and headed into the dark night. We had no moon but the bay was lit with the light of the city and we coasted out of the bay. As we entered the cut between Isla Boracho and Chimana Grande a current chopped up the water and after we had passed Boracho the back wash swells had left. We had about 13 to 17 knots of wind the whole trip and a 6 foot swell unfortunately on the beam and Manuela wasn't feeling to good. Sid did the first watch and never really got any sleep. It took us 10 hours to get to Isla Tortuga where we anchored in 10 feet of water in Playa Caldera on the north eastern tip of the island. Caldera is a one mile long half-moon beach with white sand and sand dunes. From the anchorage we can see the large reef across the beach where a little fishing village and airstrip which on the weekends is a busy little place bringing in tourists for the day from Caracas. We were anchored for about one hour when a dinghy approached us. It was two Venezuelan Coast Guards and wanted to see our papers. We were surprised about that as nobody every told us there was a station here. They were very friendly and wrote up the paper work in the dinghy. Then he wanted to see if our flares were up to date. So one came aboard and followed Sid down below. After all was done they sat with us in the cockpit for a beer, invited to visit them at the station on the island and told us that we could stay one months here and also one months in the Roques, wished us a good time and left. There was only one other boat here, we had the place to ourselves. With the sunset the warmth of the day disappeared and it got down right cold that we made some hot toddies. We needed blankets for the night as it was 75 degrees, wow, we went from summer into winter LOL. Early I woke up to what I thought was the daily power outage when the AC would turn off, but then realized with a huge grin on my face that the refrigeration pump had stopped, we were not on the dock any longer but in an most beautiful anchorage. We didn't do anything but relax all day and watched as one boat after another arrived. Venezuelans don't anchor their boats, they park them, not one boat sits the same way. It is the weekend of Valentines Day and on the 15th Carnival starts, therefore this placed will be hopping. Planes flew in and out all day long and we had fun watching all the boats park. The good thing is they all will leave on Tuesday again. So here we are enjoying Paradise in and on Paradise and are waiting for our buddy boat Wind Shear to arrive.
Saying good-bye to all our friends was hard, especially our family Jim and Jenny on Three Keys, Darren and Rocio, and Chris and Luima.
Jenny arranged a fun get together with Jean and Xiomara, the ex-crew of Maremares. We had a blast and Xiomara brought her sister. I think she was glad she didn't meet us prior as she had a huge hangover the following day. Jim brought all his Halloween stuff out )well it's Carnival here), we had so much fun our faces hurt the next day, plus some of us had ratones in our heads (yep in Veniland you don' get hangovers, you get mice or rats in your head).
Darren and Sid helped Jim AKA "Mayor of Maremares" to get "rid" of the last evidence that the Maremares Crowed ever existed: the BBQ which got us together for so many wonderful evenings and parties. We'll dearly miss this time. It was kind of hard for us in the last few months to visit Jim and Jenny, sitting in the living room of their rental house instead of under the Tree of Knowledge where we bonded and shared our life stories. Three Keys is for sale, Jenny is leaving Venezuela for good in March and Jim will do so in May. This is the end of the Maremares Gang or the Gringo Sailing Community.
Paradise is sparkling from bottom to the top of the mast, provisioned and ready to set sail. We are showered and ready for a cocktail, then for a nap. Alarm clock is set for midnight when we'll sneak out of the harbor and set sails for new unknown adventures. This will be a very emotional departure. PS: main Provitions:
Wow already again 3 weeks gone since our last entry. Amazing how time goes by when you’re busy. Sid finished all the varnish and has just a few little odd jobs to do. I moved my sewing machine away and hopefully for a long time. We just need to clean up now, provision and pick a good weather window to leave Venezuela for good. Been busy catching up with all our friends and last week we were so busy we had a dinner every night, we are fooded out (yeah, yeah I know I made this word up). It’s been an interesting 3 weeks, especially to see how the President here is brining his country to it’s knees, every day there is something new. Two years ago he closed RCTV so they went on Cable and actually did better then ever before. Now El Presidente told them that if they don’t air his messages on TV that he will shut them down again and so he did. The students are again protesting against him taking away their freedom of speech and in the first demonstration many students got either killed or injured by his militia and Chavistas. I have to add that the Students are peaceful demonstrators it’s the goonies Chavez sent out after them that cause the problems. He already threatened to take drastic measure if they don’t stop demonstrating and I believe he will. The day after he devaluated the Bolivares, he threatened to take over any stores increase prices. Exito is one of the lowest priced stores kind of like a Wal-Mart with third world products and most of all French owned, was taken over by the Government only two days after his threat (the French owner also lost his Casino). It shows again that he is taking over one foreign owned business after another. This is the end of Exito and it pissed off a lot of Venezuelans including Chavistas. He also took over three more banks. Whenever I go into town I have to take a taxi and I tell you every one of them is complaining about the president and they all shook their head when they admitted voting for him twice. They all are disappointed that he deceived them and is taking away their rights and making their life miserable. There is no quality to life here anymore. One week ago Debi and I went to the Central Market and as we stood at one of the butcher’s stalls he kept telling us “NO HAY!” which mean “I don’t have” so I started pointing at some pieces of pork he repeated and whatever I pointed at he said the same while serving customers. We got the picture he refused to sell us anything. In the course of walking through the rest of the market we saw nothing but hostile looks towards us, we felt really uncomfortable and left the market. I’ve shopped in this market once a week for the last three years and never had this experience. Then when we went to one of the pharmacies we usually buy from they told us we had to have a doctor’s note. The items we bought we just bought one week prior with no problem. The other pharmacy had no problem selling the meds. I wonder what he told them all on his 6 hour Alo Presidente TV show which is aired every Sunday. Now when he devaluated the BS he did it with two prices 2.60 for essentials and 4.30 for non essentials, get this pickles and Whale sperms are on the essential list, cheese and ketchup and so many more things are not. The prices at stores have skyrocket and a can of corn or green beans is now over 2 dollars. Shopping here now is as expensive as in the States if not more.
I told you last time about the rolling power outages, we should have it every Tue/Thus/Sat from 15:00 to 17:00 not to mention that we loose wifi and water when the Marina loosed their power from 9:00 until noon. Of course the times don’t work, they shut the electricity off any time they want and mostly every day and the power never comes back on time. Now imagine when there is no power there is no traffic lights functioning either so the chaos is real in town and the protests of the students are not helping either. Just good we can go shopping via dinghy but the shelfs at the grocery stores are emptying fast as Chavez is stopping imports. The other day I was at the store buying laundry detergent and noticed that the price had doubled, next to me a middle aged Venezuelan woman was in shock and with tears in her eyes she told me that she cannot afford to by soap anymore, broke my heart.
Venezuela has 13 power plants of which only 7 work at the moment,actually 2 or 3 only half way the rest are broken and two more are on the verge of breaking. Chavez threatened the workers of the plant on his Alo Presidente show that if they don’t’ repair the plants he will be forced to have 12 hours a day power outages. He knows that he has to fork the money up. Heard rumors that he did pay but the money disappeared, yeah right. It is sad to say that it’s time to leave, we still love Venezuela but it is time. Currently there are 3 American, 2 French, 1 Italian, 2 German and 1 Dutch boat left in Bahia Redonda and they all are leaving as well.This will be a hard week for us as we will have to say goodbye to all our wonderful friends and to leave them behind to a not very promising future. I cannot imagine how they feel having all their rights taken away as Chavez promised a few days ago he will go faster now to turn his country to his communistic dream.
We also had a security guard obviously a Chavista giving us a hard time, so they had to let him go as the resident condo owners, mainly foreigners felt threatened by him. Also a security guard in the marina had to be fired because he was not doing his job plus steeling. We caught him peak into our cockpit, he claimed he wanted a glass of water. A few days later he came back and asked for food, the next day one boat found one of our towels in his cockpit and the two of his cockpit cushions gone. The guard slept in his cockpit using our towel for a blanket then he took the cushion, one was found floating in the water. One month ago I caught him peaking into our window at night. Some bumpers have been stolen off boats as well. Maremares had a dinghy theft and so did a guy we know at his house.
I wished we could leave this country still as a Paradise and not overshadowed by all the sadness now, we always will treasure the good time we had and the many wonderful Venezuelan friends we made and we wish just the best for all of them, but most we hope that on the long run they will win the battle against their tyrant dictator. It will be a long recovery to restore the country to what it was.
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