A small mangrove overgrown island separated us from the reef and as far as the eye could reach there was nothing but waves breaking over the reef with a thundering roar. A wreck of a once big fishing vessel stranded on the treaturous reef added to the atmosphere. Behind the rocky reef shore the reef ebbed out to a flat sandy area with occasional coral heads the water was anywhere from ankle deep to shoulder deep and about 100 to 150 yards wide then it came to a abrupt halt and plummet down to 30 feet of water the color there was incredible as it went from a light turquoise green to a dark emerald green just like that and that color change snakes along the entire reef for miles and miles. The reef then gave way to a deep body of water anywhere from 300 to 500 yards and was interrupted by yet another narrower reef and behind yet another body of deeper water and then bigger mangrove over grown islands. Behind those island lies the flats of the Roques which is claimed to be the best bone fishing capital of the world. The ever changing watercolor keeps you in ah. The exploring of the reef was fun and at times we had to pull the dinghy as it was too shallow. Watching the sunsets while heads of turtles popped occasionally out of the water, some schools of fish gathered under the boat and the far distant roar of the waves made this such a relaxed atmosphere. We spent three days in this bliss and only saw a few small boats blasting past dropping tourists off on some of the little sandy islands on the outer reef for the day, other then that we were all alone.
We also had some repairs to do, in we I meant Sid. We lost our wind instrument on the way here so Sid had to climb up there to get it. Out of all things a long hair was wrapped around the baring and I'm telling you I never, ever climb up to the top of the mast, it's beyond me how my long hair got up there?!!! Sid had a wonderful few from up there and took some awesome photos. Later on when I looked at them I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a round Jacuzzi on our deck, wait a minute..oh.. blond moment it's the radar!
By the way the Roques is a national park and lies about 70 miles north of Caracas and are the most visited outer islands of Venezuela. From here it's only a short hop to the Aves and from there to Bonaire. It's an unbelievable cruising area of about 15 by 25 miles of protected reef with many little islands to be reached within an easy day sail.
As we headed up the reef we follow the inner reef for about 8 miles and kept an eye out for the many smaller reefs popping up anywhere. Knowing of all the hidden dangers you're at first a bit nervous but then you realize the water is very clear and the sun will reveal every little hidden rock or reef there is and they are easily detected to the changing of color. Sid stood up on the boom to see the hidden reefs better and we coasted along the reef with amazement, it was so beautiful. After the 8 miles the reef gives way to a really large body of water and about 2 miles across is the main island Grand Roques. We turned left and headed towards Crasqui Island the favorite island for Venezuelan boaters. Thought we'd head there before the weekend as it usually fills up with 3 story gin palace of power boats. We had to dodge some occasional shallow areas then followed Long Reef and finally around Isla Augustin to our anchorage in Crasqui with a spectacular beach that keeps going for miles and miles and beyond the beach you can see the hills of Grand Roques. As soon as we came around the corner of Isla Augustin we saw several boats in the anchorage and with closer inspection Sid recognized or thought he recognized a boat we knew from Maremares. As we finally headed into the anchorage it in deed was Ottiphant with Otto and Irene aboard and we had a great reunion.
PS: go to the position report and look at the Roques via Satellite photo: http://www.aprs.net/cgi-bin/winlink.cgi?KG4EZH
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