Life got even better as we had El Oculto all to ourselves. The weather not too hot during the day, humidity was down, the sunsets spectacular and the evening filled with a cool breeze so cool we needed a blanket to keep us warm in bed. The snorkeling again was incredible. A rare treat was to see a sea snake, many moray eels, baby trigger fish and a couple of octopus.

We think Tika had the best time of all chasing all the birds:

"YUMMY, dinner!!!!"

"I SWEAAAAR I didn't eat it, look!!!!"

After three days in this bliss bad weather was predicted as another tropical wave was underway and so we decided it was time to head back Marina Maremares where we are well protected from eventual storms. Just as we left the anchorage the already dark sky started opening up and a very heavy gust of wind let us know that the waves was already upon us. Luckily we had the main already double reefed but decided it was safer to lower the main and just sail with the jib, which we did. We didn’t get any other strong gusts but learned later that Cumana just about 20 miles east from us got hit with damaging winds. We sailed at 6 knots while rain was pounding on our dodger and a cold breeze chilled us. I called Maremares to let them know we were underway, but our slip was still occupied for another three days, bummer. We dropped the hook in El Farro which is by far the prettiest anchorage on any of the Puerto La Cruz Islands. The drawback is that every day around 10am one boat after another unloads tourists for the day and on weekends all the locals bring their power boats over and turn this quite place into a zoo. Every boat has their stereo on full blast you can’t tell who has the loudest music; that might not be too bad if they were on the same station. The nice thing is at 3 all the tourists are heading back to the mainland and around 5 the power boaters are heading home as well and we have the place all to ourselves again. Since it wasn’t a weekend only one other powerboat was anchored for the night. It was nice and quite although a swell rolled us a bit around, but we enjoyed the cool breeze as the wave had passed. In the middle of my sweetest dream I heard voices screaming. I jumped out of bed, my heart was pounding and I ran on deck, it sounded like there was some kind of disaster out there. I ran into the cockpit and saw an about a 50 foot power boat dropping anchor about 40 feet behind us with at least 30 people onboard, partying and the music full blast and that at 00:30 in the morning, I wanted to shoot them. They stayed about one hour before they thank goodness disappeared again. On the second day a flock of pelicans dashed into the water next to our boat and scooped up bills full of anchovies. One pelican had his bill so full his head was pulled underwater every time he attempted to fly off. Each time dozens of anchovies managed to escape out of his bill while others gobbled them up immediately. It was too funny to watch this guy as he over and over tried to lift off. The bill was so heavy he could not lift it out of the water, not even an inch. You should have seen how big his bill was it was enormous where is the camera when you need it?! Where there are anchovies there are bigger predators and Sid pulled his good fishing pole out. One cast and he landed a nice bonita, another cast a second good tasting bonita. He cast eight times and we had a wonderful dinner consisting of a wonderful appetizer of bonita sashimi, bonita poki (Hawaiian) and bonita tartar (yummy) and seared bonita. Unfortunately we also hooked a pelican, reeled him gently towards the dinghy, threw a towel over his head and bill, while I was holding on to his bill Sid took the hook out of his belly and as he was set free he sat numb for a few minutes while starring at us, then wiggled his butt feathers and happily swam away. We hoped the next day that the anchovies would come by again but no such luck.

Carlos the guide that took us to the islands on the tour boat we rented whenever we have visitors came by and brought us the freshest mangoes from his garden and a present. Last time we did a tour with him I found a stone that looked like a sailboat. He took it home and made us a present. He mounted the stone onto a piece of wood surrounded it with shells and also brought us a doily his mother had made, what a super nice guy.

Since the weekend was approaching and we definitely didn’t want to be in this anchorage for that so we pulled anchor and headed towards Maremares planning to anchor out until our slip was open. There was no need to anchor out as Jean had a slip for us right between the two nicest, biggest and most expensive mega yachts in the marina, remember my Christmas present a tour on Rompemar a 6 million dollar mega yacht? Paradise after her face lift feels pretty special to have the privileged to be placed next to the big bucks boats, well at least until our slip opened. We’re back in our slip and are enjoying once more the beautiful facility of the Maremares Hotel with its incredible pool, the many wonderful restaurants within just walking distance, the company of our old friends at the marina, sitting under the tree of knowledge every evening sipping on a cocktail and exchanging stories and indulging on the wonderful meals at our Sunday potlucks. There is no better place to be than here during hurricane season, it feels like home.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeees!!!!

What is it do we look like a honey comb???!!! We had a storm cloud building up on the other side of the bay and the boats started to turn into the wind of this thunderstorm. We enjoyed the cool breeze while reading our books. Once in a while I would glance over the side to see what the storm cloud was up to and with horror I noticed hundreds of bees buzzing right next to the boat. That made me jump: "Siiiiiid we have a huge problem!" sure enough behind our boat were many more bees, all trying to
land on the fast spinning wind generator. "Sh…..t, *&^%$...., oh nooooo…..!!!!" We both grabbed a can of insect spray and started spraying. The wind was blowing too much and the spray only reached the bees on our level. The wind generator is about 9 feet higher then the cockpit and the spray was ineffective. The wind generator had chopped up about 500 and sprayed them all over the solar panels (we were thinking about Beesburgers for dinner). What now? Sid ran to the foredeck and got the hose and
hooked it up to the saltwater outlet in the cockpit and started to spray the invaders with salt water. You should have seen the trail of swimming bees behind us. But the spray still didn't reach all the way up to them due to the wind. I guess at this point we had half of them in the water. There was only one thing to do abandon the anchorage and head out as fast as Paradise can do into the wind. While pulling up the anchor I noticed our French neighbors running around their boat with fly swatters,
kind of funny and made us giggle, I wonder how we looked running up and down the boat. We did get the attention from all the other boats as they stood on deck watching us flee. We hurried out into the bay, straight into the wind and these buggers kept following. Sid was still spraying water at them. We must have gone almost 2 miles before we could count less then a dozen and slowly turned back to the anchorage. We decided to anchor on the west side this time but then we noticed the Swedish boat spraying
his wind generator which had quite a few bees stuck to it, so back towards our original spot and they came back. Out to sea again and they left, so we finally anchored outside of all the other boats and maybe had another 10 bees which luckily flew right into the insect spray.
We got back just on time to take a shower and get ready for our guests Kylie and Mike on Meggie. We settled down with a beer and told them our other bee adventures we had in Puerto La Cruz. WHY US??!!! Sid said that if we have one more invasion he is going to paint the boat blue!

There are numerous Swedish boats in the anchorage and they are talking on the VHF hailing channel all the time, I mean all the time. The rule is when you call someone you switch channels so that the others don't have to listen. Well, they don't, which wouldn't be so bad if they would speak English so that we at least could lurk into the conversation. So we get annoyed and turn off the radio. Don't really like to do that, especially at night as it is a bit of security for boaters could alert each
other of any dangers. So the radio was off and just before 3 am I heard our Swedish neighbor's dog bark like crazy. "What's the ruckus?" I hollered at Sid in the cockpit, he replied: "you better get out here". I got dressed in a hurry and as I got into the cockpit I saw flames. Ohmygosh, a boat was on fire. Sid said that he was woken up by the dog and some flares and many voices were screaming. To me it looked like a sailboat was on fire, but Sid pointed out that it was a fishing boat behind the
sailboat that was on fire. We turned the VHF on and sure enough a lot of frantic Swedish was exchanged, so we lowered the motor onto the dinghy, grabbed a flashlight and hand held and headed towards the boat on fire to see if anybody needed help. Sid explained that he saw four fishermen splashing water onto the fire then jumped into the water. On the way over there we ran into two Swedish dinghies one in tow. They told us that the guys in the burning panga had stolen two dinghies. They had retrieved
one and he was showing us the cut rope and where they had cut the chain. Then he went: "wait a minute" and pulled a big object of the dinghy floor it was the bolt cutter the thieves had used and left behind. The fires attracted all the local fisherman either fishing in this area or coming here from their homes. They all were pissed when they heard that these guys had stolen two dinghies. They've been having some problems here lately as the thieves don't just target us cruisers they steel the engines
especially from the fishermen trying to make a living. We went back to the boat to get the camera to take a photo of the registration numbers on the boat and name before it sank. Early in the morning Sid saw two policemen on the dock where the carcass of the burned out boat was. Later we found out that they had caught the four guys, one was badly burned on his arm. Of course stories started flying about what happened and we were amazed how fast rumors start. I talked to the security guard of Medregal.
He caught one of the guys on the beach and roughed him up a little, which he was very proud of then he called the police. He said that three of the guys were arrested after being caught by the villagers and the fourth one later. They were from Cumana and had been victimizing this area for a year now. He also said that the fishermen in the village roughed the guys up pretty bad to teach them a lesson. It's great to know that the panga of the thieves burned down, we just hope it was theirs and not
a stolen one. Unfortunately dinghy theft is everywhere even in the States and cruisers are warned to haul the dinghies up at night. Still some cruisers ignore the fact and leave them behind their boats although chained to the boat but that does not help.
It's a shame that this happened here at Medregal as they never had a problem here before, just good this had a happy ending and the bad guys lost their boat and are in jail.

During summer time right around end of July the Golfo can develop westerly winds which usually occurred around 1 o'clock for a few hours, by four it's usually out of the east again. It depends on how strong they blow in how rough it gets, but in any case the anchorage gets uncomfortable with 3 to 5 foot swells rolling through the fleet resulting the boats to hobbyhorse around. This year the westerlies have started early, every afternoon the wind shifted. On two of those days ominous thunderclouds
started building up from the east due to another tropical wave. As ominous as they looked we saw it as a blessing as they suck the air right out of the west killing the wind and flattening the sea. Then the question was how much wind would be involved in the thunderstorm but the rain is always a welcome sight and you can find Sid on deck scrubbing everything down, including himself.
In the mean time the first Atlantic hurricane of the year "Bertha" has formed and is luckily in an area where she should miss the Caribbean islands. Hope the Bermuda Island will be as lucky. We're glad we are in a safe area and definitely out of the hurricane belt and all we have to deal with are tropical waves and perhaps a tail of a hurricane.
We got tired of the westerly winds so we pulled anchor and sailed the 8 miles into the Laguna de Cariaco. We were the only boat in the Lagoon, the water was as flat as a mirror and the only thing we could here were pelicans splashing into water, catching fish and occasionally leaping mullets jump out of the water. As the sun lowered towards the horizon hundreds of parrots filled the air with their loud squawking and settled in the near by mangroves. Then the scarlet ibis returned. We sat on deck
with camera and binocular and of course a cocktail and watched how these incredible birds lit up the sky in fiery red. They settled and after a few minutes it was quite except for the pelicans and fish. What a peaceful place. I prepared us a wonderful dinner (rack of lamb, lemon herbed rice and salad), played some cards and ended the day with watching the stars.
After a peaceful good night sleep Sid scrubbed the mud off the chain and anchor as we lifted it and headed along the Golfo towards El Oculto. It was a very delightful day and flew the spinnaker until we passed Cumana. The highlight again was dolphins accompanying us for at least two hours. They were really lively this time, many jumped completely out of the water right next to the boat, it was awesome. What I really enjoy is watching them play with the bow and them looking right into my eyes and
when you hear them talk to each other you just want to jump in the water, cuddle them and play with them.
Just as we reached the entrance to the Golfo the wind shut down and down came the shoot and the iron jib carried us the rest of the way to El Oculto where we are the only boat in the pretty anchorage just in time to cover up for a rain shower and a sundowner Ah, life is good.

Medregal Village

I don't think there is a more peaceful place than Laguna Grande, it gets so quite you can hear ants walk around. Yes, aunts as we accumulated quite a few of these nasty little pests. We're not the only ones having them; it seems every boat we've gone aboard over the last year has them. They definitely got on board Paradise in Puerto La Cruz, to numerous times we've seen them crawl up the dock lines. First it seemed we had two types of pests on board, one a tiny sugar aunt the other looked like some kind of mite until I trapped on under the magnifying glass and compared it with photos of ants and discovered the mite and ant was the same and no other than the Ghost Ant. That was somewhat a relief as we were afraid that they could be wood eating ants or mites. They are tiny small and have a white almost see through butt, so when they walk on a dark surface they look like mites and when they walk on a light colored surface like an aunt. On deck we have another type aunt that is double the size and has a read and black body, they are cruising along the deck and cockpit and are seldom seen inside. Are they part of the other ants? Not sure. Where do ghost ants live? They can hide in pretty much anything, cloths, linens, computers, toasters, paper towel or toilette paper rolls, you name it. We tried to track them even left treats out for them just to get frustrated as they crawl along ledges and then disappearing into a hole or crack somewhere on the boat which we cannot trace any further.
Sid was cleaning the deck and moved the bumpers out of the way when he realized something was wrong with them then he saw the nests. Two nests, one in each bumper and sprayed them of course with ant killer. It seems that keeping after them the ghost ants disappeared as well only an occasional one wonders lonely around. It finally seems after one year of battle we are winning. Well, lets hope we are.
Two other boats where here already, one from Nice and the other from Spain "Heritage" with Jordi and Christina we met in Porlamar and again Coche. In Coche we had them over for dinner and Jordi threatened us with an invitation for Paella on Heritage. While here in Laguna Grande they met the local fishermen and they took them fishing inside the bay by laying a big net. What they brought out of the water was more than just fish, so we had the most wonderful paella with shrimp. For dessert Jordi made us one of the best Margaritas we have ever had. Unfortunately they had to leave the following day and two days later we were the only boat in the anchorage. It was just wonderful. Knowing that there is shrimp in the bay we of course took our net out and went shrimping. Many hours and sore arms and shoulders later we hauled 5 big shrimp home and believe it or not but it was enough to make a wonderful lunch to fill our tummies.
The same day we had a little green visitor on board. No worries the Martians are not here yet! It was a baby iguana that must have swam out here climbed the anchor, he was a pretty tough guy as he didn't even mind us getting close to him, he wasn't even afraid of the camera lens that extended almost out to him, instead he just smiled into the camera. He walked around not minding us at all and eventually after about one hour did a swan dive into the water and swam back to the close mangroves.
Fredi the son of a local fisherman comes by every time we anchor here asking for a dive mask and food. I couldn't give him a mask but we did have some food and coffee for him to take home. Maybe next time we come back to Laguana Grande we can bring a care package.
We enjoyed the calm and quite here, we did have another wave come over us bringing us just little wind and rain and the nights were just filled with twinkling stars, phosphorescence in the water and dancing fireflies ashore. After 6 days in this bliss we reluctantly lifted anchor and headed for Medregal Village. The wind was calm and the air was so clear that we could see all the mountain ranges on the mainland and both ends of the Golfo de Cariaco.
The dolphins didn't miss joining us an hour or so playing with the bow and letting the wake push them along side the boat.
We were amazed to just find 8 boats anchored in front of Medregal but the yard that only three months ago had 6 boats in storage had now 30 boats hauled out and one was just being brought out. Wow, great to see that Jean Marc is getting busy. Later we found out that he actually ran out of stands to support the boats and is in the process of having more made. Another wave came over us and spectacular rain shower started on the mainland and slowly inching its way towards us. It rained long and hard and the air cooled down to almost where we wanted to put on a jacket. After the rain it was so crystal clear you could see every crevasse on every hill. The sunset was spectacular, the left over clouds turned a golden red which was reflected in the water. It doesn't get any better than this.

Laguna Grande, Golfo de Cariaco

Cruising is: sitting in the captain's seat
Enjoying the tropical summer heat,
In one hand holding an ice cold beer
The other on the wheel to steer,
Captain Sid leans over kissing his wife,
Saying "isn't this a good life"

Here we are again in probably the prettiest anchorage along the Venezuelan Mainland Laguna Grande, well protected and just so colorful and when Maxine the wind generator shuts up for just a couple of minutes it's just quite and peaceful, the only thing you hear is the chirping of cicadas, frolicking birds, the squawk of herons, the splashing of small fish somersaulting out of the water, the ripple of water gently slapping the dinghy, the wind starting Maxine to run again and a "pissssst" -- "pissssst"
- "smack" -- "smack" -- "pissssst"……. Sid sure is keeping very busy here, in one hand he has a fly swatter, in the other a can of bug spray, "pissst" -- "smack", and then he has to think about which one to set down for a couple of seconds to pick up his cocktail and take a sip before continuing the battle with the flies. Don't know what it is with this place, sometimes we're here there are no flies at all and other times sooooooo many. Well, it keeps Sid busy LOL.
We left Coche at 3 AM, the wind was blowing a steady 12 knots and a 1 foot swell with a one knot current pushed us towards the Araya Peninsula, of course with the motor running (to make water and pump up the batteries) and the jib out. The reason we leave this early is to be able to reach Laguna Grande before noon as around that time the wind starts blowing 20 to 25 knots and sends a long fetch of choppy waves towards the entrance of the Golfo de Cariaco making it rough for us to head right into
it. We arrived just a little past 11 am and twenty minutes later the wind started to blow, wow just on time again. At the moment there are several tropical waves in the Caribbean, with lots of clouds and showers. According to Eric we should be having rain right now. What we see is the beautiful mirror image of the blue sky on top of the water surrounded by the colorful red, white and brown hills. Hope it stays this way. We will let the next wave go buy before we venture further up into the Golfo.

Isla Coche

Wow, shocker! Has Margarita gotten expensive, it's not the shopper's heaven it used to be anymore. Some of the food is as expensive as in the States if not more and liquor has definitely gone up BIG time. The Carta Roja rum we used to buy for 6 BS, 7 max is now 13 BS. My favorite champagne went from BS 14 to 21. It doesn't help either that the BS are now at 3 to 1 dollar, when we left it was still at 5.
Checking in is easy now in Margarita, you don't need to have an agent anymore nor have to take a taxi to get the official stamp for the paper work. My suggestion is to check in first thing in the morning (9:00) when the door opens, as I did, most officials were not there yet, so they took our paperwork and told us to come back after 3, easy enough for me. Others who went later were at the office about 1 to 1 ½ hours to do the whole process. Cost is BS 40 for the boat and BS 80 for each person plus
BS 20 for something else, so we paid a total of BS 220, in Puerto La Cruz they don't charge the extra BS 20. Not many boats use Juan anymore to check in, don't need to anymore, it's simple enough, but he still will tell you that you have to check out in order to go to Puerto La Cruz. Once you are checked in you are checked in for the whole country and are good to sail around. Juan was complaining to me that he's business is suffering due to the fact of nobody checks in with him anymore, he even tried
to tell me that it would be cheaper to check in with him. He just charged some cruisers 280 to check in. My thought to that is he had it coming as he,s ripped cruisers off for too many years and still does. There is not one boat here that speaks kindly of him, not even the taxi as they have to give him a cut of their money they make from us. Juan has his fingers into everything, even Pedro the dock guy he hired has to give him a part of the tips we give him. I have to mention too that he tells the
cruisers that they HAVE to pay Pedro BS 2.50 whenever they come or go, no matter if Pedro helps in anyway, really?!
Not too many boats are in the anchorage about 1/3 what we usually see but then it's still early in the season, most will show up next months when the tropical waves will have intensified. The anchorage shows her true face as it is rock n roll city. At the last Hash in Trinidad Sid sprained his ankle pretty bad, it was good until two days ago, we went swimming around the boat and cleaned some sea grass off the hull and the following morning Sid couldn't stand on his foot. It was swollen again and
he was in agony for a couple of days and so we staid for the tropical wave. The wave brought heavy wind (25 knots) out of the SE and brought rollers of 4 feet straight into the anchorage. Just glad we have the flopper-stoppers, although one broke and needs to be fixed. Still with just the one up we sat more comfortable in the water then the rest of the boats who were rolling from ear to ear. They all looked like little rubber toys being tossed around in a huge bath tub, it was not a pretty sight
and I felt sorry for them even though we didn't have the most peaceful sleep either. At this time of the year one wave after another is headed from the African coast to the Caribbean and every 4 to 5 days we feel the effect as they bring us heavy wind and rain. Our original plan was to visit the outer islands of Venezuela but the tropical waves have strengthened already we decided it was safer to just head to the Golfo de Cariaco where we have possibilities to find safe anchorages especially if one
should develop into a low or worse. We waited for Sid's food to feel better and headed to Isla Coche, and had another nice sail of about 4 hrs. Another tropical wave is underway and we did not want to spend this one in what a cruiser calls it Rollamar (Porlamar). We're anchored in front of the resorts in Isla Coche, along the long white sandy beautiful beach. Even though the wind is blowing at 18 knots the water on this side is a calm as a little pond, no matter how strong the wind will blow. The
wave should hit tonight with wind predicted to blow 30 knots, we had some thunder clouds around us already last night. It's so nice to have a good night sleep again in a calm environment.

Isla Margarita

Los Testigos in our mind is a must stop, what a beautiful island group. If we had known how beautiful the Testigos Islands are we would have stopped on our way to Venezuela from Grenada. The snorkeling was amazing with the best visibility. Especially one spot will always be imprinted in my mind the beautiful elk horn coral surrounded by at least 15 different types of tropical fish, the ones you see in aquariums plus a big tropical trigger fish, just leisurely swimming around the coral and looking
at me the same way I was looking at them. I was going to go back to the place and take a photo but I wasn't even in the water for 10 seconds when I noticed a huge barracuda eyeballing me. He was about my size and started to approach me, that did it with one jump I was back in the dinghy, forget the photo! Another snorkel spot we had groups of fish follow us, no matter how often we changed course they did the same, if we stopped they stopped, it was funny. Now and them if we were separated they would
glance over at Sid then rush over to him, then stare over at me and rush back and as soon as we swam back to the dinghy their companions would swim towards them and they mingled as if they were telling them all about our outing, it was really neat. On the other side of the reef is a sand dune that reaches from the other side of the island to this side. We hiked it over to the other side, what awaited us was the most magnificent desolated beach with an incredible view over the other islands. The color
of the water changing from light blue to turquoise to dark blue was just amazing. On this beach we found several tracks of Leatherback turtles and nests and the cutest little tracks from the hatchlings towards the sea, I sure hope they all made it. The tropical wave that hit us brought us a lot of wind and rain and strong wind followed for several days. The wind was howling through the rigging and the anchorage was rather on the rolly side, but the scenery made up for that.. We stayed four days and
caught the best day to head for Isla Margarita before the next wave will hit us this coming Wednesday. We had a great. It's been a long time. We had a constant current of one knot with us, that is always welcome but rare. We sailed and surfed an average 6.5 knots with the highest surf speed of 8.7 knots over ground 7.6 through the water. The last two hours before Margarita the wind got calmer and so Sid made his configuration of sails with staysail (port), Jib (starboard) wing on wing and mainsail
(starboard). The mainsail was feeding the wind to the staysail and that one sending the wind to the jib. Not just did it look good we sailed with 6.2 knots through the water dead down wind and were more stable with the 6 foot rollers. We sailed the whole 48 miles with NO motor running, which is something we don't get to do too often. Once more we are anchored in Isla Margarita waiting for the next wave. While we wait we will do some shopping after all this is the place to get everything in Venezuela.

Los Testigos Islands in Venezuela

I don't think we were quite ready to leave Trinidad yet after all we haven't had a chance to slow down and relax after all the frustrating boat work was finally done. But instead relaxing we did some last minute things including provisioning and cleared with customs and immigration. We tried to be out of the slip by 13.30 but that never happened, sometimes I think time speeds up and you slow down just so you don't make the time limit. By the way the authorities here are real sticklers, when you check
out you have exactly 2 hours to leave and you have to leave, you cannot even go to one of the islands first and wait up for weather or relax, you MUST leave. Of course just about 20 minutes before we headed out of the slip the wind started to blow with strong gusts and knowing Paradise does not back up well, especially not out of a slip we were a bit worried, rightfully so. The channel between the opposite slips is very narrow and we watched numerous boats get in trouble trying to get out of the
slips because of cross winds, even hitting other boats. As soon as the lines were off the cleats the wind pushed us against the dock, pinning us to it and of course as soon as we were out of the slip the strong gusts didn't allow Sid to spin the boat slowly around instead it pushed us on the beam towards the shallow water at the end of the docks. No matter what Sid did the boat would not turn around and you can't goose the throttle otherwise you'll end up hitting boats. It was a hopeless situation.
Luckily one of our neighbors had the dinghy ready in the water and just in time before we reached the shallow end pushed our bow around and we were out of the channel, ufff were we lucky. Not even in case of heavy wind, customs will not let you stay one minute longer, you have to leave. Out in the big open anchorage we had to calibrate the new autopilot first, that took a few rounds, we were hoping that it worked as there was no return to get it fixed unless we would check in again and pay quite
a bit of money to do so. Luckily it worked. The wind was gusting up to 28 knots, not what we needed especially to get out of the Boca, the channels between Trinidad and Venezuela which is nothing but rip currents and miserable for any small boat to come through. First we were going to go around all the islands and up the main channel but the water looked so calm between two of the islands we gave it a shot and headed out, even though everybody said not to attempt it. That was a good call as the water
was calm and the further out of the cut we headed the wind was a steady 15 knots and didn't gust through the canyons anymore. A current of 2 knots picked us up and shot us literally through the opening into the wild Boca. We did speeds up to 7.8 knots an impossibility for out boat, well under normal circumstances. At first it was really smooth ride but then the Boca opened its mouth and started to swallow us, well that's what it felt like. It took us at least two hours to get through this turbulent
mess and we were actually glad that we took the short cut as we had less current to battle with. As we finally arrived on the other side of the Boca of course we hoped the water would calm down, no such thing, it was a lumpy bumpy ride and this throughout the night at least not the wild ride we had through the Boca. We averaged a speed of 6.5 knots as a current was in our favor and pushed us with two knots all the way to Los Testigos. Towards the morning the weather calmed and we had to motor the
last couple of hours. Los Testigos are a delightful group of islands with about 160 inhabitants who live by fishing. The islands are fairly small but offer gorgeous beaches with sand dunes, lots of fish, interesting snorkeling and adventurous hiking. The Testigos make a convenient first landfall from either Grenada or Trinidad. The beach we anchored in front reminds me of one of those water color paintings of lonely beaches. Immediately upon arrival a friendly French man approached us by dinghy and
invited us to a gathering on the beach the same day. Immediately we jumped into the dinghy and drove across to the little village to check in with the Coastguard. This was probably one of the funniest checkins ever, we chat and joked with the guard and they gave us permission to stay here for 3 days or until the weather was good again, we still had that tropical wave coming. This is just a temporary check in the real one is in Isla Margarita so they give you a time limit which usually is 48 hours.
At 7pm we went ashore and joined all the other cruisers, 3 French boats with Swiss people aboard, 2 Canadian, 1 Argentinean and 1 American boat us. We had a good time until the wind started piping up and just a few minutes later a heavy downpour followed and ended the party. Here we are again in a tropical place to work on the boat LOL. Well, not really we are just tidying up the mess we didn't before we left. Sid needs to hook the water maker back up and has some other little odds and ends to fix,
but that's it, the rest will be relaxing.

Leaving Tridad

Doesn't our new cockpit table look awesome?

The Saga of boat work continues, the floor was finally done on May 27^th 4 ½ weeks after it should have been done. Then of course just as Sid wanted to varnish the power went off for two days. He put on three coats of bottom coat and the third one wouldn’t and wouldn’t dry and left us sleeping outside in the cockpit or one night. That was actually very nice as at 4.30 in the morning the parrots awoke us, it’s just so much fun seeing them fly off squawking with each other, it’s quite noisy. The galley counter top still needed to be done and we started to run out of time. They kept telling us oh no problem we’ll get it done. Last Tuesday we got a phone call from Sabrina, the secretary of Fortress that the galley counter company wanted to see us, because they had a major problem. The problem was the color we chose they had no glue to match it and you could see where they glued it together and we were asked to choose another color. So a lot of frustration later we finally got the counter top finished, after almost 9 weeks and one day before we’re leaving. The counter looks great but we are not happy wi

th the lid for the fridge as it has gaps everywhere which is letting the cold air out, so that will have to be fixed when we come back. We are at last minute things before leaving this afternoon.

Of course we did another Hash which was again a hit, although the scenery wasn’t as spectacular as all he other hashes but it was a tough one.

Lonely Phil (his wife is in Canada at the moment) a helicopter pilot here in Trinidad, took us for a fun ride. First we did a beautiful hike in a near by bay with spectacular views, then to Maracas Bay for the yummy Shark and Bake and up to Fort St. George above Port of Spain from where we could see not just Port of Spain but also Chaguaramas where we staid and all the islands.

We also had all our Trini friends over on the boat for a lime, the funny thing about hat was the last hour they were here a pungent dead fish odor was lingering in the cockpit and wouldn’t go away. After everybody had left I went looking for it, I though maybe it was caught under the dinghy, wrong.

Our Trinidad visa is expiring this Thursday and so it is time to leave. A tropical wave with lots of moisture is underway and will hit Trinidad early Thursday morning so we need to buggy today to stay ahead of the wave.

We had a lot of frustrating moments here but also met lots of wonderful people and had a great time and got to see some of the most beautiful places of this island. We will be back next year to find out what the carnival is all about.

Turtle Watch

Photo of Paradise in her slip at Crews Inn and parrots that roost in the nearby trees.




I don’t know where to start we had such a wonderful weekend which was needed and well deserved, but I write about that at the end of this report.

May 17^th we joined another fun Hash. This time we rented a car. It was quite exciting to drive on the wrong side of the street, at least here the steering wheel is on the right side too so it’s easier to remember to say in the left lane. Naturally every time Sid tried to turn the blinker on the windshield wiper came on in stead, we had many good laughs. Traffic was horrible to get out of town and jammed up pretty much all the way to the turn off for Mundo Nuevo. From there on traffic was almost non existent but the roads were oh soooooo narrow, narrow enough that the mirrors almost touched with on-coming cars. It was at times rather stressful especially rounding sharp turns with no shoulder along side the road. Sid hasn’t lost his driving skills yet and got us there in one piece. Mundo Nuevo is in the central part of Trinidad a very remote area with just few homes with lush rolling hills. The run again was through a dense jungle up steep hills and of course down again, very exciting. At one point something grabbed my hair and pulled me back, it was a very thorny plant that entangled my hair. The thorns were not longer than a millimeter but so close together that it looked like a fury branch, which wasn’t thicker than 3 mm in diameter but it entangled my hair big time. Even the big leaves had one thorn each sticking out about one inch. One of the Hashers had to help me get off it by pulling strand by strand from the plant. Another branch that was lower tore at my leg. Later on when I met Sid again, he was pretty scratched up as well, guess we should put long pants on. This is really a very hostile place, but just so beautiful and peaceful at the same time. Along the path there were uncountable beautiful tropical flowers accompanied by unusual bird and bugs sounds in the tree tops. Again it was an exhausting run, for Sid more so as he runs, I do a slower pace for sightseeing. As on every run we find some kind of hidden treasures. This time wild mandarin trees and pineapples growing in the middle of the jungle and on the home stretch to the beer barrel I found cocoa trees with fruits ripe enough to pick. One of the hasher ladies showed us how to open it and inside we found pieces of white sweet flesh that surrounded the cocoa bean which has a similar flavor like a leechy, yummy. The seeds are dried for either tea and of course for making chocolate. I found another use for it: beer cozy!

On Sunday we drove to Grand Riviere which is on the north eastern side of the island. The road took us by the eastern shore which is a beautiful area with long white sandy beaches as far as your eye can reach and rolling waves crashing onto the shore, a very rough area. The scenery changed as we headed more towards Toco and rolling hills started to get steeper and the coast line rockier. In Toco we drove out to the lighthouse and enjoyed a spectacular view. From there is was a windy road to get to Grand Riviere, I don’t know for whom it was more stressful Sid who was driving or me sitting in the passenger seat as the roads were even narrower and full of potholes and blind corners. It was a very beautiful scenic road and we pulled over here and there. Also had a scare as we drove along the coast and Sid tried to break for a turn, the break pedal went to the floor and no breaks slowed down the car, Sid pumped the break for a while and luckily we didn’t have any problems anymore.

Grand Riviere is incredibly picturesque and the only sandy beach we found on the north coast. This is where the Leatherback Turtles nest.

The Grand Almandier Guest House we stayed at lies nested on the beach where forested headlands border the seas to the north and to the wide flowing Grand Riviere River from which the village got its name. To the north east the river originates deep in the northern Range and flows down into the seas where strong waves give the leatherback turtles, the extra push they need to haul themselves unto the sand at the nesting time – March to August.

Many species of birds are viewed right from the veranda of the guest house or the from the balconies of each room which have an old-fashioned and modern décor and the restaurant serves wonderful local dishes like the famous Callaloo Soup and the lamb chops came with a wonderful tamarind sauce. We had a wonderful dinner and when we returned to our room we couldn’t open the door, no matter what we tried we could not open it. The lock was broken and after two employees tried to open the door unsuccessfully one had to climb up a ladder onto the balcony and open the door from the inside. Just good we had the balcony door unlocked. But that’s not all the excitement.

At 9 PM a ranger came to get us to the beach where Leatherback turtles come yearly ashore to nest. The full moon was shining over the beach and we saw dark humps scattered all over the beach. We must have seen 100 turtles either on the beach or crawl out of the water like giant bugs. We had no idea how big the leatherbacks turtles really were until we saw them and were just amazed. A mature male and female can reach 4 to 8 feet (1.20 m to 2.50m) and way 500 to 2000 lbs. ( 230 to 900 kg). The ranger said that she even could carry 3 adults back into the water. The ranger explained all about these beautiful creatures and overloaded us with information. The first turtle we approached we arrived just at the right time, she was just about done digging a hole, which is amazing to watch. She uses her hind flippers and digs about 2 feet and even digs a curve inside the hole to shelter the eggs better. Then when she lays the eggs she is in a total state of trance and most vulnerable and so she covers eggs with her hind flippers so that no predator can take them. The ranger lifted the female’s hind flipper so that we could observe her lay the eggs. I was lucky enough to have the prime spot to watch as he gave me the flash light. It was just amazing to watch her lay eggs, when she was done she covered them again with sand, pressed the sand down, more sand, pressing and repeating; then she started moving forward and around in circles. They do that up to three or more times to disguise the nest. The whole ordeal is very strenuous and she takes breaks about every 10 seconds. When she is done you cannot even tell anymore where she started. I’m sure you’ve heard the tales that turtles cry during nesting. Indeed, a slime like discharge is rolling from her eyes, which makes it look like she is crying. What happens is her living in salt water she has to filter out the excess salt because they no pores in their skin and the eyes are the filter, which she does in or out of the water.

Did you know that she lays unfertilized eggs? She lays first about 30 unfertilized eggs which cushion the about 100 fertilized eggs (about 2 inches in diameter), then lays a few more unfertilized eggs on top to protect them from predators, pretty smart if you ask me. She nests 8 to 10 times during a nesting season, and this every two to three years, but are also known to nest every year. Females start nesting when they are 15 years old and keep going for about 30 years. Unlike other species of sea turtles, leatherback females may change nesting beaches, though they tend to stay in the same region. Since so many turtles come to the same beach they accidentally dig up each others nests.

Leatherbacks have delicate, scissor-like jaws and therefore eat only soft-bodied animals, so they feed almost exclusively on jellyfish. Unfortunately leatherbacks have mistaken plastic bags, raw plastic pellets, plastic and styrofoam, tar balls and balloons for their natural food. Ingesting this debris can obstruct the gut, lead to absorption of toxins and reduce the absorption of nutrients from their real food.

Like all sea turtles, leatherback turtles start their lives after an about 60 day incubation period bursting out from the sands of their nesting beaches. Right after they hatch, the baby turtles are already in danger of predators. Many are eaten by birds, crustaceans or other reptiles before they reach the water. Once they reach the ocean they are generally not seen again until maturity. Very few turtles survive this mysterious period to become adults. It is known that juvenile spend a majority of their particular life stage in more tropical waters than the adults. Adult leatherbacks have few natural predators. The biggest predator is the human as untold numbers of adult leatherbacks die each year from drowning in fishing nets or on fishing lines. More acres of nesting beaches are lost every year to development for the tourist industry or for private residences. Eggs are stolen from nests to be sold on the black market as aphrodisiacs. Pollution can affect both adults and turtles in the egg. Scientists estimate that only 1 in 1000 leatherback hatchlings survive to adulthood.

Leatherbacks are also the reptile world's deepest-divers. Individuals have been discovered to be capable of descending to depths deeper than 1,200 meters and are also among the fastest reptiles in existence. The 1992 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records has a leatherback turtle listed as having achieved the fastest speed of any reptile at a speed of 9.8 meters per second (35.28 km per hour).

It was truly an incredible experience to watch this play of nature. Exhausted from all the excitement we went to bed. Sid turned the light off we said our goodnight and had our eyes closed for about two minutes when plop something fell between us on top of the blanket. Scorpion and gecko went through my mind, not sure what Sid thought but he turned the light on and me ready to jump out of bed with a scream, we saw an inch long ice cube laying between us, which the air-conditioner had spit out. The AC was right above me along side the bed. Sid figured it was turned too low and brought the temperature a bit up and turned the light off again. A few minutes later I felt a prickling sensation on by bare back and legs, then realized it was ice cold water, now the AC was spewing drizzle over the bed. It didn’t feel bad so we didn’t do anything about it. Then the AC turned off and on all night long which every time it turned on it would rain cold water onto my side of the bed, by morning my side was soaked in cold water, needless to say I didn’t sleep very well. The alarm went off at 5.15 and we raced back down to the beach as there were the last turtles for the night. Since daylight has started we could take photos and films of them. It was just amazing. The beach also was full of craters all dug out by all the turtles and broken turtles eggs everywhere with vultures and dogs feasting on them. (At end of report you'll find some more more photos and film).

After enjoying a wonderful breakfast overlooking the beach we headed back towards Port of Spain and in Arima took yet another very narrow road up the Arima Valley towards Asa Wright Nature Center which was established in 1967 to promote the conservation of the native ecosystems and wildlife of this Valley. The hotel is built on a steep hill totally hidden in the dense jungle. We were in aws and oohs as we stood on the balcony overlooking the view down the valley. Below the balcony were birdfeeders full with the most colorful birds. We saw one Crested Oropendola all black with a fairly big beak and yellow tail, green honeycreepers, yellow Orioles, white necked Jacobine which is a hummingbird and red legged honeycreepers which are the color of a blue sapphire. We could have spent hours there, but we had long ways to go. From there the road wound around and up the steep mountain. We came by an area what looked like overgrown with vines, but a closer look revealed that it was manmade. As we got closer it looked like grapes and upon further inspection we noticed that the grapes hanging of these vines were Chayotes or also called Christophines a wonderful vegetable. Not just that, we saw the fullest mango trees some with purple mangoes, cashew trees, cocoa and of course lots and lots of banana plantations.

At one point a silver snake slithered across the street. The drive was long and the narrow road and blind corners needed a lot of attention and it was just so beautiful.
Here are some road photos:

It was a steep decline until we reached the first beach in Blanchiseusse. The next beach was Las Cuevas then Maracas Bay where we enjoyed the worlds famous Shark and Bake at Richard’s. (Fried bread, with fried shark and a bar full with lots of different toppings and sauces, not the healthiest by far but soooo yummy). I forgot to mention the road maps they use here in Tinidad it’s the kind for tourists with advertisement on them, so you have to guess which road might be the one to take you to ….. as most roads are not in on the map. So we took a wrong road and it went up and up the hill, the hill got so steep the car couldn’t make it. So we pulled over at a convenient store to ask for directions and pssssssssssssssssss within 5 seconds we had a flat tire. I tell you how friendly the people are here, as soon as Sid started to change the tire a Trini came and took over and changed the tire for us while a friend of his came over to watch and talk to us. Just a short distance away was a tire place and within 5 minutes the tire was fixed and on the car again for 15 TT about $2.50 and we were on our way home.

Look all the beautiful wild growing flours we found on this trip (click on photos to enlarge:

We had such a good time and truly needed a break from boat work as that is not going well at all. The work done is superb but the work ethnic sux big time. They told us the floor would take 3 weeks, we are at end of week six. Sid was told that he could start varnishing the floor, that would have been 12 days ago. Then they told us again the floor would be ready that was two weeks ago and last time the told me it would be ready before my Birthday, which was last Friday and we had to cancel our week car rental to travel the island. We managed to change the date on our reservation for the turtle watch, the rest we had to cancel. The galley counter was supposed to be done 3 weeks ago as well, last Thursday they finally finished the mold but had nobody to pick it up from the factory or deliver it. So the owner from Fortress (carpenter) went to pick it up himself on Friday didn’t like what they did and now they have to redo it. First we were told hat it would be done on Thursday (yesterday) but since it was a national holiday they changed the day to Wednesday. I tell you if I see it by the end of this week I will eat Sid’s underwear. For over three weeks now we’ve been living in the cockpit and during the day I have to find something to do as there is no place for me on the boat. Sid stays with the workers, don’t trust them to be alone besides they need tools which they don’t bring and if Sid wouldn’t be there they would search for one until they find it. It’s turning into a frustrating experience. I guess it doesn’t pay to be nice and patient, we will have to start showing our teeth to them.

On another not, there is a Trini Eric here that has been giving the weather on HAM to us cruisers. He broke his radio and is not able to give his reports anymore and since we have an older model radio that nobody wants Sid donated it to him. So yesterday he came over to pick it up. Here is a photo of Sid and Eric I don’t think anybody even knows what Eric looks like, we just hear him on the radio and by the way he gives really good weather reports.

Now some funny stories:

We had to send an important paper to a court in North Carolina. FedEx and DHL wouldn’t take it as they don’t send mail to P.O.Boxes and there is no physical address for it. So where did I go, to the local post office of course and wanted to mail it off with a tracking number. I couldn’t believe my ears when the postman told me that they can’t do that but that I had to go to the Tackle shop! Tackle shop, I don’t want to go fishing I want to send an important letter off!

Then my Swiss Passport has been expired for quite some time and since all my paperwork is in Atlanta I could never renew it in Switzerland. Kind of weird that one cannot renew a passport in his own country. Since there is a Swiss Consulate here I had all my paperwork sent to Trinidad. One week later I received an email letting me know that my paperwork had arrived……… in Caracas Venezuela???!!! I guess they are representing the whole Caribbean. So in order to get a passport I have to fill out forms submit them here they send it to Venezuela and 4 weeks later I will receive my passport, I don’t think so not with the postal system both countries have. The new passport is now out too the one with a special strip for national security, costs of $250 only, NOT, you have to go to a special office after applying not before 5 days and no later than 30 days. The special offices are in Hong Kong, Mexico, Sao Paulo, London, Sydney, Toronto, Paris and a few in Switzerland, I don’t think so.

Just good they know how to lime here, so we have a chance to forget about the frustrations for the evening or weekend.

Anyway, here we are in beautiful Trinidad battling with everything we started. What is it again: Cruising is finding exotic places to………

Tika is not very happy either and even she had to find a new place to live.

Any questions?

I thought so!

And here more turtle photos and film: