Los Testigos, Venezuela

We left Grenada July 2nd, 07 with 4 other cruising boats and made an overnight sail to Los Testigos, Venezuela, about 85 miles away. The islands lie in beween Grenada and Isla de Margarita, north of the mainland. We spent 4 days there enjoying the beauty of the area. They have a huge frigate bird population, plus it's a popular site for leatherback turtles.  We enjoyed hiking the rugged, cactus-strewn hills of Testigo Pequeno the first day.

Anchorage at Playa Real

North side of Testigo Peqeuno, plus a big flock of frigate birds

Check out the green lizard!

The folks on these islands just don't have very much.  A few shacks to live in and a fishing boat if they're lucky.

We took part in an impromptu turtle watch on the night of the full moon over on the windward side of Testigo Grande, which has a very large expanse of sand dunes. We climbed over a huge dune, at about a 45 degree incline, through ankle-deep, beautiful white sand to get to the ocean side. Whew! I barely made it. Around 11PM a leatherback came ashore and made her way quite far up the beach, then dug her nest and laid her eggs. It took her a while to cover the nest, move over and dig a fake nest, then migrate back into the water. We got back to the boat around 2AM.

Looking back down the humongous  sand dune

Momma turtle in her trance while she lays