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Diane's DiaryAugust 11 Thursday I slept like a log until I was mysteriously awakened at 3am, got back to sleep and was awakened again at 6am when alarm clock when off. I had forgotten to shut it off from when we were in PLC. We went back to bed until 7:30am but both of us were still tired when we woke up. The wind is E 12-15 knots so we are getting plenty of power even without the solar panels - Larry didn't put them up yet and will wait to do this until our next stop. He doesn't want them to go crashing around if the wind comes up. Anyway, the water is just gorgeous shades of blue. Last year this same part of water was green but we now think the water turns green when there is a lack of wind and algae forms. We had a marvelous sail with just the jib up- it was the perfect sail- wind but no waves- wish they could all be like this! We decided to sail directly to Crasqui as Larry says we don't really need to refuel in Gran Roque- I'm not so sure about that as we don't want to have to buy fuel in Bonaire at over $2US per gallon- it's about 7.5 cents a gallon in Venezuela though about triple that price here in Los Roques. From the tank gauge, I figured we used at least 10 gallons of fuel but I think it was actually more than that- I don't think the gauge is completely accurate. We do have about 7.2 gallons in each of the 4 jerry jugs for a total of almost 29 gallons. The problem is we have to do a lot of motoring to get back to Carabelleda, Venezuela along the coast where we can refuel. We do use a little fuel going south from Bonaire to Chichiriviche but that's mostly a sail. Then it's 40 miles to Ensa Cata- a motor so we need around 8 gallons of fuel at 5 knots. Also, it's 50 miles to Carabellda from Ensa Cata using another 10 gallons of fuel at 5 knots. So, if we have 56 gallons in the tanks plus another 28 in reserve that's 84 gallons or 84 hours of motoring. That does not take into account if we have to run the engine just to keep our batteries charged. Last year we wound up running the engine every day in Bonaire just to charge the batteries until we finally went into the marina. Of course, we use less fuel when charging the batteries than when under way but it's not good for the engine. So, hopefully we'll have enough fuel to get back to mainland Venezuela- we'll just have to see! Anyway, we went along the south coast of Augustin island where we had never been before, and into Crasqui. There were lots of boats congregated at the south end of the island. We had never anchored in this part and were going to anchor there except when we saw all the boats. We anchored about halfway up to our usual spot. We left at 9:50am and arrived at 12:40pm and just had a beautiful trip. This kind of sailing is a delight and I wish we got more of it! We ran the watermaker for 2 hours on the trip up here and now the tanks are full. We have a nice breeze blowing so with the solar panels Larry put up this afternoon, we are keeping the batteries full. Hope it keeps up this way, as it's very pleasant. We anchored way out in about 10 feet of water- we didn't want to anchor near the locals but since the water was so shallow, we didn't want to try to anchor any closer although we were far out. We launched the dinghy but we too tired to go to shore. I am rereading John Grisham's book Bleachers and really like it a lot. The wind was blowing so hard that Larry had to turn off the wind generator at 4am, as the batteries were full! He put it back on when we got up in the morning. If this keeps up with all the electric we'll even be able to watch TV! August 12 Friday We woke up late this morning around 8:20am so the security net is in progress. Larry usually relays for the net every day so they had already started it by the time we turned it on. We had a lazy morning, as we were both still tired from the trip. We had to put the engine on the dinghy and get it all set so that took a while. In the meantime, we ran the water maker again for an hour since we had so many amps and want to keep the water tanks as full as possible. You never know when the wind will quit so fill the tanks when you can! We know we should run the water maker about 2 hours per day to keep the tanks full. Anyway, the wind is about 15 knots from the SE so that means we are bouncing a little as there is a lot of fetch as we are anchored so far out. I finished reading my John Grisham book. That's book number one that I've read out here- I hope to read a lot more as I have lots of books! I started another John Grisham book- The Last Juror- that's book number 2 now! We took a long walk on the beach and swim at 4pm. We don't like to go out in the sun in the middle of the day unless we are snorkeling, as the sun is so strong. Anyway, the beach was really crowded with lots of locals and lots of boats. Many of the locals charter their sailboat out so we were seeing lots of charters. The kids are on vacation from 7/15-9/15 so that's why everything is so crowded. I liked it better when we came the 2 previous times in September, as it was not crowded and more peaceful. August 13 Saturday The wind had shifted to the E which was better for us but today it shifted back again to the SE around 10 knots so its very light. We are bouncing around a little though since we are anchored out far from shore. Yesterday around 11am a powerboat came by with 2 guys in life jackets- no uniform but they looked like officials. They just circled Destiny and waved hi. They did the same to all the local boats. We had heard they were cracking down on those who didn't pay the park fee, which is substantial- over $100USD! We have never paid. They can also confiscate your papers and make you go to Puerto Cabello to collect them- that would not be good! Anyway, I was a little worried they would come back today so wanted to leave. We had been advised just to stay at the islands further away from Gran Roque and we wouldn't have nay problems. Local boats have to pay also and a local charter boat we met in PLC, Koala, said they pay around $300USD per month! Anyway, we left and put the jib up only for the short 1-hour sail to Sarqui. We did not go between Sarqui and Espenqui like last year though as Larry said the wind was better just to go around the north side so that's what we did. Sarqui was very crowded with 3 powerboats, 2 cats and 2 sailboats. Last year we had the anchorage to ourselves for a few hours! Anyway, after lunch we went snorkeling between the cut of Sarqui and Espenqui like we did last year. The water was not as clear but it felt really good to be snorkeling again! August 14 Sunday The crowd is starting to leave and the anchorage is emptying out. It was so nice and we were feeling lazy that we decided to stay another day. I made a big pot of shrimp Creole sauce- the sauce needs to cook 2 hours and it came out excellent- you can put sausage, meat or anything else in it also- it was extremely tasty and I will continue making it. Naturally, it comes from my favorite cookbook! However, we should have moved up in the anchorage as later in the day a big powerboat came in and anchored WHERE do you think? Of course, directly in front of us! The blared their music all night long. I even tried shining our big spotlight at them at night and asked them to lower it but of course they couldn't hear with all that music blaring! They really spoiled the anchorage for us and we wish we had just left. We went snorkeling on the reef outside our boat in the pm and it was actually pretty good- better than we remembered it. My legs got tired pretty fast though as we are just not used to using all those different leg muscles. It's a good thing we are doing all this snorkeling now as we will be in shape to dive in Bonaire. We had leftover chili and a salad for dinner. I finished my J. Grishman book and started on my third book by James Patterson called Second Chance. I liked the Last Juror but didn't think it was one of Grisham's better books. August 15 Monday We left Sarqui for the quick half hour trip to Carenero. Larry wanted to charge the batteries, as the wind has been light so we just motored over there. There were lots of boats in the anchorage - about 12 at the end of the day. We knew from 2 years ago that it was better to anchor at the end close near the reef so the reef was in front of you but no mangroves to maximize the wind potential. We were sort of in the middle of the channel though and need to move up as soon as a boat leaves. These are mostly charter people so they usually only stay one night at each anchorage - sometimes two at the most. We saw the Spanish boat Sangria that we knew slightly from PLC. They stopped by in their dinghy and gave us 2 small lobsters they had spear fished. Actually, no spear fishing is allowed in the park and you are supposed to fish only with a hand line but many people seem to do it. We hadn't had lobster in such a long time it was a great treat. I was nearing the end of my book so wanted to finish reading it before we went snorkeling so we didn't go out until about 3pm. We went out of the entrance and snorkeled to starboard and had a wonderful snorkel and saw all kinds of great stuff. Last year we didn't stop at Carenero at all but I'm glad we did this time. I think we didn't stop last year because we didn't have a good experience the year before - there were lots of flies due to the huge piles of garbage on the beach (this is an official garbage stop but the park doesn't seem to collect the garbage on a regular basis as they should) and no wind so it was hot. We were here by ourselves 2 years ago, which was great, but we anchored behind the mangroves more and didn't get much breeze there. Anyway, we took showers at the small beach near the island and had it all to ourselves. We use less water if we shower overboard or on shore and just do a fresh water rinse when we come back to the boat. I made lomito with onions, green peppers and a salad for dinner- yummy! The lettuce won't last much longer so we need to use it up. August 16 Tuesday We arranged to meet our friends on Sangria at 10 this morning to do some snorkeling. However, I was up at 6am as the wind shifted to the SE and since we are in the channel some and weren't as well protected by the reef we were really bee bopping with the wind. We will definitely have to move forward to get better protection from behind the reef and are waiting for the boats to leave - the charter boats usually only stay a day before continuing to another anchorage. Anyway, Sangria took us to another snorkeling spot that we had never been to before and it was just terrific - another "blue hole". Mima had also told us about it but we had never been there before. It was difficult to get to and we brought the dinghy with us all the way. Next time we'll just leave the dinghy in a shallow spot and walk the rest of the way. Anyway, Sangria has a spear gun and they got a big lobster, red snapper and 2 filefish. They have invited us over for dinner tonight to eat it. We snorkeled from 10-12:30pm. When we got back to the boat, the anchorage had opened up as lots of boats left so we were able to move up in the anchorage and are now better protected and behind the reef. We ran the watermaker 2.5 hours - we have been running it every day for around 2-3 hours just to keep up with our needs. We think we are only getting about 4 gallons an hour and it uses up 18 amps per hour so it's really a big energy hog. We need lots of amps to replace the ones we use since the water maker draws so much as the Captain likes to keep the batteries as full as possible. At 3pm we went snorkeling again and we saw another lobster in the rocks although Sangria wasn't with us this time with their spear gun. The locals seem to ignore the rules also. Anyway, we went to Sangria at 6pm for dinner, stayed till 10pm and had a great time. The fish was excellent and the filefish was especially good. August 17 Wednesday We went snorkeling with Sangria today at 10am again. The wind was blowing so we didn't go back to the same snorkeling spot as yesterday but went to the port side reef just as you exit the harbor. The reef wasn't nearly as good and with a lot of chop it was difficult to snorkel so we decided to go back to the starboard side reef to see if the lobster was still there. It was! Sangria got it for us and there were 2 of them so they got them both. We left and returned to Destiny but they continued spear fishing. They came over after they finished and gave us all 4 lobsters they had gotten! We protested and told them no but they said they were sick of lobster they had had so much! OK. Twist my arm I can eat them! We invited them for dinner but they said another day as they had a boat part that had to be fixed. We had a wonderful dinner of lobster that night. We had another charter boat come anchor too close to us - most of the charter boats have very little chain and mostly rode so they swing differently than us. We were not happy about it and told them but they just put out more scope - they thought this was the right thing to do but if the wind had picked up more they would have collided with us. Anyway, I cleaned the port water line and did part of the starboard side. Destiny is really listing to starboard as we have the jerry jugs on that side as well as the big water tank. There's nothing we can do about that so we'll just have to make do until we use the jerry jugs up. We have about 30 gallons of diesel and 18 gallons of gas on that side. I finished my fourth book out here - Dead in the Water by Stuart Woods. It was about a sailboat that arrives in port minus a crewmember that died at sea. Since the body was thrown overboard, was it murder? The lone crewmember is put on trial for murder. It was a good book and I really enjoyed it. August 18 Thursday At 10am we went snorkeling with Sangria again to the same snorkeling spot we both really liked. We saw an official looking boat with a man carrying a gun so got a little spooked that it was a park official. Sangria got nervous since they had a spear gun, which isn't allowed here, so they left. We put our dinghy on the port side of the reef as you are looking north. However, it was very difficult to enter the reef from this direction although we managed. We found a wonderful series of tunnels thorough the reef as well as a passage towards the outside that was just terrific. We think the "gun" boat was just an important person they were trying to protect - not a park official as we later saw them while we were on the reef. We found a great spot to exit the "blue hole" near the "stick" in the land on the starboard side. You have to swim in some very shallow water and pull yourself along using the reef - tomorrow we'll bring gloves so this will be easier! We won't have to touch the reef with our bare hands. Coral scratches can be very dangerous. Anyway, it was calm enough that we could snorkel the outside of the reef and this was all just terrific - some of the best snorkeling we have ever done! We loved it and will definitely be back! We go back to the boat around 1pm and had lunch. I started book 5, Dirty Work by Stuart Woods - the same author as my previous book. We took the dinghy to a small beach where we could have some privacy of a swim and shower. Carenero is definitely becoming my favorite spot here in Los Roques - don't know if I like this or Cayo de Agua better! We had Sangria over for dinner and I made my leftover red chili sauce with chorizo and it was just great. We all had a good time.
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