|
Home Port Our Logs The Crew Calendar Favorite Links The Boat Photo Album Route and Charts Miscellaneous Stuff |
Larry's LogThursday morning we went over to Reflections after the Safety and Security Net and gave them a newspaper we didn't need anymore and let them borrow the Cruising World issue that had the article about Trinidad and Venezuela that I was in. We said we would see them later at Nordisqui and they left to go to Gran Roque to see if the supply/fuel ship was in yet. We left shortly after that and went directly to Nordisqui. The next island was very close but there were also reefs all around it and we had to be careful about the entrance. The sketch chart in our guidebook, usually very accurate, was a little less so this time. Reflections followed us after just looking in at Gran Roque but since we had to slow down to let our depth meter get a reading, they got in ahead of us. It only took about an hour to get here and we anchored in about 20 feet of clear water with reefs around us. After getting the boat settled, we went snorkeling for the first time in many months. Diane started cleaning the waterline and I went to a small reef we had passed. The reef itself wasn't much but I did find a beautiful conch that I brought back to the boat. Diane wanted to eat it but I wanted to save the shell since it was so pretty - great colors of pink, yellow and red. In the end, since we really had no tools to get the animal out, we decided to keep it for the shell. Diane went snorkeling after I got back with the conch and I finished doing the waterline and did a little of the bottom. In the afternoon we went to shore and walked around but the island wasn't particularly nice although the anchorage was good; mostly rocky shore and scrub on land. We didn't stay long and then went across the shallows to another small island nearby. We had to navigate carefully through the coral heads even in the dinghy. That island, Isla Vapor, was much like Nordisqui, just smaller, and we didn't stay long. We watched a local boat go through a pass in the reef and we left that way was as well and had a much easier trip back to the boat. After showers and a quick dinner, David and Juliet came to Destiny for snacks and drinks. We had a very good time again and enjoy their company a lot. We will probably see them some more as we go through the islands here. Friday was a very busy day. We got up and left Nordisqui shortly after the daily nets and once the sun was high enough to see the reefs. After motoring out of the channel, we used the jib alone to sail the hour or so to get to the main island in Los Roques, El Gran Roque, and the only one with any hills - it sticks up 380 feet on its highest hill, and the island is visible from 20 miles away. It's also where the only town and airstrip is located. We anchored in 10 feet of crystal clear water and got the boat straightened up a bit. We had towed the dinghy, something we only do when its very calm and the distances are short, so we could do some things ashore easily. We wanted to get rid of the garbage we had already accumulated and Diane wanted to get some things at the local market. Diane also convinced me that we should get some diesel while we were here as the weekly supply boat had just come in (every Friday) and it was available. As we anchored though, another sailboat motored past calling out name - it was Jose on Nausica, who we had first met in Trinidad with his wife Elena and daughter Marina. His family was back in Spain but he was doing charters and was going to drop off some people and come back later so we could visit. Reflections had also come over and they went directly over to the supply boat and filled their diesel tanks. I had to untie the jerry jugs, empty them into the main tank and then take the jugs over to the boat. We did that and it was a relatively painless procedure since it was so calm and the guys aboard the supply ship filled the jugs for me and then handed them down again. It was more expensive than PLC by far, 10,000 Bs for just about 55 liters, but still cheap by almost anyone else's standards. We brought the diesel jugs back to the boat, I tied them back on and we had lunch. I fixed some whipping on a piece of line I noticed was fraying and then took the dinghy on a photo tour of the town. It was very touristy as Los Roques (and El Gran Roque in particular) is a very popular Venezuelan getaway, but had a certain charm about the brightly painted small buildings. I started to windward and looked at the airstrip first and then slowly motored down the coast, taking some pictures. As I got near the western end of the town, I saw David in his dinghy go to shore with his garbage and leave it in a certain spot. I asked if that was where it should go and he said it seemed so. I went back to the boat and Diane was ready to go to shore by then so we took the garbage and the camera and after dropping off the garbage in the same spot as David, brought the dinghy up on the beach in the middle of town near some local boats. Everyone had said we wouldn't have a problem here so we just left and hoped for the best. We didn't bring it to the dock since Juliet had said that the children would play on it and get it full of sand and seaweed. We had that happen before in other places so we heeded their advice. We walked around the town, sand streets and no vehicles except 2 golf carts, and found the stores Diane wanted. After seeing what they had, and they were now stocked after the supply ship had come, we walked to the hill with the oldest lighthouse on Gran Roque. There are 3, but this one is the oldest and on a hill by itself. The climb looked worse than it was and we were rewarded by some beautiful views and also by lots of flowering cacti near the top. After some pictures, the light was starting to fade so we walked down and went shopping. I waited outside one store and saw our friend Jose walking to the market. He stopped to talk and in a few minutes Diane came by. He had dropped off his charterers at Francisquis and was heading to Cayo de Agua the next day. We were both very glad to see him again and we invited him back to the boat for drinks later. We went back to the boat, we ate dinner and around 7:30, Jose came by and we drank and talked for a while. He was heading for out in the morning and going back to Margarita to prepare for his next charter, but it was really great to come across him like that. The only problem we had that day were the Brown Noddies perching on our bow pulpit and making a mess of the foredeck. Oh well, at least they were pretty. The wind picked up steadily over Saturday night until it reached about 18 to 20 knots, making the anchorage a bit rolly. Luckily we were planning to leave for another island anyway. We both woke up early because of the roll and left as soon as the sun was high enough to make seeing the reefs possible. Of course, I first had to scrub the guano off the foredeck. The wind increased even more before we left to almost 25 knots from the ESE and made getting the dinghy down and tied off interesting. Diane also had to motor up into the wind so I could raise the anchor. Another bit of fun; as soon as the anchor was up completely, we ran aground. Not very hard at all, in fact the only way we knew was because we weren't moving and the boat was sideways to the wind. Diane got flustered but when I got back to the helm, I took it out of forward and gave it about 2000 RPM in reverse and we got off slowly. We then motored the hour or so to the next island(s), Noronquis. We motored through the pass surrounded by reefs and made it to the small anchorage where 2 other day charter boats had already found spots. We got ours in about 30 feet of very nice water right near the southeast end of the island that blocked the swell. We got the boat's sun canvas up and basically relaxed through lunchtime. The wind seemed a bit less by this time - back to 18 to 20. Noronsquis is made up of 3 small islets connected on the north by a large barrier reef. The inside pool is very pretty but the water is deep right up to the beach. Fortunately, we have over 120 feet of chain and more rope attached to that so if we had to anchor in the deeper water, we could have. I went snorkeling after lunch and Diane came in shortly after me. The fish life was pretty good and I saw some new species of damselfish and a couple of small Queen Angelfish, as well as the usual wrasses, tangs and parrotfish. (See the Reef Fish Seen page) The thing this spot had that others didn't was a lot of Staghorn Coral; more than we had seen before. We also hadn't yet seen the Midnight Parrotfish that everyone said were in Los Roques. Hopefully soon… That night I set the anchor alarm on the GPS since the wind had now shifted to the Northeast and it put us a little closer to the reef on our starboard side. I didn't think we would drag at all but it couldn't hurt. Over Sunday night it rained for about 10 minutes, just long enough to wake us up. It was still blowing but we slept fairly well after the rain. We both woke up late since we lost some sleep but got going around 8:30. Diane did some hand laundry early and then we went snorkeling. We first went to the reef across the lagoon but it wasn't nearly as good as where the boat was anchored so we took the dinghy back to the boat and went there. I brought a disposable underwater camera this time and it seemed to be OK. Our old Weathermatic was better but was hopelessly broken and too expensive to fix. Diane brought back some of the disposables from the States so I guess we'll see how they do. The afternoon was mostly just relaxing except Diane forgot to turn the valve to the head intake off and it flooded the sole in the aft head, but no damage done. Mostly we just took it easy but I did clean (sprayed WD40 and then wiped off) some of my tools and made a gasket for the top of the new jerry jug I bought in PLC. I also continued my new Patrick O'Brian book. Diane worked on the PC for a while and worked up our finances. We wanted to leave tomorrow for Sarqui so I took down the sun canvas that evening and got the towing line back on the dinghy. We left the next morning for another island, Sarqui, at about 9:30. The wind was pretty light - around 12 knots from the East and we sailed under jib alone at about 3 knots so it took almost 2 hours from anchor up to anchor down. We got there at about 11 and anchored in 12 feet of beautiful water. There was a large powerboat already there but the anchorage was large enough to hold at least 7-8 boats comfortably. After we arrived and got the sun canvas back up, we ate lunch and got ready to go snorkeling. I went in first, checked the anchor, and then swam over to the reef. Diane came in about 10 minutes later and we saw lots of very large parrotfish and some other interesting things. I tried taking some pictures with the new disposable underwater camera; we'll see how they do. The snorkeling was good, as I saw big Trunkfish and Parrotfish and some reef squid, but we agreed that it was not as good as La Blanquilla. Of course, we would stay a few more days and see what else was around. Once back at the boat, we showered and relaxed for a while. Diane decided to defrost the refrigerator so I took a dinghy ride to the end of the island. It seemed that there was a pass between the islands - our sketch chart showed a reef there. We wanted to take a ride and see the island next to Sarqui, Espenqui, so maybe we'll do that tomorrow. Once back at the boat, I raised the dinghy since it had been in the water for a few days and I didn't want any growth to start on the bottom. Tuesday was the first cloudy, overcast day we had in a long time, and the wind was down as well, only about 8 knots the entire day. Needless to say, we ran at an energy deficit for the 24-hour period - the solar panels did almost nothing and the wind generator little more. Since it was cloudy and the light was no good for snorkeling, we stayed on the boat in the morning and did some chores. I looked at the autopilot finally, first cleaning all the contacts on the remote head and then the connector to the main body. After I did that, I took out most of the stuff from the starboard lazarette and inspected the hydraulic cylinder, the hoses and the pump. There were no wire connectors there - they were all at the bottom of the other starboard locker. If I had to get to them, it really would be a chore, even the 45-pound CQR would have to be moved. As luck would have it though, the pilot seemed to work just fine now that I cleaned the contacts thoroughly. Of course, we wouldn't know for certain until we were next sailing (or motoring) but it seemed to be moving the rudder as easily as it ever did, so I cleaned up some accumulated dust and dirt, sprayed some WD40 on a few metal parts and put everything back in. We would see soon enough. Most of the rest of the morning was spent reading my second O'Brian novel. I shouldn't read them so quickly, but I couldn't help it. After lunch, we went to shore and walked around the little island a bit. We first took a look at Espenqui and the lagoon that Giulio's friends, Chicho and Taty, told us about and although it was pretty, there was no place to land the dinghy, as the beach was steep and full of rocks and coral. So we went back to "our" beach and walked around the western side of the island. It really was very pretty and we said we would come back tomorrow when the light was better. We then took a short swim and went back to the boat for more reading and of course, we couldn't miss happy hour. The sun finally broke through the next day and it turned out to be great. The large powerboat that was in the anchorage with us left early and we were by ourselves. We went snorkeling in the southern part of the bay but didn't see much and the water was a little murky so we took the dinghy to the other side of the island, where we did find the pass between Sarqui and Espenqui and anchored the dinghy near a large reef there. The wind and seas were still down so it wasn't a problem at all although there was some current going through. The water was crystal clear and the snorkeling was fantastic. We finally saw a large Midnight Parrotfish - just beautiful along with a large, terminal phase Rainbow Parrotfish and a large Blue Parrotfish. This area certainly seems to be THE place for parrotfish, and even the more common Stoplight Parrotfish are extremely large and colorful. We also saw some more new species, a Graysby and some others not quite as fancy, but we also saw the largest French Angelfish we had ever seen, at least 18 inches long. After lunch, while Diane did some things in the galley, I went to shore and took some pictures. The light was very nice around 3 or 4, and I found a trail that went to the windward side of the island. There wasn't much there but a small shrine and lots of rocks. I walked to the salt pond and saw some birds, including a new species for me - a Rufescent Tiger-Heron, and then walked back along the beach, taking some nice pictures. I went back to the boat and Diane and I went back to the beach around 4:30. Another local boat had come in and anchored in the bay - not too close - but we planned on leaving the next day anyway. Maybe we would go back to snorkel the reef where we were this morning again - it really was spectacular and in calm conditions, pretty easy. We decided not to go snorkeling the next morning as the light wasn't really good and there were some things I had to do before we left for Carenero, like scrub the pulpit and foredeck again from the birds that kept landing on it. I also took off the thermostat from the refrigerator to examine it - the temperature had been increasing after Diane defrosted it and she was worried about the food. I could see nothing wrong but I left it just 'dangling' until I saw the temperature return to normal. Sometimes she accidentally knocks out the sensor or switch wires but they seemed to be fine so we would see what happens. |