|
Home Port Our Logs The Crew Calendar Favorite Links The Boat Photo Album Route and Charts Miscellaneous Stuff |
Larry's LogWe left Sarqui about 9:45 and got into Carenero around 10:30. It was a mangrove anchorage but the water was still pretty clear. We ran the watermaker coming over since we didn't run it yesterday at all as the batteries were getting low from lack of solar and wind energy renewing them. We also passed Reflections going the other way. Diane talked to them on the radio and they were headed back to Gran Roque and then to Las Aves since they had to be in the BVI around Christmas and needed to go back to Trinidad first. When we got there, there were 2 other boats but they soon left, leaving us in solitude. After lunch, we went snorkeling at several places around the lagoon. The first few weren't very good, although I saw a new species at one spot (a Cottonwick) but we then went to the reef just outside of the lagoon at the edge of the island, and that was pretty good - there were lots of fish although nothing spectacular. We went back to the little beach in front of the boat for a relaxing swim and then came back to the boat. Around 5, just as we thought there was no chance of any boats coming in, 3 boats arrived in quick succession; all French and they obviously knew each other. Oh well, no solitude this evening. Friday, Diane got up a little before me and checked the temperature in the refrigerator - it had gone down 4 degrees overnight so there was nothing wrong with the unit itself, thank goodness. If there had been, we would have lost a lot of food and probably would have gone back to PLC to get it fixed or replaced before continuing. That would have meant not seeing Las Aves or Bonaire, at least not this year. But everything seemed OK and since it was so calm, we went to the windward side of Cayo Remanso and snorkeled on the large reef there. It was pretty good and I saw another Midnight Parrotfish and some other fish but it wasn't as good as the windward reef off Sarqui. Still, we enjoyed it and we came back to the boat for lunch after being in the water for about an hour. The French boats that came in the night before had left in the morning so we were by ourselves again. After we came back from snorkeling, another boat had come in, but he also eventually left around 4, a singlehander probably just sleeping a bit before continuing. After lunch, we went to shore and I walked along and I took some pictures while Diane just had a swim. I eventually came back and we both relaxed in the warm water (sans clothes for a while). The wind was down and it was pretty hot so we stayed at the beach for a few hours. I saw a few more birds that seemed pretty unafraid (turns out one was a black Bananaquit, a race endemic to the islands) and the water was as warm as a bath. Eventually we went back to the boat and I put up the Windscoop that we hadn't used before. We'd had it since our last boat but for some reason, I never used it before in the Caribbean, although we probably should have. The problem was that if it rained, it was impossible to close the hatch with the Windscoop up - I would have to go out and take it down - but since we didn't expect any rain (it hadn't rained more than 5 minutes in the last 2 weeks) I wasn't worried. We had a busy Saturday in the morning and early afternoon - first we went to Isla Carenero to walk around and of course, I took the camera. We landed on a nice beach with lots of gulls and terns (sorry to have disturbed you guys) and walked around. There were some small beach shacks from fishermen but we only saw one person. We walked around and found an interesting shack with a Christmas tree in front - not a real tree naturally, but a 10 foot pole in the sand with heavy monofilament line holding it up on all sides with small ornaments strung from the monofilament. For the top ornament, there was a seagull! (A real one just happened to be on top.) We walked around the island but except for a nice lagoon on the windward side, the island wasn't particularly nice - unfortunately, there was a lot of garbage scattered around and the small salt ponds were pretty bad. Chicho and Taty had told us about the small lagoon on the north side and we did find that and it was very nice - there were hundreds of birds fishing just outside of it and the water and reef looked great, but we didn't have our snorkel gear. After walking around about half the island (as far as we could go without tramping through some heavy ground cover) we went back to the dinghy and went to the little beach in front of the boat for a cooling swim. It had been very hot and the wind was still under 10 knots - a rare occurrence for these islands, but there was a hurricane well to the northeast and they tend to "suck all the wind" out of the Caribbean, unless of course they go through the Caribbean. What really happens is that the pressure gradient is very reduced, causing lighter than normal trade winds. It made conditions where we were great for snorkeling as we could go to the windward side of the reefs, but bad in that the wind generator didn't do much and it was hot. Anyway, we went back to the boat and had lunch. I then got back in the water and scraped the bottom and the waterline, it needed it badly and it still wasn't finished but after 2 hours, I was more than ready to quit for the day. I could finish it at Cayo de Agua. It was so light that we had to run the engine again to charge the batteries. We had expected winds to the extent that we wouldn't have to run the engine except to get between islands, and then just for anchoring - oh well. Sunday we got up and got ready to leave for Cayo de Agua, our last stop in Los Roques. Diane started the watermaker around 9 since we were pretty low on the port tank (the one that the watermaker feeds) and cleaned up below while I took down the sun canvas and the Windscoop (the wind had almost died altogether last night and I was glad it was up). We did a last run to the beach to drop off our garbage, as there was a place where it would be picked up (eventually) and came back to the boat and did a little work on the PC, Diane on hers and me on mine. As we were working, we heard an outboard near the boat. We looked out and it was an old fisherman. He was having a problem with his outboard and I could hear the motor skipping, but since I really wasn't any kind of a mechanic, I couldn't help. I got in his boat and looked for a while but then got back on Destiny since it was no good. He came on board also and we gave him some water and started talking. As we talked, he gave his name and it was the man who Chicho and Taty had said to look for, Ezekiel. Well, we talked about them for a bit - they had been in Los Roques about 2 months earlier before they went back to Spain, which we knew, and Ezekiel had last seen them then. We gave him a bottle of Coke and then he left to go back to his small house on the beach on Carenero. We left shortly after that - but what a small world sometimes. We motored slowly over to Cayo de Agua at a little after 11. We wanted to be there just as the sun was overhead to have the best angle for seeing the reefs. People had said the entrance was tricky and you needed to be careful so we got there just about 1pm. We motored since we had been running the watermaker for a couple of hours in the morning and the batteries were quite low and needed to be recharged anyway. We got there and went to the first waypoint that had been given to us by Kristali and Moon Dancer. After that we used another waypoint from Moon Dancer but it was really unnecessary - it wasn't as easy as Sarqui and you had to read the water correctly since there were some shallow reefs, but they were all easy to see, the water shoaled very gradually and we had no trouble getting anchored. We actually didn't go to the spot that the guide book recommends since it must have changed a little in the interim, but we found a nice spot in 10 feet of blue crystalline water about 150 yards off the beach and right behind a nice snorkeling reef. There was a boat that came in just after us that did go where the book recommended, and although he got a little closer to the beach, there was no more protection from the wind or swell. We got up the sun canvas and Windscoop as it was still very light winds, only 8 to 10 knots, and had lunch. After lunch and relaxing a little, we went snorkeling on the reef in front of us and it was pretty good. I saw a few large Midnight Parrotfish and some other good fish and we then went to the beach for a while. Of course, we came back to the boat in time for Happy Hour. We went snorkeling the next morning and it was great. We went to the same reef as yesterday but on the other side of it, although still inside the barrier reef. We saw a school of 10 Midnight Parrotfish and the largest Rainbow Parrotfish we've ever seen - about 4 feet long. Interestingly, there was a smaller one with it and it continued to chase the larger fish. The colors were just amazing. We saw some "supermale" Blue Parrotfish as well but the highlight was a Queen Triggerfish, the first time we had seen one. The coral was wonderful, Elkhorn and Staghorn Coral, as well as the usual Brain Coral, and the reef was definitely alive, unlike some reefs where the coral is bleached and dead. Definitely one of the best spots we've seen. Diane had found some live Conch and she insisted that we take some for lunch. I wasn't sure but she said that the fishermen obviously take them and so I said OK, but just 2. We got them back to the boat and after we had sandwiches, we attempted to get the animal out of its shell. We had a book that described how to do it and had a diagram but the reading of it is not the doing. The first one was pretty difficult - took almost 30 minutes just to get him out and I had to just about break the shell in 2 but the second was much easier - only 10 minutes and he came out as the book described he should. Of course, now the animal had to be cleaned and skinned. That took another 30 minutes. I hoped that this was worth the effort. After both were prepared, Diane took over and made Conch fritters and they were very good. She only made one so we would have the other for lunch tomorrow. We found out later that we shouldn't have taken any in Los Roques. In our defense, there were hundreds of Conch shells all over in large piles and they were obviously taken by someone. In the afternoon, after relaxing a little and watching another boat come in around 3:30, too late really to see the reefs well although he made it in OK, we went to shore and walked around on Cayo de Agua, climbing the dunes and generally looking around. It was a little different from the other islands as it had fresh water on it (somewhere) and so the vegetation was a little different. It had a small stand of Palm trees and some fairly large sand dunes. Unfortunately it also had plants that produced little burrs that stuck to our shoes and were very sharp. It made walking around a somewhat painful experience unless you were careful. I hadn't taken the camera but would tomorrow. Back at the beach we took a short swim, went back to Destiny and hoisted the dinghy in time for cocktails at 5. The wind picked up a little overnight but only to about 10-12 knots but it was enough to keep the wind gen going a little. Unfortunately, the wind came back down to about 8-10 later - good for snorkeling but bad for making electricity. And we did go snorkeling again, this time on the reef further out. We were not disappointed; the snorkeling was excellent and the water clarity wonderful - we could easily see the fish swimming around 50 feet below us. There were the huge (4 feet) "supermale" Rainbow Parrotfish that were fantastic as well as the slightly smaller but beautiful Midnight Parrotfish. We also saw another Queen Triggerfish although only for an instant. Of course, the usual ones as well but it had to be some of the best we've every done. We also recognized that if the wind had been blowing it would have been impossible to go were we went. We got back to the boat after a couple of hours in the water and had lunch of the last conch - Diane made conch fritters - really good. In the afternoon, while Diane stayed on the boat I went to shore on a picture taking expedition. I walked around Cayo de Agua for a couple of hours and went to the northeast corner and southwest corner. There is sometimes a bridge of sand between this island and West Cay (where the lighthouse is) but it was gone now. I saw the small anchorage on the other side of Cayo de Agua and it seems like it would be OK but not if the wind were from the south at all. I walked up the sand dunes and got some great pictures of the island and the amazing watercolors. I also got some decent shots of some shore birds - a Great Blue Heron and some sandpipers and plovers. There was a small stand of palm trees that seemed a little out of place but there is fresh water below ground here - that's why is called Cayo de Agua. There were holes all over the southern side of the island where people had dug out shallow wells. Of course, they were all filled in now but there were plants growing in them, besides just the normal scrub. This had started 3000 years ago when the Amerindians first came here. I walked back to the dinghy along the beach and after getting the burrs off my shoes, got back to the boat around 4:30. We ran the engine again since the wind was still pretty light and the batteries were low. Diane had made a very nice dessert that evening - English Matrimonials - a raspberry tort that was very good. |