s/v DRUM - Chapter Eight – Grenada and Venezuela
Hi Everyone
Grenada, June 17th - Gypsy Blues, Mustang Sally and Sophisticated Lady all arrived within a few days of each other and we are anchored in Prickly Bay a large lagoon with clean water surrounded by marinas. The weather for the next few days will be squally with winds 30+ and waves 10-12 feet. A lot of boats are waiting here for a weather window to get to Venezuela – us amongst them.
In the meantime Rene and Roy have gotten the old windlass out and waiting for a part to install the new one – the part should arrive within a week to 10 days – or so.
On Sunday, June 22nd, Gypsy Blues, Mustang Sally and Sophisticated Lady set sail to go to Hog Island – we are nailed to Prickly Bay – without a windlass we can’t raise the anchor. Later that afternoon we heard a MAY DAY from a sailboat which had apparently hit the reef near Hog Island and were in serious distress. We followed the next few hours on our radio and heard that Rene, Doug (Mustang Sally) and Rick (Sophisticated Lady) and a whole lot of others had instantly jumped into their dinghies to assist with Cheryl contacting the Coast Guard. At one point in this ordeal, the sailboat was identified as being a 78 feet long aluminum sailboat named Bontekoning and she had run over the first set of reefs to lie on her side in shallow water being pounded by large waves. Discussions were underway to remove her people. This story had a happy ending. Many volunteers held her in deeper water between the two reefs until the coast guard arrived (approx. 50 minutes later) and towed her to Prickly Bay with, amazingly, only a few minor problems – a bent rudder which was easily fixed and a squashed dinghy, also resurrected.
We had the opportunity to meet with Bontekoning’s people, Klaas and Tineke who gave us a tour of their beautiful boat. She is built with Dutch precision and all the mod cons, including a real refrigerator and freezer, better than the house we left behind. They are also sailing to Venezuela and we hope to meet them again.
On Friday, June 27th we joined a group going to the “Fishermen’s Birthday” street celebration in Goyave. This is a weekly event made even more special this one time in the year when it celebrates the local fishermen. Two streets are closed down for the evening and vendors set up food stations featuring all the local dishes. We had a great time eating and dancing to the music of a very talented local group while sipping free “Clarks Court Rum”.
This is the part that I really dislike; parting from friends. We said goodbye to Rene and Cheryl, again, but will meet them later this year in the Venezuela area. We are always saying thank you to Rene and Cheryl and this time is no exception. Their help with the windlass was so appreciated. Also goodbye to Tevai who is staying in Grenada – we will meet them later also. There will be a big reunion when we meet again with Allegro, LightHeart and Vision who left earlier for Trinidad to get some boat work done.
Tuesday, July 1st, we left Grenada and sailed overnight to Los Testigos, 90 miles away. We were part of a small convoy motor sailing most of the way – as per usual – what little wind there was, was on the stern. Oh well, we arrived at 9:00 am at an absolutely beautiful little island belonging to Venezuela. The island has a wonderful spicy smell which wafts out to greet you. The water is warm and bright emerald green and the large number of local birds adds music to this setting from paradise. We checked in with the local coast guard and were allowed to stay for 4 days. This was not half enough time to enjoy the surroundings. A group of us spent an energetic morning climbing to see the light house on top of the hill and spent the rest of the day swimming in crystal clear water – we could see the fish nibbling along the hull of our boat – yes, it’s very dirty and growing green slim and frondy things. Happy Hour was on Tusen Takk where the selection of nibbles cancelled the need for dinner.
That evening Tusen Takk, Livin the Dream, Zenitude and us went to the beach after dark to hopefully see the turtles come ashore and lay their eggs. There is never a guarantee if they will, but we were in luck. It was almost choreographed. It was very dark when we arrived after walking over the sand dunes to the other side of the island. In the dark she looked like a large boulder on the beach. We advanced slowly with our red light flash lights and watched while she laid her eggs and very slowly and carefully filled in the large hollow she had dug with her flippers. She was a “Leatherback turtle” about 6 feet long and weighed about 500 pounds. This entire event took over 2 hours ending with her slowly making her way back to the ocean. This was awesome.
Who would have thought that finding our way back would be so difficult. In the dark nothing looks the same. We scrambled around for over a hour with our teeny little red light flashlights before finding the right sand dune back to the other side.
The next Happy Hour was on Mustang Sally to celebrate the sail to Margarita the next morning.
We sadly left Los Testigos on July 6th for Margarita at 6:30 am accompanied by light winds for 50 miles. We arrived at Porlamar in Margarita at 3:00 pm to a very rolly anchorage. It was so bad that we had trouble keeping the dishes on the table. What a culture shock; from paradise to a city anchorage. We met with the local yacht agent, Juan of Marina Juan, who helps arriving yachts check in and out. Several of us were advised not to check in since we would only be in Porlamar for a couple of days and instead wait until we reached Puerto La Cruz to officially check in. We bought an air conditioner, toured an incredibly expensive mall called “Sambil” and had a great lunch with the gang. This location has had more than its share of problems with thefts and boardings and we couldn’t wait to leave when during our last evening an adjacent boat was boarded. Apparently a swimmer boarded the catamaran, tied up a young female crew member and took a large amount of cash. The local police/coast guard have not been very effective and apparently did nothing when three yacht had been robbed (a life raft and fenders) the week earlier. Visiting yachts are advised by the local cruiser net to keep watch themselves with flashlights and to strip everything off your decks that you don’t want stolen.
We left Porlamar on July 10th and sailed 25 miles to an island named “Isla Cubagua” in company with Zenitude, Tusen Takk, Livin the Dream, Guizzi and Daremy. The local coast guard came over to advise that they patrol the local area for security and wished us a pleasant stay. This is a brown, flat island which looks like a large dirt parking lot. No trees, a few cactus and a small number of fishermen and their families. The next morning at 6:30 am Zenitude, Guizzi and DRUM left for Puerto La Cruz a distance of 52 miles. We were surrounded by squalls and thunder storms. We radioed back and forth amongst the yachts warning of winds to 45 knots and driving rain. We kept our eyes glued to the radar to zig zag around the squalls. Local fishermen in their small, high bow pirogues were still out there fishing – just another day. Oscar on Zenitude is Argentinean and told us that when he sailed past one of the fishermen during one of the squalls he heard one of them ask the other whether he had brought an umbrella. Can you picture it? A small, storm tossed boat with a couple of fishermen holding umbrellas!
We arrived late in the afternoon after flying into the entrance of the bay pushed by winds funneling between islands at the entrance topping 45 knots. A dinghy from the “Bahia Redonda” marina met us at the entrance and guided us to our slip – no side slips – only two lines tied at the front and two lines at the back tied to bouys and fenders between the neighbouring boats. To get off the boat we have to climb over the bowsprit and anchor and then jump down – height determined by the tide – either 4 feet or 6 feet.
Here we are – Yahoo!!
We are now rushing around checking in and arranging flights home – yes it is time for a vacation so we are going home to Canada for 6 weeks. We also visited a great mall “Plaza Mayor” which is a great dinghy ride through a water way just like the canals in Italy – home to incredible villas along the way. Large Mediterranean style villas surrounded by huge palm trees and exotic flowers with their yachts tied to the sea wall.
Last night, after a great supper we were sitting in the salon enjoying a movie when I got strafed by a bug. Wine glass in hand, I looked around and saw the “bug”. Oh Shit – it was a giant cockroach which I had just casually flicked away from my hair. A flying wine glass and a scream later had Roy and I hunt for a roach big enough to need a license plate. We found him a half an hour later after tearing the salon cushions and pillows apart in the search – there was no going to bed before “it” was found!!! Yup, we killed him with a combination of attempted squishing, striking and finally submerging him in bug spray. However, Guizzi was almost boarded by a rat – that’s even worse! I am now focused on putting holes on the bottom of large plastic pop bottles to be feed through the dock lines in order to keep rodents off the boat. Add this to the job description.
We have a long list of things we want to do in Venezuela both for the boat and tours. We really want to visit Angel Falls which is a 4 day excursion featuring a canoe ride and sleeping in the jungle in hammocks.
That’s all for now; we are going home for six weeks of vacation from August 5 returning September 15th.
Roy & Maggie
s/v DRUM