The Venezuelan Islands

It is time to leave Grenada. It is hard to stay in one place for an extended period of time (sitting out hurricane season!) so it will be good to get underway again…shake out the sails!


We will be sailing west and then north on our next leg of our journey. Many cruisers are tentative about heading west for a few reasons. The first is that there have been a few piracy boardings of boats off the Venezuelan coast in previous years; second, the legs between the destinations become longer; third, the seas tend to build as they reach the Colombian coast and Panama requiring careful timing for a comfortable trip; and fourth, we hear that amenities such as fuel and boat parts are a bit harder to come by.

None of this seems to be a huge issue so we are ready to get underway! Alex, from Pacifica (a single-hander on a catamaran) is looking for someone to travel with to Bonaire so we meet up with him the night before we leave for brief introductions. After a few last minute errands we are on our way to Blanquilla (a Venezuelan island) for our first stop. Out of fear many boaters sail straight to Bonaire and bypass these islands. We have heard only good things about these islands from other cruisers so we decide to get the full experience along the way!

Pacifica at Blanquilla

We had a lovely overnight passage and settle in on the west coast of Blanquilla the next day. Beautiful white sand beaches, clear water and stunning marina life just peering over the side of your boat! We haven’t seen such a pristine anchorage since the Bahamas with the lovely shifts of blues and greens in the water!


Alex caught some Wahoo and a tuna along the way. So, we made salad and couscous to go along with the ceviche, hopped in our dinghy and rowed over for an impromptu dinner. We had a hit on our line on the trip as well. It must have been a whopper because it took the hook, line and sinker….all of it! Until we get more line in Bonaire we will need to rely on friends like Alex for fish!

The next day we are up early and head out for another overnight sail to Los Roques (another Venezuelan group of islands…a park actually). Alex has decided to spend another night in Blanquilla so we will meet up with him in a few days.

Los Roques; Gran Roques in the background

Los Roques is stunning upon arrival. There is a large grouping of rocky islands as you enter the park with tons of small, low islands scattered throughout. We debated and decided to stop by the Coast Guard to ask their permission to spend a few days because we hadn’t officially checked into Venezuela, which we hear you can only do on the mainland. Ed brought along the Spanish for Cruisers guide and managed to secure to approval to stay for a few nights. I don’t think either one of them understood each other but the concept was there!



The only problem in Los Roques is trying to decide which one of the islands you want to drop the hook at because they are all so lovely. As it turns out, only a few provide really good protection from prevailing winds so it helps to narrow your decisions.

We chose to anchor on the lee side of an island about half way into the park. We enjoyed the sunset, had a sun-downer and then a movie. Ah, and then bedtime. It is so nice to have a normal night of sleep after an overnight crossing. That is….until your anchor alarm goes off in the middle of the night and you discover it isn’t a false alarm. We were dragging anchor due to a wind switch with no option but to give it another try. The winds were brisk and the night pitch black making your senses stand at attention. Alas, we pulled up the anchor, reset it and it held. After that it was a 30 minute ‘anchor watch’ to ensure we were set. You can’t be too cautious out in these islands because assistance isn’t close at hand! At last, we went back to the sleep of the dead.

Dos Mosquitos

The next day we chose to find a new anchorage since the wind had switched more to the south. After consulting the emails from other cruisers we chose to move to Dos Mosquitos.   We had a nice brisk sail and were at our new anchorage in a little over an hour.

Los Roques is a marine (no take) park which makes the snorkeling so nice. Right under our boat Ed pulled up an enormous conch to show Vicky before putting it back. We have never seen one this big…but it wasn’t just one. It was hundreds! One conch could have fed a family of four!

And coconuts to boot.  This is the life!

Chula also got to romp on the beach after being ‘boat bound’ for 4 days! We even went over to the beach, set up the beach sunshade we got from Warren, Eileen, Abigail and Grant for our wedding and spent the day reading and snorkeling. What a great relaxing day!

Well, Alex from Pacifica has joined us and so we are off to the Aves (two more Venezuelan sets of islands). The first group is only 15 miles away so we had a nice sail and dropped our anchor close to the inlet to the mangroves. We mixed a couple happy hour drinks, put Chula in the boat and took a scenic tour by dinghy. There were thousands of birds that called these mangroves home. What a racket! And they weren’t afraid of humans so let you pull right up to them for a close photo.

The next day was the second set of islands about 15 miles away. Again, another great day of sailing. We selected an island to drop the anchor and Ed contacted the Coast Guard again to let them know we were spending the night while in transit. This conversation went fairly well. Ah, the Spanish is starting to sink in!

The beach was beautiful so we put on Chula’s life jacket, grabbed our snorkel gear and swam to shore for a walk on the beach. There was a boat wreck that we explored as well. Along the beach the mast was on shore and a bit further down we found a cute, small, decorative sailboat made out of a Dutch wooden shoe. Vicky couldn’t resist rescuing it so back to Boto it came. If you want to know the ‘outcome’ of the wooden shoe…read the upcoming blog entry for Curacao! It will show you how small the cruising community really can be!

We have had 1 ½ weeks of fantastic cruising weather…when does that happen!...but it is time to get to Bonaire before some squally weather comes in a few days. We are off in the morning for another lovely day of sailing to Bonaire…where our friends Gretchen, Harvey and their son Jake will yet again join us for a week. They last joined us in the Exumas, Bahamas.