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Log 44G Margarita to
Cumana
Written at: Medregal Village, Golfo de Cariaco, Venezuela, September 4, 2007
Hi Folks,
We are here at anchor in Medregal Village, on the Golfo de Cariaco in
Venezuela, waiting out yet another afternoon thunderstorm. The frequency
of them remind me of the thunderstorms common around the lower Great
Lakes in the summer. Fortunately we were missed by Felix, the latest
hurricane to come down this way. Venezuela is well below the hurricane
zone, but so is Grenada, and I understand that Felix grazed the north
end of Grenada and hit the Grenadines, escalating to a fierce category 5
on its way to Belize. We were thinking of going to the Rio Dulce in
Honduras next year for hurricane season, but are re-thinking it as that
area was hit by Felix. The best hurricane protection is not to be there.
We are losing our apprehension about Venezuela, and may spend more time
here this year and next. We will be prudent, locking our dinghy every
night and avoiding isolated anchorages, but the country is beautiful,
the people friendly, and the Canadian dollar goes a long way as I
describe in this log. We like what we have seen and heard of Venezuela
down here, offsetting horror stories we have heard from others about the
security problems here. A few "street smarts" should keep us secure.
We are enjoying the company of Dwight and Stephanie on Stephanie Lynne,
friends we met last year in Montserrat and again in Prickly Bay on
Grenada. We have met three other Canadian boats here that we have met up
the islands, Avalon V, Raft, and Gypsy Blues.
I haven't been able to access the internet recently, although Chavez,
the socialist president of Venezuela, has an ambitious plan to make all
of Venezuela a WiFi zone, and has a program to give every high school
graduate a free mobile phone and laptop computer as a graduation gift.
However in our area here the WiFi towers are in place, but are not
operational yet because of power outages. This stretch of the Gulf has
not had power for the past four days. Most businesses have standby
generators for just such frequently occurring problems.
However, the connections here at Medregal are very slow, and I am not
sure when I will be able to send this. This area of Venezuela is very
rural, third world level economy. This may have to wait until we go to a
bigger location such as back to Cumana, or over to Puerto le Cruz
possibly next week some time.
have the first five chapters for the book LIVING THE DREAM well under way,
entitled; 1/ The Beginnings - Our Dreams and Our First Boats; 2/
Breaking the Chains (From the Traditional Life); 3/ Preparations (of
Veleda) for Blue Water Sailing; 4/ Modifications of Veleda En Route; and
5/ Personal Preparations (Courses, Training and Experiences). As with
our cruising plans, the project details are poured in Jello, and subject
to change. A couple of questions I would ask of you, the followers of my
logs; "What else might you want to know about how we followed our
dream"; and, "If you wanted to follow a similar or even a different
dream, what would you like to know about doing such?" I would appreciate
your feedback on these questions. Let me know. (Ed note: you may contact
Aubrey via Searoom on our Contact page)
All the best, Aubrey |
Log 44G Margarita to
Cumana
Porlamar is a popular cruising anchorage on the island of Margarita, with about
100 boats, both transients and long term. in the anchorage at any one time. They
have a morning VHF net on channel 72 with weather and announcements, but no
local business commercials. The net usually lasts for less than 10 minutes.
Marina Juan caters to the cruising community with a long Tee dock in the
northeast shallows, free for dinghies, with good 24 hour security. We didn't
locate his dock at first, but did find the customs and immigration office behind
a larger power boat dock, so we did our own check-in. It took over 90 minutes
with waiting for the different officials to casually come in to complete the
necessary forms. They were friendly, offered us chairs to sit on while waiting
and at one point shared with us some sweet cakes they had brought in. No
uniforms or badges, no signs on the open office doors, and no English spoken.
Fortunately we had some Bolivars (Venezuelan currency, referred to by the
cruisers as "B's") with us to pay the various entrance fees which came to
154,000 B's, or about $35.00 Canadian. We had our passports stamped and got
stamps on a couple of documents, but no receipts for the money paid.
The "street" outside is a dirty red mud stretch of ruts and puddles across to
the mangroves opposite, with no outdoor signs indicating the dock or immigration
office or the name of the marina. After unsuccessfully trying to ask where
Marina Juan was, we gave up and returned to the dinghy to make our way across
the shallows to the next long dock which turned out to be Marina Juan. It
consists of a cantina or bodega, with a small general store with refreshments,
sun glasses, a freezer, a DVD rental shelf, and some knickknacks for sale. Juan
was in the other side, separated by a large bookshelf for a book exchange with
books and magazines in several languages. This made Judy happy.
Juan is a local who speaks Spanish, English, Italian and Portugese . He is an
expediter who arranges entrance formalities, garbage, water, laundry, US/Bolivar
money exchanges, a weekly bus into town for groceries, taxis, propane,
mechanics, electricians, tour operators and for a local boat to deliver fuel to
the vessels at anchor. There are no repair facilities, boat yard or work shops
there, just the cantina with a shaded patio out front. He was surprised that we
had completed our check-in ourselves, and thought we paid a bit more than he
could have arranged it for. He provided a map of the island with a detailed map
of Porlamar, and advised us where we could get a local chip for our mobile phone
at the Sambil Mall, which is the largest mall we have ever seen. It has all the
usual international outlets and specialty shops as well as a large food court
and several high end restaurants and lounges, at a bit less than North American
prices. From a Columbia specialty store outlet I purchased a couple of UV
protective sport shirts, as I need to protect my shoulders especially from the
intense sun down here. Judy got a Digitel chip for our Nokia mobile phone for
50,000 B's and another 50,000 B's calling credits. (50,000 B's would be about
$12.00 Canadian)
The second day we moved our anchorage further into the harbour as the roll where
we were outside was uncomfortable. The day after that we put out a stern anchor
to try to keep us into the waves. The trip in for groceries was well organized
with a bus and shopping tags provided by Juan. The tag had a number which was
used to identify our boxes of groceries when they were packed on the bus. It was
a large plaza, not as big or modern as the Sambill Mall, but used by more locals
and more economical in its prices.
Our Canadian dollars go much farther in Venezuela than any other country we have
visited so far. The question was asked as to which is cheapest, a litre of
water, rum, beer or gasoline? Gas is the cheapest at about 75 B's or about 2
cents Canadian per litre, (less than 10 cents a gallon!) with rum next, then
beer, then water (bottled) the most expensive. The official exchange rate is
2160 Bolivars to the U.S. dollar, which is what the banks or any charges on a
credit card will give. However there is an unofficial rate determined by the
economic performance of the Venezuelan economy by international standards, and
apparently large blocks of Bolivars can be exchanged at those rates by financial
institutions. So many businesses, marinas and entrepreneurs will exchange U.S.
Dollars at or close to this international rate. Our first exchange when we got
to Margarita was 3400 B's to the dollar, and today we are getting 3700 B's to
the dollar, with expectations that it will go up to over 4000 B's shortly. We
are fortunate that Jean Marc, the owner of Medregal Village, a resort in the
Golfo de Cariaco, will accept a Canadian cheque, convert to the equivalent of
U.S. dollars and then give us the going rate for Bolivars. As traveling
Canadians we are even happier as the Canadian dollar has risen dramatically in
relation to the U.S. dollar. Only a year ago the Canadian dollar was worth only
75 cents U.S. and today it is worth 95 cents U.S. Venezuela is a very economical
place to live and cruise. We know of several cruisers who spend the hurricane
season down here, and we may spend more time here too.
We shared a taxi for an afternoon to drive around the east part of Margarita
with Rene and Sheryl on Gypsy Blue, a Canadian boat we first met in Hog Island
on Grenada. Richard, our English speaking driver, charged only 25,000 B's an
hour (about $6.50 Canadian). Driving up the eastern coast past miles of sandy
surf driven beaches illustrated why Margarita is a Venezuelan and international
vacation mecca. We did this trip on a Sunday and saw many families enjoying the
beaches, having barbecues, surfing, and lounging on bath towels and beneath sun
umbrellas. A few of the communities reminded me of summer resort communities in
Ontario such as Wasaga Beach and Grand Bend, with their main streets flooded by
tourists, bathers, surfers and sun worshippers.
We went up around the northeast cape, Cabo Negro, and down to JuanGriego, a
large town noted for its fishing fleets of pirogues anchored close in shore or
on the beaches of its two large bays (see attached pictures). I love the design
of these small fishing boats with their wooden prows defiantly thrusting ahead,
and the pronounced sheer of their bows ready to plow through the heaviest of
waves. From the old Spanish fort on the rocky promontory between the bays we saw
a dozen sailboats quietly at anchor on both sides of this panoramic setting of
white sand beaches fronting the town, with green clad undulating mountain ranges
in the background. We stopped at a beachside restaurant for refreshments before
heading into the valleys to the capital town of Margarita, La Asuncion. Here we
went through the Spanish fortress (see attached picture) which was captured
during the revolution to give Venezuela its independence. We had some
interesting conversations with Richard about the politics and living in
Venezuela that I may discuss in future logs.
Back in Porlamar we arranged with Juan to clear out to Cumana for another fee of
50,000 B's. At Marina Juan we bought several frozen packs of Ceviche de
Camarones de Margarita which we thawed for lunch a few times. This is a
delicious cold seafood soup of shrimp in a spicy onion, pepper, and tomato
broth. We left at noon our fourth day there for a glorious 25 mile run, wing on
wing with 15 to 20 knot winds astern of us, over to the island of Cubagua, half
way to Cumana.
We anchored in Ensenada de Charagato (10 49.86N, 064 09.71W), a wide bay on the
west side of the northern cape. The low salt flats allowed the wind to blow
across the peninsula, but it was sheltered from the waves. There is a large
wreck of an car ferry near the point that has some good diving and snorkeling,
and a research centre (for the pearl industry) at the base of the bay. There
were several fishing homes on the mile long sandy beach behind which were the
salt ponds. As we were the only cruising boat in the bay, we felt a bit
intimidated by some of the security problems we have heard about Venezuela, and
so did not go ashore and left next day.
I would like to explore the island some time when we have another boat along, as
it claims to be the first European settlement in the Americas. When in 1492
Christopher Columbus saw pearls in possession of the natives on the Peninsula de
Paria, a couple of adventurers with his voyage identified their source as pearl
beds off Cubagua. On his next voyage, within a year, 50 fortune hunters arrived
to found the town of Nuevo Cadiz on Cubagua, using Indian slaves to dive for the
pearls. The island's pearls rivaled the wealth of the gold transported back to
Spain. In one year Cubagua exported over 820 pounds of pearls. The town was
destroyed by an earthquake and tidal wave in 1541, but traces of it still
remain.
We left next morning with a 20 knot breeze on our port quarter, sailing
westwards with the main only for the first couple of hours until we rounded the
end of Cubagua, when we unfurled the genoa and headed south towards the
Peninsula de Araya. This is a 35 mile long peninsula extending westward parallel
to the mainland coast, separated from it by the 35 mile long Golfo de Cariaco,
which we hope to spend several weeks exploring. Our destination was Cumana, a
small city on the mainland entrance to the gulf where we planned to go to
Navimco, a boatyard where we would be hauled out for a few days to scrape the
hull and replace our bottom paint. We dropped anchor in the muddy waters of the
large camber (10 28.60N, 064 08.31W) (see the attached picture looking across
the camber to thevelvet green undulating mountains on the far side of the gulf)
near the only other boat at anchor, Moon Goddess. We dinghied over to talk with
Joe and Diane, to find that they were going to be hauled out in a few hours. We
went ashore and met Giorgio, the manager, who spoke some English, to get a quote
and arrange our own haulout for next morning.
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