Log 44L - Cumana to Puerto La Cruz

Oct. 6, 2007

Cumanagoto Marina in Cumana is a good full service marina beside a large shopping mall, with good security, for an economical price of about $10.00 a day, including water and electricity. We were helped alongside by our friends from Raft and Avalon V. Later that afternoon we caught a local bus with the crew of Rhiannon to a chandlery where they had their new outboard ready to pick up. We picked up a few things, after all it is a chandlery, and how could we resist. The fuel dock at the marina sold fuel at local prices (6 to 10 cents a litre for diesel and gas respectively), but unfortunately we did not fill our jerry cans there. We had a pleasant dockside happy hour with the crews from several Canadian boats in front of Veleda's mooring that evening.


Next day we walked with Mary from Avalon V over to the extremely large, crowded, vibrant market area, which covered several city blocks, with separate pavilions for seafood, for meats, and for fruit and vegetables, all encircled by sidewalk vendors and kiosks. It was a hurly-burly of activity with stalls scattered helter skelter, selling all kinds of fruits and vegetables, spices, DVD's, sunglasses, T-shirts, empanadas (deep fried pastry shells containing cheese, chicken or meat), and other fast foods. Several individuals, both boys and men were busy pushing wheel barrows around, some lined with groceries and others just lined with cardboard. These individuals would accompany a shopper and carry all his or her purchases throughout the market, then load up the car or a taxi for a small fee of about 2,000 0r 3000 B's (less than $1.00). There were harried hawkers darting around selling individual items such as bunches of bananas, necklaces, bags of spices, onions, peppers, and lottery tickets. A few noisy entrepreneurs were wheeling three-wheeled carts through the crowds with loud-speakers blaring out popular rhythmic Spanish music, the CD's for sale in compartments embedded in the contraption. Other stationary carts had noisy electric motors crushing sugar cane to provide sweet sugar water refreshments. Hygiene was not a high priority. Thanks Mary, for the orientation.

Our goal was Puerto La Cruz (PLC), a yachting Mecca 45 miles west of Cumana, with all kinds of services available. Here we hoped to get the materials to build a hard bimini/dodger, then visit Mochimo Park, a beautiful coastal area just east of PLC, before returning to Porlamar on Margarita, then back to Grenada for the end of October. The passage over to PLC wended its way through some lovely offshore islands, many of them belonging to Mochimo. Again we were visited by a pod of about 15 dolphins, but for a shorter time than previously. At 1300 we anchored off one of the islands, the only boat at Sena Larga on Isla Chimana Grande, for a lunch stop, surrounded on three sides by slate grey 500 foot hills dappled with dry but green shrubbery in this fiord-like bay. We toyed with the idea of spending the night in that glorious solitude, but were leery of being the only vessel there, and exposed to any passing boats.

After lunch we motored up the island, poking Veleda's nose into several of the other bays on Chimana Grande, the last of which, Cienaga, was popular (with locals) for day trips to enjoy the beach in the middle of the bay and the mangrove lined shores. We motored around this deep bay, noting many power boats anchored in the shallows of the beach with lines ashore to enjoy the nautical beach setting for the afternoon. However we knew they would all leave before dark to head across the six miles to Puerto La Cruz, and we would be left as the only boat in the anchorage overnight. Judy was concerned at that prospect, and so we headed over to PLC. We tried calling Bahia Redonda Marina on VHF but no one answered. As we approached the entrance, we were overtaken by many power boats returning from their Sunday outings. As we turned towards the Bahia Redonda Marina located inside the breakwater of this large canal-honeycombed development we were reluctant to go inside as the manoeuvering room would be restricted, and so went alongside the outer fuel dock, hoping to stay there for the night and get a slip next morning. This is a usual marina procedure for boats coming in after closing hours so as not to occupy a private or reserved space, and we presumed we would be directed to a free slip in the morning if space was available.

However, nothing is ever simple. A security guard came over, and we did our best to explain we would like to stay there until the morning and then seek a slip inside. In his total absence of English and our few words of Spanish, such seemed acceptable to him. But then a security guard from the marina came and we got the message that we could not stay there after all. We saw Panacea, another SSCA boat, inside the entrance, and called him on the VHF, hoping he spoke some Spanish and could help us. Rick came over and indicated that there was an incident at the fuel dock not too long ago where cheap Venezuelan fuel was being sold inappropriately. The fuel dock was closed down and the Coast Guard across the way did not want any vessels tying up there for any reason. Rick had originally arrived in PLC expecting to stay a few days, and wound up
spending six months here, as he enjoyed it so much and was content at the slow pace of work to be done on his boat. He indicated that there should be no problems in our anchoring over on Isla Chimana Grande, from which we had just come, and as sunset was only an hour away, we took off back to Cienaga to drop anchor in the east bay at 1800 (10 17.53N, 064 39.24W). There were still two boats there, but both had left before 2100, leaving us the only boat in this large isolated bay. No problems, and we had an enjoyable skinny dip after supper, and a beautiful starry night to enjoy this quiet isolated anchorage.

Next morning we weighed anchor to go 200 yards west and re-anchor in the middle of Cienga, just off the beach, so we would be in direct line with Bahia Redonda and able to receive the VHF net on channel 72 at 0745. We got it and checked in with the cruisers' net, indicating we were anchored over in Isla Chimana Grande and would be alongside before noon hour. At 1000 we weighed anchor and at the entrance were met by a marina launch and escorted into a bows on Mediterranean mooring in Bahia Redonda by 1115 (10 12.48N, 064 39.86W).

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