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After 36 hours cruising with a gentle following sea from Tobago, we arrive at 8 AM to anchor at 'El Gran Roque', the only town of the 'Los Roques' archipelago. We understand there are about 50 small islands in the group. Most are unoccupied due to lack of water. On Gran Roque they make their own water by desalination and diesel power is generated.
There is a permanent population of about 1300, with 70,000 visitors a year.
It belongs to Venezuela. It has the same natural beauty of the Bahamas, low scrubby bush with pure white sandy beaches and turquoise water.
We are met by our agent Alessandro, who is to clear us through customs and immigration. After our clearance we go for a walk through this very colourful fishing village. There is an interesting Spanish influence in the architecture, sandy roads with no vehicles. Alessandro is to organise all our activities for us, which was suggested by an American skipper we met in Granada.
JB wanted to have a beer therefore we needed to change some US to Venezuelan Boliviers. Two ATM banks would not work for us, so we asked a man in a restaurant what we should do.
He offers to do it and explains there is a bank rate of 6 to 1US dollars but he would do it for 30 to 1 US dollar. Our agent hears of this and went berserk, saying it was not allowed and is a jail-able offense, although he did not explain this to us initially so we could not know. As it turns out everyone is on Siesta and is unable to serve a beer so our plan didn't work.
After lunch, we tour by tender to look at the surf, which apparently can be very good. But, the swell is not big enough. That night we introduce the Leeming's to Canasta.
Thursday. Early morning we are picked up by our agent with two Scuba guides
'Carlos' and 'Micky', the latter being a marine biologist.
We travel about 10 nautical miles to the South West, to the outside of the fringing reef, to the drop-off. MB's buddy is Mickey. Warick's is Carlos. We have two very good dives, lots of fish, coral, ferns etc. The second dive in about 20 meters has several caves. We spotted a large Manta ray, some large Crayfish, several varieties of large Snapper were amongst the many fish.
At the same time Paul took the girls for a snorkel. A beautiful spot with lots of fish, a school of squid, turtles and soft and hard corals.
After a siesta and cocktails we meet Alessandro for a night tour of the Gran Roque town. It all looks very different at night with lots of people out and about, all of the bars and restaurants are open and lit up. We have drinks at an attractive rooftop bar, then dinner at the recommended Italian restaurant 'Aquarela',with delicious sicilian food.
Friday. We are up early again for a 'Bone Fish' expedition. We head out in two boats traveling about 10 nautical miles south to the lagoon. It was interesting as the guides did not have a lot of equipment only a fly rod for MB and some lures and flies. We took our own spinning rods from BP. The guides did however find fish straight away. JB screams with her first Bone Fish, then Susan, they then go on to catch around 50 fish up to 6-7 pounds. Interestingly, this time we all fish from the boats, not wading. The guides pursued cloudy water where they could see the fish feeding strongly. For fly fishing, MB had to cast and let the fly sink, then use slow short retrieves. Bingo! With Wok on a spinner the boys between them catch 50 plus fish in four hours. In the end we were sight casting to sighted fish. On the way home the girl's guide 'Ozwald' decides to show them a turtle and he jumps into the water and comes up with a huge Turtle he pulls onto the boat. All had a great day.
Saturday. JB and MB off on another fishing trip. This time we asked for bottom fishing. Again, they arrive with no gear and no bait. So, we were casting our own lures over reefs. We caught a yellow-tail Snapper and some small fish on the 'Golden Bomber'. JB got a very nice Snapper, but overall a pretty poor result for a few hours fishing. We then ventured in deeper water to try for Mackerel and Wahoo, using 'poppers' then trolling. With no luck, we almost gave it away. Then we saw Tuna feeding on the surface. We troll through the school and to our surprise, JB catches a very large colorful Snapper who is somehow feeding with the Tuna on the bait fish.
It was disappointing overall for a lack of fish, but still very enjoyable.
For dinner we have beautiful baked fish under a full moon, on a clear warm night.
Sunday. Normally we would go to mass, however, there is no priest here although there is a church.
MB has shouted Paul and Sam a Bone Fishing expedition. They are very excited as they are both good fisher people but have never done this before, and Paul has never used a fly rod. They are so exhilarated on their return as they both have caught several fish on the fly. They fished wading the shallows as we had done in Crooked Island. This is all sight casting and is definitely harder. Wok and MB go trolling in the tender with no result.
We leave that evening for a 90 nautical mile overnight cruise to the Dutch island of 'Bonaire'.
Los Roques is a gem. It has lots of white sandy beaches, turquoise lagoons, good fishing, surf, nice people and a quaint colourful town.
JB and Mick
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