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We finally left Trinidad on the 22nd of November after a mad scramble to get the anchor windlass mended in time. We checked out just after lunch on Friday, bought our duty free booze and left at about 3.30 pm.
We sailed overnight to Los Testigos, which means The Witnesses in Spanish, small islands off Venezuela. Initially we were doing 7 knots but the wind dropped during the night. We arrived in the morning and anchored in Playa Real, the windlass worked very well thank goodness. It is a lovely anchorage, calm with a breeze and a nice view of the islands and the beautiful sandy beach. There were lots of sea birds, terns and yellow footed boobies diving all round the boat. There were 14 other yachts and some local fishermen, who had very pretty boats with pointed bows. We took the dinghy to the beach and played boules (bocci ball), then went snorkeling off the reef. There were plenty of fish and some coral, I thought it was good. While at anchor we were visited by the coastguard, who were very friendly, checked our papers were in order and had a beer with us. We started to use our freezer full of pre-prepared meals and had a curry. Unfortunately I had misjudged the amount of curry powder to add and we all forgot to add the coconut milk on re-heating. Hence it was quite spicy. William enjoyed it but Jim said amongst other things that his mouth was on fire!
On Monday morning we sailed to Margarita, arriving in the evening. We met up with our friends Joan and Es, who we had met in Trinidad and they came to our boat to help eat the rest of the curry, which was considerably less spicy after the coconut milk went in. We didn't go ashore as it was very expensive to check in and out and left early the next morning for Los Roques. It was a very good sail with 20 knots of wind on a broad reach all the way once we got past Margarita. We averaged 8 knots and arrived in West Cay on Wednesday afternoon. The watches worked well again with me until midnight and Jim and Nancy taking over till 4am. William did 4am onwards, until someone else got up, in this case me at 6.30. Los Roques are very beautiful small islands off Venezuela with turquoise water. However the water was cloudy where we were and the anchorage quite rolly. We went ashore onto a lovely beach with white sand and walked across a sandspit joining Cayo de Agua to West Cay.
Thursday was Thanksgiving, so Nancy cooked a delicious meal to celebrate. We didn't have the traditional turkey as our oven is too small, instead we enjoyed shrimp, from the market in Trinidad for starter, followed by lamb shanks, succotash (broad/lima beans and corn) and pumpkin pudding.
Thursday evening we hauled up the anchor and sailed to Bonaire, in the Dutch Antilles, arriving on Friday. We picked up a mooring buoy, anchoring is not allowed, outside the capital Kralendijk. We hired a car on Saturday and toured the island. Bonaire is very beautiful with clear turquoise water and great snorkeling. It is home to the Caribbean flamingo, which is found in great numbers on the salt ponds in the south. Sea salt production and tourism are the main industries, salt water being pumped into ponds and allowed to evaporate. The ponds vary in colour from green to pink depending on the drying stage. Salt used to be loaded onto ships by slaves and some of the old slave quarters have been restored. They are so small, with one tiny open door and window, that it's hard to imagine people living in them. The north of the island is wild with stove pipe cacti and lizards everywhere. Wild donkeys and goats roam all over. The island was originally inhabited by Amerindians, 300 years B.C. Evidence of their culture can be seen as symbols carved on the rocks, which indicated times and weather conditions.
Before we left Jim and Nancy went to a Dutch church where the minister interpreted his wordes sporadically in English. They also sat behind the new governor, Glen Thode. William had fun going up the mast to repair the tricolour. Nancy tried a local delicacy, iguana soup, it was very tasty.
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