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            SLOEPMOUCHE - 46' N.Cross Trimaran - 5' draft - January 1999

Subject/Area: Islands of Venezuela, Angel falls, ABC and San Blas Islands

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Dear SSCA,

            After completing the end of the refit/outfit of Sloepmouche, on/off during the last 3 years, we can now finish our cruising of the Caribbean started over 6 years  ago. Since a lot was written already about the islands we visited, we will limit ourselves to information's we didn't see in print in our last 8 yr. bulletins.

 

ANGEL FALLS & GRAN SABANA: After getting some info, we decided to organize our own tour. Not difficult to do and more adventurous than the all inclusive tours. Our tour lasted 7 days and cost us 700 $ for the 2 of us.

Day 1: We left our boat at anchor in the El Morro marina and took the bus to C.Bolivar in the morning, the afternoon and evening we visited the town and the view of the Orinicco river + night in a hotel.

Day 2: early Avensa flight (1way) to Canaima then bargained with local tour  operators in Canaima (you have to go with one): the most accommodating was Richard Chung of Kamaracoto Tours who gave us the best deal on his all inclusive 3 day-tour (48hours) for just the 3 of us (a backpacker joined us). Don't take the 1 day tour as you will rush to much, pay even more than for the 3 days and if it's rainy that day, you will have poor video opportunities! We really enjoyed Sapo falls and sleeping in hammocks is not as bad for the back as I tough it would be!

Day 4: mid-day Avensa flight (1way-reserve your seats on arrival in Canaima) to St. Elena de Uaren. There you find a room for the night and arrange a tour to Gran

Sabana: we took a guide with jeep for 2 days to explore most of the nice waterfalls along the road. We took our own food and camped in Indian settlements. How bigger the group you are, how lower will be your cost for the guide & jeep (we found another couple to go with us). At the end of the second day, we got off at MM88 late afternoon and got a bus from there to C.Guyana where we waited morning for a bus back to PLC.

We really went on a budget so you probably will spend more if you want more comfort. The trip was really worth it even if expensive because of plane tickets and necessity to hire tour guides. Too bad no roads lead to Canaima and no rental of camper vans to do Gran Sabana by yourself as the road is one of the best in Venezuela and you don't need a guide to find the falls!

 

ISLA TORTUGA: try night spearfishing and you may be surprised by how many Caribbean lobsters you may encounter!

 

LOS ROQUES: Easy entrance through Boca de Sebastopol and super nice sailing North to El Gran Roque with beautiful colors all along the way!

The check-in procedure is long since you have to visit 5 different offices, by luck, close to each other! Everybody was very nice; you pay all the dues at the Autoridad Uniqua at the airport on Gran Roques (50$ for us). Pay the 4$ extra per diver for the scuba permit (show dive card & logbook) as many very nice dives can be made. Ask special permission to the Park manager to dive in the south areas.

Best dive sites we found:

1) "la guassa", seamount about 300 ft NW off NW point of El Gran Roque. Visibility varies with currents!, plenty of schools of fish, big groupers, worth to film in video, short dinghy trip from anchorage off town, sometimes a little plastic jug is on top of it as a marker, scuba shop at anchorage can fill your tanks and tell you how to find the site.

2) reef & wall South side of Dos Mosquises. Visibility varies a lot with tides, lots of small fish & great variety of corals, very close from anchorage. Visit the turtle farm and ask the location of good dives to Raphael.

3) long wall at Vespen de la Salina (anchorage 11d45'-66d51'). Follow the outside edge of the barrier reef till you approach 11d44'80-66d52' then with good light weave your way through (plenty of water and space). From the anchorage you go by dinghy to dive anywhere along the South wall: plenty of fish & corals, good visibility, minimum currents, drop-off, some caverns (see m/v AntaresIII, live-aboard dive boat, for exact location).

4) Boca de Cote. If you go East along Cayo Sal (on the inside!) with good light above you, you can find your way (7ft min.) to the passage between Cayo Sal & Cayo Nube Verde to anchorage 11d46'-66d42'. Similar diving than #3 with more coral life but less fish life. If you have more than 7ft draft or don't like the attention needed to navigate between shallows and coral heads, you don't need to make it here as it's as nice

in #3.

You should enjoy the Roques as the islands and watercolors are so beautiful and you should be able to spend here around 3 weeks by checking in after taking a few days to Gran Roque and by waiting for a good wx window when in the west Roques. The line fishing is permitted and you can spearfish all you want later in the Aves!

 

LAS AVES: Even if the spearfishing isn't as easy as it used to be 20 yr.ago (according to other cruisers), with enough time in the water and a little skill, you should have no problems keeping your fridge full of fresh fish! Groupers, snappers, lobsters, ... keep looking, check other places less frequented by other hunters. Plenty of nice anchorages: amazing how you can be so  comfortable just behind breaking reefs!

If you like history, you may be interested to snorkel over anchors & ballast stones from the fleet of French pirates who met disaster on those reefs in the 17th cent. We found that the newspaper photos had been taken in 10 ft of water just on the outside of the barrier reef next to the big tanker wreck (North one of the 2) on the barrier reef of Sotavento. The Swan wreck mentioned in guides is no longer visible; supposedly some artifacts were there too but we didn't find anything!

A little note about disposing of your trash: don't try to burn glass, metal cans or other materials that do not burn! we burn paper and other inflammable materials on deserted islands close to the water edge so the ashes can disappear into the sea or be buried instead of leaving ugly fire pits full of non-burned trash on the islands! we dump glass & metal cans (without tops!) over deep water, far from shore and only let food waste overboard in the anchorage if it has a good water flow and isn't in front of an  inhabited area.

You can dive the wall of the South shore of Isla Larga, just off the Coast Guard station (after getting by VHF a temporary authorization to anchor off their beach, not a permissible anchorage as mentioned in Doyle).

 

BONAIRE: so hassle & theft free after Venezuela (even free check in/out)! Perfect place to scuba for novices and anyone who like easy conditions: moorings on all dive sites (for boats up to 38ft and dinghies), book describing dive sites, good visibility, no or very little current (90%  sites), pick your depth from 25ft and down, easy u/w navigation along walls, ... Your 10$ dive permit will be worth it and prices charged by

dive centers to go with them on dives are very reasonable compared to the rest of the Caribbean (Sand Dollar well organized and cater to cruisers)!

Our favorite dive sites were 4.bise morto, 9.rappel, 40.Hilma hooker wreck, 41. angel city, 57.red slaves (current!) N. forest, V.Carl's hill. If you want to do a wreck not part of the Park's official dive sites, try the 237'Windjammer wreck just off Bopec (145'+ deep). While here, we gave a full open water PADIcourse to the crew of "Teddy" (parents and 2 young daughters, even the 4 yr. old got to do a mini-experience!). Great place to learn scuba!

Since we were there in October, we participated to the Bonaire Regatta as the only multihull in the newly introduced cruiser's class. Despite the very amateurish organization and unfair handicaps, everyone had a lot of fun participating! Nice social life with weekly pot-luck at Harbor Village Marina (met SSCA "Andiamo", "Fenix", "Vixen" and many other nice cruisers) and the interesting "Port Call" free weekly paper published by the nice ex-Commodores George & Laura De Salvo. We rented a double-cab Toyota for 2 days with other cruisers and had a great time touring the island: plenty of video opportunities and good roads with clear markings leading you to lighthouses, caves, beaches and to the beautiful land park in the North; Bonaire in not only the u/w world! Beware in the anchorage of occasional wind reversal!

 

Keep in mind that you have an easy sail to CHICHIRIVICHE on the Venezuelan coast for provisioning fruits, vegetables, beer and gas at much better prices than in Bonaire. We did it for a week to avoid the wind reversal coming in Bonaire after the passage of hurricane George. No formal check-in is necessary, just have to see the port captain for a short stay before  going to Puerto Cabello. Nice anchorages and exploration in the Bahia de Cuare with Indian caves & religious site.

Keep in mind that the Moroccoy Park official user fee for foreign flag vessel is 84000 B$!

 

CURACAO: most boats never anchor anywhere else than in Spanish Waters! Get a (free) permit from the harbor master to anchor all along the coast and enjoy very good diving (even if conditions aren't as easy than in Bonaire). Make sure that you ask for every anchorage you may want to go because you will be checked (by either helicopter, big vessel or fast patrol boat running drug traffic surveillance!

Plenty of very nice anchorages like Fuikbaai, St. Michielsbaai (good place to hide if you wait for wx to calm before heading SE), Santa Marthabaai (in the lagoon completely protected in front of the dive center "Easy divers" run by the very nice Dutch couple Harry & Annelise, narrow entrance scary looking but with plenty of water to enter), Boka Santa Cruz, Grote Knip and West Punt (good departure point

for Aruba). Our favorite dive sites: 10. the cave (short dinghy trip from Boka Santa Cruz) and Punt Kanon (long dinghy trip from Fuikbaai possible only in calm seas). To find the spot at Punta Kanon, you go North of the lighthouse and keep it at a bearing of 180d and keep the far away NE point of Curacao at 330d. You will be a top of a ledge, follow it South at 50ft deep and you will run across a long cave (take a light, you just loose the sight of daylight when you reach the end of it), later follow the ledge again and then you will see a nice arch (with a school of tarpons resting?) and if you are lucky like we were you may see a manta ray swimming past!

When in Bonaire, it was tough to get parts to repair anything on board but don't believe the ones who will tell you that you can find everything in Curacao! Anything a little specialized has to come from the states and cost quite a lot by Fedex or air if you cannot wait the 2-3 weeks it will take to come by sea (sea Florida Express). In Spanish Waters you can get things from Imke (buy like you would from a mail order company: not much technical help, not much warranty on off the shelf items and bargain!) or recently from Capt. Jerry (affiliated with Budget Marine) who has more

technical expertise.

 

ARUBA: even that you have to go at the dock to check-in and out (no big deal and no fees!) Aruba is a nice island to visit even if some complain that it has that Disney look. Good anchorages in front of the runway (plenty of wind and they don't fly at night!) or at Palm Beach quite away from the shore. If you rent a car, you can visit the island in less than a day with many nice sights also. If you like provisioning in huge, clean, well stocked supermarkets at slightly better prices than in Curacao or if you enjoy night life (casinos, expensive restaurants) you will also be glad you stopped in Aruba (met a few boats been there for many months or even yrs!)

From there you get the shortest trip to Carthagena or the San Blas.

 

SAN BLAS: After waiting for a wx window for a week in Aruba, Herb (on Southbound2 on 12359 USB from 1930Z till over 2300Z) finally got us going. Perfect conditions (E-NE winds 10-15kts) got us in comfort with only about 20 hours of motoring from Aruba to Punta Escoces in the San Blas (average 6 kts.); after hearing the loss of some boats due to bad wx and of other complaining that they had to motor for more than 2 days, it wasn't a bad trip at all!

The Eastern San Blas don't seem to be visited much (except maybe by French and other European sailors!). Don't let the warnings about poor charting of the area intimidate you! With the cruising guides available and sailing only in good light, you will do fine and see another side of the San Blas.

Punta Escoces makes a perfect landfall, with friendly natives in a work camp away from the village (10$ fee negotiated for 5$ + regalo).

Isla Pinos: very aggressive "saila" about collecting his 5$ fee before we could make another step in the village; no diving or fishing allowed; no photography

Bahia de Masargandi: no village, no fees, calm anchorage, nice long river trip

Mamitupu: very traditional village, very strict control of villagers, (6$ fee), no photo, no fishing, no river visiting, meet Pablo (friendly guy who has lived 6 yr. in England)

Ailigandi: very open spirit (what a difference with Mamitupu!), 5$fee, photo possible after asking the "saila", fishing OK

Nargana: nice protected anchorage, no fee, post office (register mail taking only 1 week to Europe!)

East Hollandes cays: plenty of good anchorages, we were more than 40 boats around for Xmas and new year and didn't feel overcrowded; nice islands to organize bbq and pot-luck with no mosquitoes; 5$ fee to Kunas; the best spearfishing of the San Blas (but that's not saying much!) but I did get a 53 lb. grouper with my small speargun!); had good locations for our Padi  diving courses.

West Hollandes: rolly, not as nice as East Hollandes.

Coco Bandero Cays: better anchorage on west side but more scenic on east side, good snorkeling.

Mangle Channel Islands: well protected anchorage, nice coral reefs, good for night diving.

Los Gruellos Cays "Kwanadup island": nice little Kuna run hotel/restaurant; scuba on the wooden sailboat wreck in front of resort (white buoy); don't tie to the other mooring as it is very light.

Rio Ciedra: get a local guide to take you to the cascade and pool on the Masarganti river; you will get some river trip in your dinghy followed by about 1 hour walking to the cascade and pool where old stories mentioned a Sirena.

Eastern Lemon Cays: nice wall diving on reef 1/2 mile east of Nuinudup (right on the '30' on p66 chartlet in the green guide), drops to 130 ft with nice corals if few fish.

 

In general: if you can get by with Spanish you will have no problems communicating with the Kunas (especially young ones); most villages have now phone booths that let you access ATT direct- dial 109; still possible to trade crabs & lobsters for kitchenware ,alcohol & tobacco; the San Blas are changing fast but they are still unique in the Caribbean!

 

Passage from San Blas to Colon: we left the Lemon Cays in strong NE winds after it was already blowing for 10 days (early Feb.) and went non-stop to Isla Linton. In some guides, you will hear about Playa Chiquita as a protected anchorage! Do not even think about it in strong NE swells as we got 10ft steep swells broadside trying to come in and as it didn't seem too calm inside, we quickly turned around, raised our sails again and continued to Isla Linton (we later heard from 2 boats who broke plenty of things while they were at anchor there, in a washing machine motion that

precluded any sleep at night!

Isla Grande: windy and not too protected anchorage in N, NE seas; island interesting to visit for its restaurants and touristic ambiance so different after spending over 2 months in the San Blas!

Isla Linton: slightly rolly but good protection; the dinghy trip through the mangrove channel going West along the mainland is interesting (along South side of Isla Palina - p48 chartlet green guide); no activities anymore on Isla Linton and watch out for the wild monkeys there who attack and bite your dog when you go for a walk.

Puertobelo: very nice anchorage only open to the West; visit the forts; nice view and plenty of room to anchor in mud bottom 5 to 30 feet area; bus every 30 min. to Colon; groceries available.

 

Good winds from the direction you wish them from, secure anchorages & great diving to all of you! Next letter we will let you know about the S.Pacific!

 

Commodores Luc Callebaut & Jackie Lee (and Zoetje)