Cayo Herraduro,
LaTortuga,
Venezuela
10.59.596N
65.22.790W

Last night was another of those where you wish you had seat belts installed in your bed; and we weren’t even under way. So this morning it was unanimous that we’d move to another anchorage. We didn’t even dink around the anchorage to look at the air field or surrounding beach.

Instead, we lifted our anchors and moved 11 miles down the main island of Tortuga to a smaller one called Cayo Herraduro or Horseshoe Cay. Once we were behind the protective reefs, it was like finding a bit of heaven. One other boat was anchored behind the little island with its own lighthouse.

We cautiously made our way into the center of the shallow water and dropped our anchors in 9’ of water. The water was a beautiful turquoise color. As soon as we could, we jumped in to check out the local life. There were red star fish, tube worms, sea cucumbers, a snake, various small fish and one irate little worm attacking our anchor. We were rather disappointed that the water was still murky but the calm waters and serene view made it one of those special places that we’ll always remember.

After Dale replaced a hinge on our companionway door, we lowered the dink and checked out the island by putt putting the length of it. There were a few fishing shacks that had little Catholic shrines for each one at one end and a faded red and white lighthouse in the middle. We made our way to the opposite end and got out for a walk along the two beaches that came together. The beach that ran along the inside of the cay was composed of a sugary white sand, while the beach on the windward side was a more coarse grain. They came together at the end where we had landed our dinghy. We donned our snorkel gear and headed in again to check out the reefs on the inside.

The coral wasn’t as colorful as we’ve seen in other places and again, we were disappointed in the lack of clarity in the water but there was an abundance of reef fish and 2 particularly large porcupine fish that I chased with a camera for a while. In fact all of the fish seemed to be larger specimens of the reef fish we’ve seen so for.

We had dinner on Orpailleur this evening and we all agreed that we should have skipped Blanquilla and come straight here. There’s something magical about this place and by sundown 2 other boats had made their way into the anchorage to share in the magic. Or get a decent night’s rest.

Photo of shrine from the camera of Orpailleur.