Isla Carenero,
Los Roques,

Venezuela
11.53.111N
66.50.697W

The first water taxi came roaring passed us at 6:30am this morning; so much for the weekend traffic idea.

Since we were up, Dale and I lowered the dinghy and started our day with a little ride around the Francisquis anchorage and into the inner anchorage beyond. Both were surrounded by beautiful white sand beaches already sporting the occasional brightly colored sun umbrella in the morning sun.

We returned to the Palace, hoisted the dinghy into the davits, lifted our anchor and made our way to El Gran Roque, where there was a little village that housed the GuardiaCoasta, the Guardia Nacional, Inparques and Autoridad Unica. We anchored in 10’ of water on a the shelf that extends a little way from the beach before dropping off into 100’s of feet of water. Our guide book directed that visiting yachts were to check in immediately with each of the authorities and we anticipated that each one would have their own fees. However, after much consternation as to what to do with the “transitoes,” they waved us off and we didn’t have to pay anything. Dale and Gerry, not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, made a hasty return to their respective boats, where once again, we lifted our anchors and made our way to another little island called Isla Carenero about 11 miles away.

Just as we were starting to round the island to enter into its anchorage, our chart plotter lost its satellite signal. I got it back for a second and then lost it again. Dale was already on the bow directing us around the various shallow spots, so it really didn’t matter today. I tried turning the chart plotter off, then on a couple of times and at least got the chart portion to work but it still wouldn’t connect to the satellite.

We anchored in 25’ and once we were secured, Dale went below and turned everything off and then back on and finally it reset itself and it worked as normal.

Due to its reliability, we’ve become lax in what had been our habit of writing down our longitude, latitude, heading and course over ground every couple of hours when under way. This was a reminder that there is a reason for doing things the old fashioned way and I will dig out our little book in which we wrote down this information so that we can start doing it again. (Not to worry Mom, we have 2 other GPSs that will give us the information to plot our course on paper charts, if needed).

After we settled in, Gerry & Nicky dropped their dinghy into the water and came by to pick us up for a little exploring to get the lay of the land. This island is more mangrove with pelicans, terns, and other fowl. Gerry told us that the water was very clear when he dove on his anchor, so we’ll be checking out the nearest reefs tomorrow. I’d also like to explore the inlet we passed coming into this anchorage. As it was upwind and would be a very wet ride, we put it off today as the O.P. Duck took on water with all of us in it and headed into the waves.

Dinner was on Orpailleur this evening. Gerry grilled steaks and Nicky added potatoes and salad. We took brownies with cream cheese filling for dessert. It’s a quiet little anchorage, so after a wonderful meal, we’re all looking forward to a good night’s rest.