Aves de Sotovento

June 25, 2011

Aves de Sotovento

N 12 01,431 W67 40,713 2.5m in sand

The 20 mile sail to Sotovento was motor sail in very light winds and we anchored between Islas Palmeras and Ramón. Wind shifts were predicted so we chose this more protected anchor place. The regular weather option would have been west of Isla Palmeras with a beautiful small beach for landing.

The Guarda Costa came to book us in, a quick painless affair with good information of where to anchor and what to do(or not).The Captain Charlie pointed out the mountains of conch shells and ask please not to abuse the conch like has been done before!

Snorkelling right off the boat was impressive , we saw lots of fish and Christmas tree worms. This “worms” is a colourfull little tree about 2 inches high that disappear instantly when you touch it.

This was also the first time I saw conch spoor. I could track a conch , the only problem I could not figure out what direction it was going , by trail and error I sorted this.

Soon we will be parting ways with Yapa as they are going on to Bonaire-Curacao and we are returning to mainland.

The second night Yapa invited us for a farewell dinner.

This was a dinner to remember, the menu was exquisite French cuisine : Duck ( confit de canard ) with lentils and rice, the dessert (no eggs) chocolate cake and the wine very good Champagne and Chilean red.

This dinner was the cherry on top (translation of Yapa) of our time together with Hicham,Clarisse and Marwan.

We have been sailing together for two months and we will remember this time forever, for fishing competitions (they won), smoking and BBQ fish on the beach, spear fishing from Yapa dingy, but most of all for the delightful meals we had together.

The next day we moved to Isla Larga.

N 12 02,672 W67 40,706 3m in sand

This is another beautiful island with good snorkelling close by and easy to leave at night. Which we did at 02h00 for Chichiriviche, the same time Yapa left for Bonaire.