On to Los Roques

After making pasta for dinner (decided that is the meal for an overnight passage!), we actually sailed off the anchor around 6 p.m. from Cayo Herradura. This is only the second time we've sailed off the anchor - the first time was last year, leaving Coche, with no motor!! At least this time I knew I had a backup. Did well, except Dennis told me I really shouldn't put the jib up when he's on the bow, unless I wanted him swept overboard. Gee, and I thought I was doing so well by myself. And, hmmmm, have to think about that one!

A fantastic sail with 10-15 knots of wind and 2 foot seas, doing anywhere between 5 and 6 knots ... until about 3 a.m. when the wind totally died and the seas got a little bigger and just tossed us around. I kept trying to head off and head off, and then we started getting into the restricted area around the naval island, so gave up, lowered the jib and motorsailed downwind. Yuck! And why is it the bizarre sightings are always on my watch? Kept watching these lights that I couldn't figure out, even with the binoculars. Turned out to be a cruise ship, just sitting there. Maybe waiting to go into Caracas in the morning???

Motorsailed through the entrance at Boca de Sebastopol just after 9 a.m., weaving our way in and out of the reefs and anchoring at Soyoqui around 10:30 a.m. The big difference for us this time is that we now have a 15 hp dinghy motor instead of the 5 hp we had the last time. This means we can go much farther distances and exploring has been great. Went out near the wreck and did some snorkelling. We love it here. The reefs are alive and there's tons of fish! No lobster, unfortunately, but the views are great. I miss my underwater camera (yes, it's toast!). Spent 2 days here at Soyoqui, in solitude, and loved it. Dennis did some fishing and caught more Rock Hinds and snapper. The new rule is, he's allowed to fish, but can't keep anything that can't be put on the bbq. No more small fish to be panfried. I'm holding out for tuna and wahoo or a large snapper.

Left Soyoqui on Friday and sailed over to Crasqui. What a beautiful island. The beach is amazing. It's the weekend and all the big power boats came over from the mainland, set up their tents and partied away. I love swimming off the beach here, but off the boat is another story. There's a million fish and birds, and it seems every time we get in the water the birds are circling the fish that are feeding ... and heading our way! I got pretty good at climbing the anchor chain! Taylour would be so proud of me!!

Pulled up anchor early Sunday morning to head over to Sarqui. There were three other boats here, so we anchored out by the reef. By the time I made pancakes for breakfast and cleaned up, they'd all left and we could have been much closer to the beach. Not worth re-anchoring though. Did our exploring again (been here before) and walked around Sarqui and Espenqui. Decided we'd head out to Cayo do Agua tomorrow because the snorkelling there is amazing, and with the 15 hp we can dinghy over to Elbert Cay and Becqeve instead of taking the big boat there.

Might be in Bonaire earlier than we thought originally! ~~_/)~~