Venezuela: now the fun starts! Any yachtsman who’s dreamed of venturing away from England’s green and pleasant land will have heard of Venezuela’s reputation for piracy, theft and general mayhem. As we progressed further down the benign Leeward and Windward islands we were increasingly asked were we going to Venezuela, if so were we going with a ‘buddy’, were we armed, would we lock ourselves in at night etc but as is so often the case all the hype is generated by those who have the least experience and so after a lovely sail from Trinidad to Los Testigos – a dry and rocky set if islets belonging to Venezuela, about 100 miles off the mainland coast and inhabited by a handful of subsistence-living fishermen – we could not have had a warmer welcome from the teenage-looking guarda costa who ‘protect’ this guano strewn archipelago from all comers. After a cursory glance at our papers he emerged from a back room with a glass of iced tea and we chatted for the next ½ hour about life. The Testigos were beautiful, very peaceful after the bussle of Trinidad and we had the feeling for the first time of really going off the beaten track. From there we sailed to Margarita, the main Venezuelan holiday isle, home of exceptionally cheap duty free booze (and thus home to a fair few dipso-liveaboards) where we rolled in Porlamar before heading off down to Puerto La Cruz, the centre of yachting in Venezuela.
Date(s): July / August 2006. Album by Gerard Coulson. Photos by Gerard Coulson. 1 - 17 of 17 Total. 2772 Visits.
