Los Testigos At Last!

We made the trip from Grenada to Los Testigos in just over 13 hours, not exactly record time, but it had been a pleasant trip.
The islands of Los Testigos are located 45 miles Northeast of Juan Griego in Margarita, and are the most remote of the Venezuelan islands, inhabited by a small group of interconnected families, around 160 people in all, who jealously protect the rich bounty of their islands. The islands are blessed with enormous sand dunes, gorgeous unspoilt beaches, and an abundance of marine life and lobsters. There is only one way to get here and that's by private boat. There are no ferries, airports or cruise ships, consequently the islands remain natural and totally unspoilt, for this reason Los Testigos is my favorite place in the Caribbean. They are the first islands to benefit from the Orinoco Delta run off and are awash in open ocean swells and current.
We caught sight of some fishermen, in very colorfully painted boats with enormous high pointed bows. There were many of these boats doted along the shore. The palm fringed pearly white sandy beach with small brightly painted wooden buildings that lay in a line behind the beach. Apart from the palms, the islands appeared very dry, lots of varieties of cactus, scrub, conifer type trees and bushes covered the interior. The rocky outcrops were swarming with the local birds, Pelicans, Boobies and Frigates.
Bob went across to the coast guard station with Rene and Kris, a couple of guys on the other boats that we sailed with, to check in. After customs we all motored across to one of the neighboring islands where we all anchored together. Daniela and Bob went for a swim around the boat to cool off. The water here is unusual in as much as it's color, its green, its very clear and clean but because of the thick vegetation covering the sea bed the water appears very dark. The vegetation is due to the run off from the Venezuelan river Orinoco. In the evening we all went across to Gypsy Blues for cocktails where we met the other members of the fleet. We returned to Daisy later for me to cook dinner, I made a frittata and green salad. Our only disappointment today was the discovery that our satellite phone would not allow us to call out, we still have the ssb (single sideband radio) and the vhf. Hopefully we'll get it fixed tomorrow.