More Los Roques...

Saturday 23rd August
I didn’t get much sleep last night; the insect bites all over my body were driving me insane. Thank goodness for the mosquito net over the bed at least I was safe from further attack through the night. As soon as I left the bedroom to make coffee I was bitten again, OH dear God, am I destined to become mosquito buffet?

In her consistent effort to exercise daily and keep fit Daniela swam off the boat to shore and back again several times, we’re anchored about 500 yards off shore so it was a fair amount of exercise. The water is turquoise in color, clean and inviting. We had a large Boxfish swimming around the boat which we were able to watch clearly as once again there was no breeze, so the water was still and clear as looking through glass.

We motored back across the Gran Roques this afternoon, navigating our way precariously through the shallow waters, at times we only had 1 – 2 feet under the boat. I stood on the bow helping Bob navigate through the passage, the sun was blisteringly hot, and with no breeze to cool us we were burning up, the temperature was stifling. Once safely anchored in the bay Bob went ashore to check us out.

When he returned we took the dinghy ashore to the far end of the village and walked. The houses were built in a Spanish style, solidly built in stone, and painted in bright cheerful colors; with pretty inner courtyards full of colorful flowering plants and trees. All the houses had beautiful intricately carved wooden doors and shutters, which added to the beauty of the little dwellings. The streets are sand, and there are no cars on the island. The beach was very busy with all the locals and tourists returning from their day outings. All along the beach there were restaurants with tables spilling out onto the sand almost to the shore. The atmosphere was one of a relaxed latent Latin carnival.