Bonaire to Aves de Sotavento

Thursday 11th September

Bob went ashore at 8am to clear customs and immigration; we set sail as soon as he returned. We had a reasonable crossing but not good wind, so we were unable to set the sails. We arrived at Aves De Sotovento around 5pm, and dropped anchor alongside one of the tiny islands.

These islands are all very small, and extremely remote, there’s mature mangroves and scrub, but not much more in the way of vegetation. No inhabitants other than a small Coast Guard station, and a handful of fishermen that live there for about three months of the year. The tiny islands are absolutely covered with mounds of thousands of conch shells left by the fishermen; this area is rich in King Conch, as all the empty shells demonstrated.

Las Aves Archipelago is comprised of two reefs known as the Windward and Leeward Aves. They are located between Los Roques to the East and Bonaire to the West.
The name of the islands derives from the numerous birds that either live or migrate there. The Aves are well known as a bird sanctuary. Las Aves translates to “The Birds” in English.

The Aves are also very famous for shipwrecks, one of the most famous being a fleet of 15 French warships intercepted by the Dutch on their way to attack Curacao in 1678.
I tried to find out as much as I could about these islands before we started our trip, but it appears that not a great deal has been written about them, so I had to rely mainly on blogs written by previous visitors.

I can’t wait till tomorrow to go snorkeling and explore the tiny islands.

If anyone reading this knows where I could get anymore information on The Aves, please let me know, Thanks.