On route to Los Testigos

Friday 16th July

Location: On route to Los Testigos, Eastern Venezuela

We left Bequia at 7pm last night to set sail for Los Testigos, 140 miles southwest, it would be a long sail but the weather looked favorable, and it would mean we could make up for the time we had lost.
Thankfully we had quiet seas, and an average 15 knots of wind making the sail very pleasant. 25 miles from Los Testigos we got our first glimpse of the islands ahead, and the coastline of Venezuela off the port side.
The closer you get to the islands the more prevalent the birds become, particularly the frigate birds who have a colony on Isle Noreste, one of Los Testigos small outer islands. The frigates swarm around the island like bees around a hive, thousands of them; it’s an incredible sight.
The leg from Bequia had taken us 19 hours; we dropped anchor at Isla Iguana at 2pm, and Bob and Edi went across to the coast guard, there are no customs on Los Testigos, but you are expected to advise them of your arrival. Isla Iguana has a small, picturesque little village with fishing boats pulled up all along the beach. I watch the fishermen pull into the bay with their morning’s catch closely followed overhead by a flock of frigate birds, swarming around the little boat. After lunch we moved the boat around to Playa Real (Royal Beach) on the northwestern tip of Testigo Grande, dropped anchor and went ashore.
There are just two inhabited little ramshackle buildings in this bay, with a couple of small fishing boats pulled up on the beach in front of them. The beach is very pretty, but often busy with Venezuelan fishing boats. We swam in the clear warm water and walked along the beautiful beach before returning to Daisy for cocktails and dinner, we were all so tired after such a long sail, but we are finally back on track with our schedule, all we need now is for the weather to hold. Already I feel how much warmer it is here, and will get warmer still as we progress across the island chain. I love these beautiful islands, I really wish we could stay a few days and just relax, OH well, it is what it is!