La Blanquilla

We spoilt ourselves this morning with a big cooked breakfast, Bob had bacon, sausage, mushroom and eggs, and Danni and I had scrambled eggs, grilled tomatoes and smoked salmon. We ate up on deck while admiring the beauty surrounding us. I've never seen water this color, or so clear. After breakfast Bob and Danni went ashore for a hike, I stayed to do laundry and cleaning. The national guard said they would pay us a visit today, but I don't actually expect them, they often say they are coming out and they rarely do. I sat under the shade of the bimini and repaired our frayed flag as best I could. As expected both Bob and Danni got pricked by cactus while hiking. Flowering cactus grow everywhere on the island, they're beautiful to look at, but quickly lose their appeal when one embeds its spines into you.
I made a delicious saffron shrimp risotto for lunch, then we all took a luxurious afternoon nap before venturing ashore again to snorkel. Danni stayed on board to rest, saying she had, had enough sun for one day. While we were walking the beach we met a couple from Le Phare Bleu, and Andi, a lady Danni met yesterday with her husband Roger they were also making their way across to the ABC islands. The snorkeling here in La Blanquilla is fantastic, I have never seen so many amazing fish in such large numbers. I collected some more beautiful shells from the beach, my collection is growing fast.
We were all so full from lunch I made a simple cheese plate for supper, Bob repaired the fishing pole, and I remade my necklace using fishing line and added some of the smaller shells I had collected today on the beach.

Los Testigos to La Blanquilla

After three glorious days in Los Testigos, it was once again time to move on.
Monday 18th August
The alarm woke us at 1am, and by 1:30 we were underway. We had a full moon, and flat seas, unfortunately no wind, so we were once again forced to motor. The trip took us 12 hours, and we arrived a little after 1pm. It had been quite an unpleasant trip as the boat was rolling and pitching for the entire leg. Both Danni and I were nauseous on and off for most of the journey. Our first land sighting was of Isle Margarita way off port side, just a faint outline on the horizon. The next land we spotted were the Los Hermanos Rocks, the highest point being 600 feet high, and easily spotted from a long way off. They lie just 6 miles east of La Blanquilla, which in contrast is a low laying island, only 50 feet at the highest point. La Blanquilla is a 72 sq mile limestone island, shaped like an arrowhead. The island is 60 miles north of Juan Griego, and 70 miles northwest of Porlamar, Isle Margarita.
La Blanquilla is the home of Venezuelan wall diving, sitting as it does on the edge of a deep open trench. The wall starts just 65 feet off shore and plummets straight down more than 3000 feet. The walls are famous for the magnificent black coral found there. Black coral is becoming increasingly rare and difficult to find throughout the world.
We arrived at the bay Playa Falucho close to the national guard, where we had to check in. We made 3 attempts to anchor unsuccessfully, we just couldn't get it to set. We decided to move around to the next bay and try there, but the national guard must have been watching us as they came running out waving their arms, we tried to contact them on the vhf, but they spoke no English and we spoke no Spanish, so you can imagine the conversation. So Danni and Bob got in the dinghy and went ashore while I motored around the bay waiting for them.
After customs we moved on to Playa Yaque, and anchored off a really beautiful beach, the water was crystal clear deepening off shore to aquamarine before darkening to the deepest blue. The visibility must have been about 30 - 40 feet, you could see clear to the sea bed beneath us. The sea bed is a mix of sand and coral, some of the coral heads lay only inches below the surface of the water, so you have to be extremely careful while looking for a safe anchorage. There were 4 other sail boats anchored in the bay when we arrived. After lunch we went ashore to snorkel off the beach, and saw a huge variety of fish, among them; a brown spotted trunkfish, an enormous puffer fish, large (1 - 2ft) yellow and blue trumpet fish, enormous colorful parrotfish, a French angelfish, many different butterfly fishes and so on, too many to mention, it was spectacular, but what was really amazing was the sheer number of fish, we were literally swimming through shoals and shoals of them. The fish showed no fear and inquisitively swam up to our masks peering at us as we swam through them. Fortunately Bob had is underwater camera with him so we got a couple of great shots.
Later back on board we sipped our cocktails as we watched the most amazing sunset. This place truly is a real little corner of Paradise, a jewel, only to be enjoyed by the very fortunate. Access to the island is by private yacht or small plane as there is a small landing strip on the island.