AVES DE SOTAVENTO
On July 12 we moved west 20 miles to the other
Aves: Aves de Sotavento. This time, instead of catching
a booby, we caught a small-but-worth-keeping blackfin
tuna. We initially squeezed between Isla Palmeras and
Isla Ramon. The next day we pulled anchor and wound
our way past the clearly visible coral shoals over to a
spot just behind the thin continuous line of coral reef
that marks the northeast border of Sotavento. We
stayed there three days, taking the dinghy to nearby
and not-so-nearby coral shoals, where we snorkeled the
edges that fell off to deep water.
Other than the few Venezuelan fishermen moving
about in pirogues and a solitary Venezuelan trawler that
apparently hangs about and collects the catches of the
pirogues (for transport to Venezuela and Aruba and
who knows where), there were few vessels to be seen
during our stay in the Aves. This is truly a wild and
distant destination. We saw a few sailboats way off in
the distance, anchored briefly at one or another of the
other small, low islands of the Aves, and an occasional
sportfisher. Then a pirogue came by containing two
fishermen and—oops—one of the staff from the
Guarda Costa station on Isla Larga, the largest and
Cruising Venezuela
southern-most island of Sotavento. Ironic, because we
had already decided to leave the offshore islands two
days hence; supplies were running low and we were
getting anxious to be in Bonaire for its superb scuba
diving. We promised to go to Isla Larga the next
morning for our inspections, and they all left happy: the
fishermen because they had sold us a large snapper and
the coastie because he had done his duty.
The next day we had a painless inspection at Isla
Larga during which five officials came aboard. We
announced that we were leaving the next day, so the
length of stay we would have been allowed was not
discussed.
The next morning, July 17, one month to the day
after we entered Venezuelan waters, we left the Aves for
Bonaire. After leaving the Margarita area, we had been
in safe and secluded waters teaming with fish, we had
been on deserted and sparsely populated islands hosting
vast numbers of interesting and photogenic birds, we
had found ourselves in the middle of a joyful boat-centered celebration of a holiday, and we had
interacted with the friendly and beneficent fishermen
scraping out a living in the area. Not a bad way to spend
a month.
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