Archiv
CW 45 2002
27.10. - 02.11.2002
| All in all it wasn't exactly a quiet night, from Saturday to Sunday.
Silver Blue is still well protected, lying at before beach. But, in the
night, a strong sideways swell came up and it is rocking Silver Blue around
quite a bit. But the yacht "Julia" must have been rocked around
even more. A boat with only one hull simply does get rocked around even
more. They couldn't sleep all night and so they already leave, passing
me, at 10 am in the morning, quite unnerved, looking for a quieter place.
I follow them a little later and we both find a wonderful place in the emerald coloured waters of the "Americano Bay" |
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The bay was named after an American who opened a small restaurant here,
but that has been abandoned for years now. So the only inhabitants are the beautiful, colourful fish swimming in the clear water, seabirds that are pleasant to watch and curious crabs of impressive size. This Sunday ends in a relaxed way, with a cool Polar in "Julia's" cockpit. |
Originally we'd wanted to go diving here on Monday, but that didn't work
out. On Monday the swell also pushes into here and since the bay is rather
narrow, enclosed on the sides by rocks, within no time you get the feeling
of being in a washing machine in here. So we quickly get out again and go
to find a new place. "Julia" is motoring along in front of me when
she suddenly stops. One of the transmissions hydraulic pipes burst and she's
not moving any more, neither backwards nor forwards. I manoeuvre Silver Blue
close to her, Erich tosses a rope across and I tow them into another beautiful
bay. We drop anchor and of course Erich immediately gets started with the
repairs and after a few hours everything is ok again.
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Our anchoring spot is nice and protected and the beach marvellous (right
image). There are also a few uninhabited fishermen's camps on the beach
and in one of them I find a fireplace and wood is already there as well.
Well, so I barbeque the tasty sausages I bought in Margarita for myself.
Hmmm, they do taste good, even if there's a grinding sound between my
teeth now and again …
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The coastguard that passes by also laughs at our attempt. The guys aim straight for Silver Blue - they must have liked it here the last time. They ask for some water for the dog they have with them. And they themselves also gladly accept some cool "water" and stay to chat for almost an hour. |
And guess what? As soon as the boys gave me a friendly handshake and good-bye,
Erich comes along to proudly announce that he has caught 8 fish. Great! He
takes off to prepare the fish and I quickly bake a bread to go with it. In
Margarita I found a flour that already contains yeast. It's called Leudante
and with a little water, salt and oil one can quickly and easily bake a flat,
tasty bread in a frying pan.
I also bring a bottle of cool Pinot Griego and we celebrate a proper farewell-dinner
on the beach.
At 8am on Thursday I weigh anchor destined for the west coast of Margarita.
Still very close to Blanquilla I spot a fountain in the water and as I look
again through my binoculars I can see a huge wale. As I get closer (he seems
to be waiting for me), I'm not so sure any more, what the thing I'm so very
close to is. It is about 8-10 m long, black, with its fin and head shaped
like a sharks, but with a hole for breathing, just like a wale. Maybe a killer
wale? Anyway, it watches me curiously for a while and then slowly dives down.
Very impressive! I even forgot to take a picture.
This day seems to hold plenty of adventures: only two hours later a large
freighter crosses Silver Blues path again. Isn't it strange? Same as the first
time, I only meet one boat, and again we're on collision courses. I'm sailing
whole wind and don't want to slow down to pass the freighters bow. I find
that too dangerous so I consider turning Silver Blue out of the wind to let
the freighter pass, even though I have the right of way. But the freighter's
already visibly changing its course towards starboard, passing my stern. Very
considerate, and according to the book. I thank him politely and we go our
separate ways.
Today the distance just melts away again; the 60 miles are covered in 7 hours,
which really makes me happy. So the anchor already drops in the early afternoon,
on the west coast of Margarita, in front of the town Robledal. Using the dinghy
I quickly go ashore to buy some fresh bread. The town is very traditional,
no tourist accommodations, and the people are very friendly. But not all of
them! And therefore this day ends with an ugly surprise, after dinner in the
only and rather rudimentary restaurant. My outboard engine is gone. Of course
it was attached to the dinghy, but apparently it was removed without tools,
using a stone. Lots of locals assist me with clever advice, but even involving
the Guardia National doesn't really help much. So I paddle back to Silver
Blue, slightly frustrated. Well, at least they left me the dinghy. Another
contact with the Guardia National in the morning, via radio, doesn't shed
much light either.
| But maybe I should mention that I was relatively lucky. The next morning I speak to my ship-neighbour, the "Spirit of Sindbad" (we're the only ones here). She somehow looks quite ruffled, with an emergency rig set and a huge dent in her hull. BILD His outboard engine was also stolen from this beach, but while he was bringing a heavily injured member of his crew ashore and to hospital. A Korean fishing trawler had hit his ship about 100 nautical miles from here, and apparently done so intentionally, since it didn't slow down, even after the collision, but continued and turned the "Spirit of Sindbad" over. That's when her rig was badly damaged, the interior and electronic devises destroyed and a member of the crew badly injured. |  |
And this is already the second time I've been told about a similar incident.
In Trinidad I already heard about a catamaran that was de-masted by a Korean
fish trawler in French Guyana. I hope that insane Korean gets caught soon.
I ask the skipper of the "Spirit of Sindbad" if there's anything
I can do for him, but since he'll have to stay here now he only asks for a
bottle of rum. Of course I bring him one and around noon I make my way to
Boca del Rio, situated picturesquely in front of a mangrove lagoon.
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This place is beautiful to look at, with colourful houses, lots of small
shops and a good fish restaurant, loudly calling my name. And of course
I can't resist. Yes, and on Saturday I return to Porlamar whose skyline (there's really one sky-scraper next to the other here) welcomes me back around noon. Now I need to clean up a little, exchange the latest rumours with the well represented sailors' community (I'm counting 70 ships) and relax a little. After all, this Saturday night is still young … … and what happened from Sunday onwards; you can read all about that next week, here, if you like. |
Until then, take care
TOM
