Los Testigos

We leave Grenada at midnight. The moon is up and the sky is glittering with stars. Sailing at night can be beautiful. We set our course, turn on the autopilot, radar and begin negotiations for who will sleep first and who will take the first watch. Thanks Steve.


Early the next morning we discover a stow away. He is as sleepy as we are and has no intentions of leaving. OK with us.

We arrive at Los Testigos (Witness Islands) early in the morning. There are 6 small islands here with numerous rocks scattered around. Our electronic map is not accurate and there is a crazy current running between the islands. Fortunately our guide book has great detail on how to approach the main anchorage.

The sky is full of birds. They are diving and swooping for breakfast while keeping a close eye on us. To their disappointment we are not fishing. The poles are put away for the day.
As we come around to the main island we are greeted by a fleet of decorated boats. Is this our greeting committee?
It is a holiday celebrating the Virgen del Valle. Since there are no airports on this island, friends and family have arrived from the mainland via boat.
These islands are all about boats. They love their boats. They love to go fast in their boats and showing off to visiting yachts. Put on a life jacket please!!
We are anchored with a few other boats. We are taking a much deserved rest after our night-long-passage. Loud music infiltrates our foggy brains. We look and see an entire fleet bearing down on us. We are in a panic. Do we pick up our anchor and move? Are they going to go around us? Is this the navy? Have we broken some wierd Venezuelan law? Ha Ha, they come close but only to wave, dance and yell the name of our boat.."Fine Line, Fine Line, Fine Line"...ha ha ha ha. OK, back to sleep.

Approximately 160 people live on these islands full time. But now there are people everywhere. Tents line the shore.
Everywhere you look there are people having a good time making due with very little. There are no stores but there is no shortage of beer, rum and delicious empanadas.... and creative housing "island style".
Los Testigos are known for their fishing, beautiful water, beaches and sand dunes.

We hike up a very steep sand dune and on the other side of the island we find a beautiful beach.
And we find wild animals.
Steve can't resist. He rides this beast with wild abandon and walks away a proud man. He didn't get tossed, no sir, not this captain.
We are on our way back. The sand is hot hot hot. You can't wear shoes, it is too soft. You gotta run for it
Anne may be old but turn on the heat under her feet and well.... see for yourself. Adios muchachos.
Back on the boat we are continually buzzed by locals. They wave, stop to say "hi", practice some English and laugh at our pathetic attempts to speak Spanish.
We move our boat to a more secluded anchorage. We need some peace and quiet. There are no other boats here and for a good reason...the water is full of these creepy jelly fish
We decide we have had enough fun here is Los Testigos. Time to leave and head to Blanquilla. 90 miles west is our next stop. In order to arrive during daylight hours we must depart Los Testigos around 3am. We enjoy a great dinner and beautiful sunset and then it is time for some sleep.
The next day we are delighted by some great company

We have two lines out trolling for fish. The birds won't leave us alone. Sadly we catch more than one bird and decided to retire the fishing poles.
The dolphins come and go. They make us smile.

Check it out.

See you in Blanquilla,


Anne and Steve
S/V Fine Line

Going West: A Brief Note

We leave Grenada at midnight. We begin our trip west. It is hard to say goodbye to all our good friends and the comfort and conveniences of this island. We are sailing west through the out islands of Venezuela: Los Testigos, Blanquilla, Los Roques, Los Aves then on to Bonaire and Curacao.
But it is adventure we are after. And adventure we find. Since we have found internet in a small restaurant on the island of Grand Roque, we will give you a glimpse of our journey. But stay tuned for the entire story once we reach Bonaire in mid-October.

Find out if Captain Clean can stay on this wild bucking rhinoceros???

Who is chasing Anne and why?

Is this a greeting committee or has Hugo sent the navy after us?

See you in Bonaire.

Anne and Steve
S/V Fine Line

A Detour South

Grenada is home-away-from-home for us. We spent 4 months here last year during hurricane season. We know how to ride the bus, we have lots of friends here, the water is great for swimming, and there is no shortage of restaurants and bars. We drop our anchor in our favorite bay and plan to stay for awhile.

That is until our battery charger stops working....oh no! We live on 6 deep cycle marine batteries. Gotta be able to charge them. Fortunately there are lots of smart electrical people around but to our dismay we find out the part we need is not made anymore. Seriously?!! It is only 4 years old and the part is no where to be found. We are told to buy a new charger and we can get one in Trinidad. Great.

Trinidad lies 85 miles south of Grenada. We had no plans to go there...ever, but now we find ourselves planning the trip. We will leave Grenada at 9pm at night and arrive in Trinidad at sunrise. We are traveling alone and even though we are not scared easily, we know there are occasional pirates that prey on cruisers in these waters. We go over how to use the flare gun as a weapon and other tactical manuvers we know will make boarding our boat difficult.

It turns out to be a great trip. No worries no problems except the 2 knot current we fight the entire trip. We are now very close to South America. This is the furthest south we have ever been.


Trinidad is a very lush and tropical island. Parts of the island are very beautiful. Parts of the island are very urban and industrial. Oil and natural gas are king here.

Many years ago Trinidad was part of South America. Even though the closest point is now 7 miles away, the island still has many beautiful South American species of animals and plants not seen in the rest of the Caribbean.

Close to the island we encounter some traffic. Big tankers move oil and gas from offshore drilling platforms. Good morning!

There is a go-fast ferry between the island of Tobago and Trinidad. It moves along around 30 knots. Very fast. Leaves a nice wake...where is the wake board when you need it!

Soon we arrive at Bocademonos.

It takes us a few days to figure out where the best anchorage is. It is at the Trinidad and Tobago Sailing Association. Sail boats only, no powerboats are welcome here. And, be prepared to pay for you stay. Unlike other islands, this island charges boats to anchor.

We also learn that our battery charger is not broken and does not need a new part. We just need a new breaker on our generator. So, yes, we came all this way for naught. But we have some unspent "fix-it $$$" on hand so we decide to stay and explore for awhile.

The island has some great nature preserves. One of the most talked about is a bird sanctuary up in the mountains. We rent a car, fill it up with .75 cents/gallon fuel and head towards the Asa Wright Nature Center.

It is green and it is beautiful. It is hot, we are in our rental car and we have air conditioning. We are smiling.

.

The roads are narrow but we are getting away from the mayhem of the city. There are very few signs and we begin to worry we may be lost. We stop to ask directions and as quick as you can say "no hitchhikers" we have a passenger in the backseat holding a 30 foot bamboo pole out the window. Our newly acquired friend is a delight. He is an ancestor of the earliest inhabitants, the Carib Indians. He is a Shaman from his village and assures us we are on the right road and we can drop him off at the next turn. Out he jumps and waves goodby. He disappears into the lush growth.

A few more miles and we arrive.

This place delights the senses

From the balcony you can watch shimmery hummingbirds at the feeders

Birds appear in a variety of colors

Down below is a curious Gold Tegu

Up above is a curious Steve

And down below again is a Paca also known locally as a Lappe.

We are overnight guests here so we enjoy the traditional afternoon tea served at 4pm sharp. They are so very civilized here they even serve locally grown coffee. Ahhhhh!

The day visitors have all left and we have the place to ourselves.

Afternoon tea bisquits for the birds

Strolling around the grounds we meet all sorts of creatures

A Pigmy Owl

The next morning we get a rare opportunity to hike down into a gorge to see the rare OilBird. These birds are closely guarded by the nature center. Too many visitors and the flock will leave and relocate itself.

The hike down is beautiful

The birds are tucked back, deep inside a cave. These birds are very shy, no flash allowed. We enter the cave two at a time to get a good view.

The young OilBirds become very fat before they reach adulthood. They can weigh up to 50% more than the adult. They were a great source of oil for the early inhabitants and were frequently used as torches. The backdoor to the cave is open

It rains alot in the mountains and there is no shortage of waterfalls

During the night you meet totally different creatures

We leave Asa Wright and head down the mountain towards the north coast. It has rained over 3 inches in the last few hours so it is a wild wet ride down the narrow one lane road. Once down we celebrate with a Trinidad favorite...Bake and Shark. Fried bun, fried fish, lots of condiments. Delicious.

We have been in Trinidad for 10 days. It was fun but we are ready to return to Grenada. We leave at 4:30 am. The sunrise is worth getting up early for.

It is going to be a good sailing day. The current is nudging us from behind, the wind is on our beam, the coffee smells good. Perfect.

See you back in Grenada

Anne and Steve

S/V Fine Line