Sampling The Yachting Life

For many people, sailing whether as fishermen, shipping crew, charter boat skippers or passengers, is a way of life. However, many have not sampled the experience of being a pleasure cruising yachtie.

If you ever feel like you need a change of pace or lifestyle, a wonderful experience is that of living on the water for a while. I spent three weeks with my eight year old daughter and friends sailing around the islands on the north coast of Venezuela for a different type of vacation.

There are 72 islands which lie off Venezuela's 2,800km. of coastline. Of these islands, Margarita is the largest and most populated. The remaining islands comprise the archipelagos of Los Roques and Las Aves, the national parks of Moroccoy and Mochina and the large islands of Tortuga, Los Testigos, la Blanquilla, la Orchila and Aves.

The archipelago of Los Roques is probably the best known of Venezuela's Caribbean islands .The area has been named national park since1972 and is one of Venezuela's most beautiful sights.

On the way to Los Roques, our first stop was Cubagua, but we never came off the boat. We did stop at the island of Tortuga, where we caught such a large fish, we called it a monster. At Tortuga, we met a couple, friends of our captain friend, who recounted that they had just assisted a French family whose boat had run aground a reef. The family who had been sailing for 16 years with the same boat, had lost everything. "It doesn't matter how long you've been sailing" the couple said sadly; "when you're on the sea, you just never know what can go wrong"

On arrival at Los Roques, we saw so many yachts, that it took us a while to anchor. There we went ashore and obtained water and gas before taking a tour of the little village with roads of hot sand.

We also visited Cayo Madrizki, and the national park of Crasqui the beauty of which will always remain in my memory.

The return to Los Roques covered the sight of white coral sands, clear water, myriads of birds and magnificent sunsets. At Los Roques, we joined villagers in dancing at a fiesta in the open air. We moved on to Caraballeda and Carenero on the mainland.

Our little adventure was a welcome change from the normal pace of everyday life, and I still relive the memories.

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Learn more about this author, Chantallia.
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