22 Sept 2000 - 29 Sept 2000
Los Roques
11° 46 N 066° 34 W
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22 Sept 2000 - 29 Sept 2000 |
LOS ROQUES:
We arrived in Sabastopol on the 22 September. As the anchor hit the water I was in! goggles and all. The snorkeling there is great and there are plenty of fish. There is a breeding school of parrot fish ranging from the bright male Stoplights to the brilliant black and blue of the Midnights.
El Gran Roque:
We arrived on 23 September, the little town reminds me of an ancient village. The houses are colourful, the yellow house with the frames around the windows and doors bright orange. Blue and purple, green and yellow, you name it, any colours that match, you will find it on a house.
Crasqui:
We stayed in Crasqui for one day since there wasn't much there just a long beach and dead Conches. There are many colourful Starfish along the sandy bottom. they have a pattern of a bulls eye around the centre.
Isla Carenero:
This beautiful island has clear water and great snorkeling. There is a four foot deep island in the middle of the channel, just to the right of this is a pass twenty foot deep. Spear fishing is not allowed, but using a hand line is fine. There is no litter on the beaches or in the water, this is because there are four different bins on the beach. Glass, plastic, cans and biodegradable. The Parks Board collect the garbage twice a week, so smell is not a problem. Feeding frenzies happen regulary, the Spanish Mackerel and birds feed on the little neon's, and the Great Barracuda feed on the Spanish Mackerel. There are many Parrot, Angel and game fish to be seen. The Angels are quite friendly and come within arms reach. The Parrot Fish feed on the Finger and Elkhorn Coral, you can hear them crunch it a couple of yards
away. When they get scared, they eject sand into the water, the sand however, is actually ground up coral. There are plenty of mangroves and mosquitoes on the island, so stock up with mosquito repellant, coils and nets.
Cayo de Agua:
Is a little island with a rocky coast with only one beach. There is water that you have to dig for and once you reach the water, it is brown as Venezeulan coffee and smells like Sulphur. The snorkelling on the spit is amazing, you dive down to about 30 feet and swim through the sinuous patterns of coral. This is one of the best snorkelling spots we have seen ever
Liz
Liz gets inspired by the colours of the fish, and puts on her own creations, for and impromptu fashion show.
The Boca de Sebastopol entrance into the atoll group of 14 by 25 miles with some 300 islands, and enough hidey holes to make Winnie the Pooh jealous.
Navigating under sail in these confined but protected waters involves a lot of standing on the foredeck with polarised sunglasses on (and not much else in some cases) to spot the reefs and shoal patches. Commands of "Minus 10" or "Plus 20" are shouted back to the cockpit and the appropriate buttons are pressed on the autopilot. "Fred" as he is known, then steers the boat reliably through the coral fingers that wait on all sides for the unwary.
Sunset at Carenero, Los Roques.
Cayo de Agua, good diving, amazing mosquitoes! we recorded about 35 separate bites each in about 3 minutes here.