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Testigos
Setting out for Testigos, a Venezuelan island off the mainland by about 40 miles, we were joined by our good friends on Zippidee Du, a singlehander on Colonel’s Lady, a French family on Lei Lani, seasoned cruisers on Magic Dragon, and a South African couple on a catamaran named Bedouin. This was quite a change for us…we were the smallest and soon found to be the slowest boat in the bunch. Up to this point we were typically in the lead and among the largest in our flotillas. But with a combination of motorsailing and sailing we were able to keep up.
At the break of dawn we found ourselves surrounded by rain showers. After getting wet a few times Dan decided to go below for some sleep. About 15 minutes later, he was unexpectedly awoken by the sound of his drag screaming. We had a big one…a big something. It just kept going and going and going. Dan’s first thought was that we were about to lose this fish because it had stripped almost all the line out of the reel. With literally about 10 feet to go and the drag down to near full, the fish finally let up. That was when Dan’s tough fight began. I turned the boat into the wind to slow us down and furled the jib. Then turned on the engine and pointed us straight into the waves as we did about 1.5 knots. My job was to clear the cockpit and drive the boat while Dan fought this very strong, yet to be seen fish. We still had no idea what it was. Dan fought and fought for about 20 minutes as we occasionally peered over the side to try and get a glance of this monster. What was it? As Dan fought I had removed everything from the cockpit – pillows, a blanket, cockpit cushions, shoes – and prepared for this fish to come aboard. I put a fender out to protect the table and put in the companionway door incase this thing had an idea about going below (what a mess that would be!), got the gaff ready, baseball bat out, and most important had alcohol in hand (no, not rum, rubbing alcohol to stun the fish). I was ready. That was until I saw the fish come to the surface. This “thing” turned out to be a yellowfin tuna and it was huge. How were we ever going to get this fish on the boat? It just wouldn’t fit…no way. But we had to try because this was Dan’s dream fish – his first yellowfin! Dan gaffed it while I held the line – or at least he tried a couple times before succeeding. It was alcohol time no doubt. I of course got the brand new rubbing alcohol because this guy was so big. Turns out though I forgot to take the safety foil off the bottle and panic set in that we’d lose the tuna when nothing came out of the bottle. Finally, I doused him good and he calmed down. Dan pulled him into the boat over the stern rail seats and had no other choice but to cradle him in his arms like a baby. I thought ‘let’s hope Mr. Tuna doesn’t come back to life or Dan will literally have his hands full!’ Once in the cockpit, we snapped a few quick photos before Dan bled him and sliced him up while I got us back on course and running at 6.5 knots again. Wow what a morning that was! Dan estimated he weighed about 40 pounds and he measured in at 48 inches. We relayed our catch to the others who were extremely happy at the possibility of fresh fish once we arrived at Testigos.
The rest of the journey proved uneventful on Eventyr however, Colonel’s Lady caught two unknown fish that we think were blackfin tuna. Once at the anchorage we planned our fish fry/cookout to be held on Bedouin. What a great way to end a 15 hour trip.
The next day we planned to meet the local coast guard at the only restaurant on the island for a Farmer’s Festival. We were all very excited to join in on this local celebration. Turns out the “Farmer’s Festival” was actually Father’s Day – something apparently lost in translation there! We spent a few hours at the restaurant trying our best to talk to these young men who spoke very little English. Both sailors on Lei Lani spoke Spanish quit well and were translators for all of us. The coast guard were planning to cook us dinner at some later time in the afternoon. We decided to head over to the sand dunes located on the other side of the island. The coasties said we could make it by dinghy. Our translators were reluctant to ask the coasties to join us since it was their day off so I gave it a try and soon five of them jumped into our dinghies to show us the way. We beached the dinghies and started our climb over the hill. Soon the hill came into view a little and we realized we had to climb what seemed almost straight up a huge sand covered hill. With each step you would slide back down the hill a bit. I finally decided to walk in the Colonel’s footsteps in the packed down sand. We were all out of breath by the top. Even Dan who isn’t out of breath after running five miles. As we started back down the other side our breath was taken away again. This time by what we saw. It was a beautiful site to see the waves crash onto this beach with no footprints or signs of human existence at all. Soon we were peeling off our clothes and jumping into the waves. Bodysurfing was quite popular with the guys who soon seemed to be 10 years old again. I was just being pummeled by wave after wave. Just as I thought I was passed the breaking waves I got taken right back into shore…under water with feet above head no doubt! We all had a great time and language was no longer a barrier when laughter and screams were all that could be heard.
After playing in the water we headed back up the hill and then back down the other side. We were all astonished when we got to the top of the hill and the coasties took huge bounding leaps down the hill in the sand. They jumped seven or eight feet at a time. The cruisers were much more cautious and took small, apprehensive steps trying to discover how far we’d go before the sand stopped us.
Back at the restaurant dinner was awaiting us. The coasties had cooked chicken over an open fire while the restaurant owner made cornbread patties whose name I haven’t yet learned. Armed with a Spanish/English dictionary I was much better equipped to talk to our hosts. We all enjoyed ourselves and our meal -which consequently cost us $14 for 13 people who drank beer and soda for hours. Welcome to Venezuela! We loved it already.
When we left for Testigos we knew we’d be there a few days to wait out some nasty winds. Our rationale was the winds would be less in Testigos than Grenada so it was a good time to travel. We were holed up on this island for four days – this tiny island chain that is home to 160 people spread over two islands, an open-air “restaurant”, Coast Guard Station, and not much else. We had a blast. Dan and I agreed this was one of our favorite stops so far.
The next day we went snorkeling on the reef behind where we anchored. It was amazing – by far the best snorkeling we’ve ever seen. Every piece of coral – brain, elkhorn, fire, star - sea fans, sponges, soft coral, tube sponges, everything was alive and so colorful. And really big. I had never seen brain coral this size. It was unbelievable. But wait…we swam to the other side of the tiny island and all of the sudden saw tons of fish. We were encircled by thousands and thousands of small schooling fish. It was so cool to swim through them and watch the whole mass separate as you – some foreign object in their world – came swimming through. We saw sergeant majors, parrotfish, trumpetfish, damselfish, rockhinds, needlefish, moray eels and lots of new fish we hadn’t yet seen. The colors were amazing to the extent of indescribable.
Bright and early the next morning we took off for a hike up to the lighthouse with Zippidee Du and Bedouin. Our guidebook said it was not well marked and the coast guard guys warned it was a tough hike. The worst part of the hike was the bugs. They were everywhere. We had to do a lot of climbing over rocks while making sure not to grab onto the cacti that lined the trail. The view from the top was anticlimactic as it wasn’t really a top unless you climbed the tree roots up a cliff to get to the actual lighthouse – which is exactly what Dan, Chris and Bob did! Mandy broke out the banana bread and we all enjoyed a little snack before heading back down the path. A quick swim was needed to rid us of sweat and bugs! We loved the snorkeling so much that we went for a second tour of the reef.
That night we planned a big outing at sunset. We were headed back to the sand dunes to watch the giant leatherback turtles lay their eggs. We waited for about 2 ½ hours and only saw one turtle come out of the water only to turn right back around and swim out to sea. Dan and I definitely have this on our list of things to do next nesting season. Although we didn’t get to see any turtles laying eggs, Dan was really excited to see this Volkswagen size turtle hauling itself up onto the beach under the full moon.
The next day we headed to Margarita, another Venezuelan island. This one is described as Venezuela’s Hawaii. Many mainlanders as well as Americans head to Margarita for vacation. Sailing into Margarita that afternoon was a shock after hanging out in Testigos for a few days. Large multi-story buildings polluted the skyline making for a much different anchorage. After spending the night, we headed to Cubagua where we would spend the night and then head to Puerta La Cruz, Venezuela and Bahia Redonda Marina.
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