Isla Margarita, Venezuela October and November, 2002

We left Trinidad... finally... on September 28. It was strange to leave Chagaramas for the last time after two years. We had been waiting for a new isotransformer to arrive but there were constant delays, so we finally drew the line for September 28. Amusingly, it arrived at 2000 on the night of September 27! So we took off with the transformer, but no installation!

The sail from Trinidad to Isla Margarita was a little unusual. We had opted for the night passage, and knew that this passage is considered to be one of the most hazardous dues to piracy. During the night we watched with radar as one large ship passed us without lights, and another approached us and turned its lights off. Fortunately, the night passed uneventful and we arrived in Isla Margarita the following morning. The Marina Margarita Yachting is a very plain marina with limited facilities, but power and water are available. Alfonso, who manages the place, is incredible!! He speaks very little english, but between broken spanish and english, we managed okay. It would have been great to speak more with him as he is a very interesting person.

Isla Margarita is a fascinating place, and we found it quite safe. The marina has excellent security, probably in part because of its close proximity to the Hilton Hotel. The anchorage in Porlamar, however, had several boardings by locals while we were there. Many cruisers were quite terrified, although the criminals were generally swimming from shore and were barefoot and boatless on boarding. I was amused to hear one morning on the net that another cruising sailboat had been caught with someone else's scuba gear!!

While in Margarita, we met several wonderful people, including Ruben, our taxi driver, who enjoyed the opportunity to practice english. Maurice and Minerva, who own the lebonese deli, Mogami, have become long term friends. They took care of us and introduced us to some amazing lebonese cooking! Just the thought of the food makes me hungry!! A stop at Mogami became part of our morning routine as we plodded over to the internet cafe in CCM, which allowed us to connect our laptops to their LAN. Maurice introduced us to a rolled flat-bread oregano and olive oil breakfast treat, and in the afternoon, Arak. Before we left Margarita, we did some rather serious provisioning at Mogami. The food lasted so well, we were quite amazed and have some new ideas for long term provisioning.

We spent some wonderful time with Maurice, Minerva, and their son, Gabriel, who is a very talented artist. We enjoyed his paintings very much with the rich colours, textures, and the powerful emotions depicted within. We found each piece to be a complex work, pouring feeling into paint and somehow reaching out to touch us.

We managed to get the isotransformer installed during our stay. Fortunate for us, Volker and Jan, friends from Trinidad, came up to visit and Volker installed the transformer. We made an expedition together over to Coche, just south of Isla Margarita and on the trip back, Volker got Darwin's Passage screaming along close-hauled at over 10 knots - by GPS with the current against us.

We took a few days to visit Angel Falls in Canaima National Park. This was an amazing experience and we would recommend the 3 day trip - one day is simply not long enough. For more on this trip, click here.