We
have had some very nice days since we left Trinidad and till now. We
only spent 48 hours at Isla Margarita. We were to pick up to hands and
it is nice to see the island just to tell we were there.
From
Margarita we went to a small cluster of islands, Los Roques, where we
spent a couple of days. It mainly consists of coral. You find very many
submerged reefs there so we navigated from the masthead. It is not
difficult to do so because the water is very clear but it gets a bit
harder when the sky is hidden behind a cloud or when it starts raining.
You do not sail at night because there are no buoys and lights, and the
area is filled with the above-mentioned mentioned reefs.
Los
Roques were really some beautiful islands. Turquoise blue water and
white stretches of sand just like the advertising folders describe it.
The water was fairly good diving waters although it was a little muddy
(due to the sand). But we saw living conches, big fish, and pretty
corals. On one of the islands they had a breeding centre for tortoise-
we only saw one in the water. In the centre they had lots of baby
turtles; we were allowed to hold them they were quite cute.
We
had a rather unpleasant incident here. One night we drifted for anchor.
We were in about 3 m of waters with a 20 m cable. This ought to be
enough because it was a sandy bottom, but suddenly René woke up and
felt that the boat was rocking. René rushed up but could not see
anything. There was no light. The log was turned on it showed 18m –we
had drifted a mile. Immediately a 50 m chain was thrown out and we
caught hold of the bottom. Half an hour later it dawned and we could go
back to the anchorage and now we dropped an extra anchor. No more
drifting. This is not a nice experience when you recon that the area is
filled with coral reefs.
At
Bonaire diving is almost the only interesting thing to do. But this is
cool!! The water is crystal-clear. We can see the surface even at 40 m -
quite a lot more than Lillebaelt. You find the prettiest corals, the
hard nice brain corals as well as the soft corals. We have seen sea
snakes (Hydrophiidae), fish at 1,5m, blue fish, and yellow fish. There
are sea cucumbers (holothurians) and sea horses (Hippocampus), big
morays (Muraenidae), large crabs and you could keep on mentioning. The
compressor almost works day and night to refill our bottles. Thomas is
so crazy about it and has paid an instructor in order to become a
certified diver. We congratulate you Sennels.
We
have come across Vendia again and have returned their gas cylinder. We
have carried it all the way from Trinidad. We went out with them one
night. They invited us for supper and we were very happy. The night also
brought us to a bar and a single beer and afterwards we invited them to
the ship to have more beers. It is reported that not everybody had an
early night.
When
we are not diving we swab the decks or wash clothes. Everything must
look nice when the next shift sign on, (8 March) on Curacao, a
neighbouring island.