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Venezuela, or 'Little Venice' as named
by Columbus, rich in resources and home to some of the most beautiful
people in the world provides a good cruising destination out of the hurricane
belt.
The Country
Venezuela, the northernmost country in South America
would seem to have it all; unfortunately a culture of
corruption at all levels oppresses the people and keeps them poor while a few
hide their riches offshore. The local population is very friendly and cruisers
are welcomed, although dinghy and outboard theft is a problem in many places.
This is the main cruising destination, with marinas such as CMO
(Centro Marino del Oriente), Mare-Mare (with room service for your boat), and El
Moro. Labor is cheap, although not as efficient as elsewhere, food and
restaurants are cheap (hard to spend more than $US10 for a good meal), and parts
arrive quickly from the US or Europe. Be careful with money - a friend lost
$1000 when thieves switched a packet of money on him in Banco Union when he took
out a cash advance - we think bank officials must have been in on it.
Venezuela has lots of sparsely-populated off-shore islands. We stopped
at 4 spots, and found them all interesting:
- Los Testigos - small, barren islands with friendly fishermen. They
are on the route from Grenada to Venezuela.
- Margarita - a plush resort island, playground to wealthy
Venezuelans with duty-free stores, crowded anchorages, great shops, and its
own immigration bureaucracy.
- La Tortuga - attractive, dry island, we spent 1 night but did not go
ashore.
- Los Roques - beautiful islands with prolific bird life; they get
lots of traffic from the mainland, both power boats and airplane
tours. We stopped at Francis Bay, Crasqui, and Carenero
and found them all to be secure anchorages.
High plateaus and mesas, inspiration for  Doyle's
"Lost Worlds", cover the south-east of Venezuela. Flights to Canaima
are frequent where one can see thundering falls similar to Niagara, or the
amazing 3200'
Angel Falls - highest in the world. We rented a 4-wheel drive to
travel throughout the Gran Sabana from Ciudad Bolivar - sights included a
riverbed of solid jasper, bird life, festivals on the banks of the Orinoco river,
and river tours that end at the top of the
waterfall to the right  .
High in the snow-capped Andes, this clean town offers beautiful
scenery, a cable-car ride to 14,000', stays at an old monastery, and mostly friendly
people. Keep jewelry out of sight - Judi had a gold chain ripped off her neck in
broad daylight. It is a 3-hour flight or 24 hour bus ride from Puerto la Cruz.
The capital city of Venezuela, streets are clogged with traffic and fumes
fill the air. Despite this, the weather is pleasant at 3000', the Natural
Science and Arts museums are interesting and 440 years of history is represented
in many historic buildings and squares. Pickpockets operate in the subway - we
were targeted, but surprised them with our command of Spanish and loud voices. It also serves as a departure point to
visit Colonia Tovar, a German Bavarian enclave established in the 1800's that
remained intact until the 1950's and is a cool, mountain escape from the cities.
The international airport, a short ride from Caracas, provides frequent access
to the USA and Europe.
Next stop: the ABC Islands |
