Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Slow morning. Got up gradually. Read. Did our bit on the Coconut Telegraph which is currently running Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. Then we left our previous anchorage and headed west. We started with a reef in the main and gradually jibed down the coast. The wind died a bit so we shook out the reef and continued on. We passed by Cayo Herradura where we saw about 8 boats anchored and carried on to Las Tortuguillas. There was one fishing boat anchored where we wanted to stop so it looked quite secluded particularly as they might leave at some point. For the first time we tried anchoring under sail. In the end I muffed it by being a little timid and left the boat side on and too close to the shore to maneuver. Easy enough to nudge us straight with the electric motors which had had there charge up along the way. Not bad for first time – next time better.

This afternoon we went for a swim from the boat round to the lagoon on the northwest side. The guidebook suggested the snorkeling would be pretty good there. It was all a bit murky so we had no thrill there. However, the walk along the picture perfect beach made up for the mediocre swim.

Right now we’re awaiting sunset. It appears to be picture perfect too except for the fact some buggers have anchored right to the west of us. There should be a law against that. We recognize the boat – maybe from Martinique.

Slight change of plans for tonight. We’ve decided to have a short sleep and leave at midnight arriving in Los Roques tomorrow afternoon. We’ll enter the park through Boca de Sebastopol and find a close by anchorage to rest up before getting the full enjoyment of sailing the east side when we’re rested up.

I checked the chart plotter yesterday and discovered we’ve finally anchored somewhere to the west of our starting point. After nearly a year, for a couple of plan on circumnavigating to the west, this is finally a step in the right direction.

Slowish sort of day today. Some cleaning in the morning (we have to) and some checks on the drive shafts. The latter due to some noticed vibrations while sailing yesterday. This only happened when we were travelling at 7.5-8 knots under sail without the regeneration going. If we turned it on, the vibration stopped. A little troubling so we need to keep an eye on things. No conclusions from today’s mucking around. I did put some more grease into the port seal just to see if that improves things but I won’t know for a while.

We’ve just been for a walk on the beach, across the little isthmus and around the ‘airport’. You need to see the pictures to really understand what it looked like. It is a compressed sand airstrip close to the beach with a number of huts separating the strip from the beach. We understand the airstrip is use by mainlanders who fly their planes over for the weekend. One of the huts is a very quaint looking hotel/restaurant. It comprises a few rooms surrounding and interior sandy courtyard area with seats and decoration. Other huts looked like changing areas and one, perhaps, a bar.

Tomorrow morning we’re moving a few miles down the island to anchor for the day. Around sunset we’ll head for Los Roques. The entrance to the reefs is about 85nm sail away and we want to be sure to enter during daylight. It will be another 15nm or so to the main island. We may make it there tomorrow or stop on the way. There are park fees to pay if one visits properly. Given that this is a maintained park we want to pay the fees as we will receive the benefit of visiting. It is possible, we understand, to sneak around the south to the west end of the park avoiding the fees. It’s academic now as we have the Bolivars to pay for the park fees and nowhere else to spend them.