(no subject)

Well it is a SSB week of the blog again.
I am writing this while on the way to Isla Testigos. (Witness Island)Our planned route had to be changed due to the weather. Instead of traveling along the Northern Outer Islands where we would be safe from piracy we had to head below 11 degrees to get out of the high winds and large seas.
We arrived at Isla Roques at an anchorage that was absolutely breathtaking. We were very happy to catch a very large dorado, a 50 pound marlin, 4 big eyed tuna and a sierra. Our freezer is finally filling up again with fish but we still have room for more. We have eaten fish everyday for a week now. Never get tired of fresh fish.
We walked the shores of the fine white sands and hiked the sand dune. Unfortunately we wore saddles and the burs were unforgiving. Conch were everywhere and we even saw a turtle. We were accompanied by 4 other boats in the anchorage all from France. When we left there were 7 one being a Canadian boat from Victoria heading West.
We have been using Herb from Southbound II on the SSB as a weather router. He is a Canadian from Mississauga that has won the Canadian Award of Honour (Can't remember what it is called) for his dedication in helping the boating community. Saving lives. His recommendation was to head south then cross from Testigos to Grenada on Sunday/Monday.
The seas were large crossing from the Roques - Isla Tortiga then onto Isla Margarita. It was basically a 2 day journey. We changed our shifts to be 2 people on at a time. 2 hour shifts with one hour off. This meant we would be tired but there would always be someone to spell you off for a bit. The autopilot didn't want to cooperate so hand steering through the night was the way to go. The blessing was that the waves were on the front quarter and we did not have to take any beam seas. Genesis also is very good at tracking without the autopilot so it wasn't too bad. It also helps that Ken and Ernie are very good at steering by compass. Me not so much I find I get turned around at night and disoriented to direction. Not a good thing but hey I can talk and keep them awake! Steer while nature calls and,fetch etc. I have found the difference between the Pacific and Caribbean to be very significant. Most the time on the Pacific side it felt like a Magic Carpet ride. On the Caribbean it feels like you are in a washing machine. But we are all use the the rhythm now.
This area is known as a very high security risk were there have been armed robberies on boats that are in transit. A Canadian boat traveling West was boarded by 4 gunman and everything taken just a month prior. We had been trying to avoid this area for this very reason and the fact that we now are in the area has left me not sleeping so well.
I have put together a pirate take list. A fairly new Sony camera that rusted out after 2 years, the dell computer that Ken dropped the coffee on (No insides, Debit cards and credit cards that are no longer used but good dates, a little bit of money from everywhere including some US money.
I have hiding spots that we only found after 7 years of owning the boat. If they find them good for them. Our good wallets, hand held vhf, this computer and Spot are well hidden. I still need to find a good spot for our camera.
We stopped at Isla Tortuga for 5 hrs before continuing on so that we would arrive during daylight in the pirate waters. Running at night with no lights on.
We arrived at Isla Margarita anchorage at 1000 in the morning. Had a good rest and filled up with fuel. The boys in the panga came by and asked how much fuel we would like. 600 litres. It is too bad that we were not empty as we payed 20 cents a litre. That is not a typo. In fact the actual rate is around 15 cents a litre if you were to go to the dock. However US currency is black market and it would be hard to get. Who could complain at 20 cents? We were immediately befriended by the boating community. They were a wisdom of knowledge but the best thing to happen was that we are traveling with 2 other buddy boats now to Grenada. I am still going to hide everything but there is safety in numbers and we will anchor together at Isla Testigos. We travel a little faster then the others but not by much.
We will hopefully be in Grenada Monday around 1600 hour and I will post an update on Tues as we received some emails with people concern about our whereabouts. I would also like to upload some pictures of these beautiful anchorages and describe what we have been up to.
Keeping Safe
Genesis

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