Ok, the constant rain was one thing, but last night was too much.  The rain had stopped and when the wind stopped it left us facing a new direction, closer to the mangroves.  About 2:30 am I am awakened by shouting and banging.  The hatches were open and we have been invaded by hundreds (I do not exaggerate here!!!) of mosquitoes.  It hasn’t been this bad since Rum Cay in the Bahamas!!!  Everyone is up yelling and whacking away.  There is a period of “whack, whack, whack” followed by an “Oh Gross!!!!” when one that is full of blood is smashed.  Tessa’s room is the worse.  The only sure way to kill them is to use the electronic zapper which actually burns them up.  This is preferable to having the walls, ceilings and bedsheets covered with blood and dead carcasses.  It takes us more than an hour to kill the intruders, and we know that we still don’t have them all.  Clean up tomorrow will be bad!!!!

We really hoped to be out of here by now.  We would have loved to have been in Aruba where we had some friends from North Carolina that came in for vacation.  The weather is just too bad.  We are getting squalls with 30 plus knot winds and no let up in sight!!  Chris Parker weather says to stay put till it passes.  On a good note we did meet some new friends on the 90 foot motor yacht Ki Ki Kai.  It’s two families living on the boat together.  John and Sara, the owners of the boat have two boys Josh and Nate and their friends, Sara and Graham have a daughter Mia.  They were nice and invited the kids over to play and also invited all of us over for cocktails.  The boat is gorgeous and they have been living on it for the last 18 months, travelling the Caribbean in style.  What a great way to travel, with a cleaning staff, a captain, and my personal favorite, the cook!  I can only dream on not having to make another meal.  But for how good it all sounds, they are a bit limited when it comes to spontaneity.  And with a staff, you don’t have complete privacy or control of what you want to do.  At least that was what I was telling myself as I went home to my boat that was in utter chaos.  It worked too, until I went into our bathroom and found someone had left it in less than “satisfactory” conditions (and believe me, I have come to set a very low bar when it comes to the word “satisfactory”). Instantly I became a very disgruntled crew member!!! 

We left around 6 pm and started sailing to Los Roques 85 miles away. Our plan was to arrive mid morning, but at the start, we were sailing over 7 knots.  It was a great sail.  Around 9 pm, a huge pod of dolphins surrounded our boat.  At first, even with the moonlight, it was hard to make out what was causing the splashes, then a dolphin leaped up high right next to the captain’s seat, where I was keeping watch.  Another one did the same, until nearly all of them were leaping high out of the water.  Very exciting.  Around midnight the rains started and didn’t let up the rest of the trip.  At times it was a whiteout.  Thank goodness for the radar.  Since I couldn’t visually see, and was relying on the radar and autopilot, I sheltered myself in the cockpit.  I felt bad for Jenny and Otis on Independence.  Their autopilot was broken, so they had no choice but to hand steer the entire trip.  But besides the rain, the crossing was really nice. We made great time, even with slowing down so we wouldn’t arrive too early.  It was still raining as Dan wound his way into the reefs at the southeast entrance.  Our original plan was to make our way up to Francisquis, but with the rain, we decided to stay anchored here on the southeast side.  The next day we had clear skies and moved the boats to an anchorage not too far from Francisquis.  It took a few times to get the anchor to hold, as the bottom had good sand in some places and marl and coral most.  Once we found the thick sand (with Otis and Dennie’s help) the holding was good and the view great.  Los Roques islands are a national park and a pride of Venezuela deservedly so.  The water is shallow, the reefs great for snorkeling, and the views are amazing.  Well, they will be as soon as the rain stops!

Grand Roques

The next day Dan and I took our dinghy and Dennie and Rennie took theirs for a 2 ½ mile ride to Grand Roques.  We hadn’t officially checked in yet, so we didn’t take the big boats over.  Dan and I fell in love with the town.  The island used to be vacation homes for Venezuela, now the homes have turned into quaint, colorful hotels.  The feeling in the town is of a laid back pueblo in Mexico. You want to stay forever.  As we started our search for a supermarket, a local named John, in limited English, asked if he could help.  He was a great asset as he took us to the Panderia and told us what was good to buy.  Then he carried our groceries as he took us to the market for fresh fruit and vegetables.  We bought a case of soda and a case of beer at another store and he managed to carry those too.  Our final stop was an internet café where we had our first internet since leaving Margarita!   It was nice to catch up on our mail, but the weather was showing squalls moving in. We would have to move the boat to a more sheltered location in the morning.  That night we had sundowners on Salt and Light, and we inundated with mosquitoes.  Huge, biting, mosquitoes!!!  Luckily we could sit on the front of the boat and the wind would keep them in the cockpit, but they were determined to find us.  Just when we thought this was paradise!!!