Thursday, November 15, 2007



Monday October 15th
We headed to the most eastern part of the Golfo to the Rio Cariaco and anchored in 10 feet of water before taking the dingy up the River as far as we could go. There are more different species of birds than we will ever be able to identify but the highlight is the Scarlet Ibis. We saw some of these birds in Trinidad but not to the extent that we did in this spot.


At dusk, hundreds of these red birds come to roost for the night in an area at the mouth of the river. The trees look like Christmas trees covered in red. The biggest bummer is that the battery died in the camera so we were unable to get a picture of the trees. When I got up at 6 am, the trees were still littered with birds but by the time I got the camera out, they had all flown away. Thank goodness we have memories. Not everything can be caught in photos.





Tuesday October 16th
After a lazy 6 hour downwind sail (heading west), the wind swung to the West and we covered the last 7 miles to Laguna Grande in less than an hour, heeled at 20 ° & accompanied by a pod of dolphins. Dolphins abound in the Golfo but only seem to be interested in swimming with you when you’re doing hull speed.
It is our 3rd visit to this incredible lagoon. Pat’s back had been bothering him during our last visits, so now that it was better, we returned to do the trek up the ridge. It’s hard to imagine the contrast of the rainforests to our south and the desert mountains to our north. Every evening we watch the lightening shows and rainstorms to the south while we are high & dry a few miles away in a desert landscape. A truly magical country.



Wednesday we started our climb up the ridge around 9 am and enjoyed a perfect morning of clear skies and a fair breeze to help keep us cool. The panoramic views were out of this world. I still can’t believe how amazing this landscape is!!!






Can you find Rhiannon?



Isla de Margarita is 20 miles to the north.
Thursday morning we hated to leave but the Angel Falls were waiting.
Fair Winds,
Miriam
& Pat says Hi.

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