Les bleus de Los Roques

Nous avons quitte St Barth et ses magasins de luxe, mais surtout Cecile et sa famille. Bons moments passes ensembles a se rappeler nos souvenirs de Villefranche, discuter sur la vie de bateaux et a admirer nos enfants (tous du meme age) jouer comme s’ils se connaissaient depuis toujours.

Petite halte a Saba, gros rocher surplombant la mer et repute pour se merveilleuses plongees. Malheureusement, la houle trop grande rendait le mouillage insupportable et la plongee impossible. Nous n’y avons passe qu’une nuit sans mettre pieds a terre. Dommage car c’est une ile qui a l’air interessante.

En 50h, nous avons rejoint l’archipel Venezuelien de Los Roques. Gros d’ilots et de recifs. Nous avons passe la premiere journee a faire notre « clearance », du bureau des gardes cote, aux bureaux des parcs Nationaux et en finissant pas l’immigration. Cela nous a permis d’aller d’un bout a l’autre du village qui se trouve sur l’ile principale de Gran Roque. C’est un petit village tout en couleur. Les rues sont de sable, il n’y a pas de voitures mais quelques charettes tirees a la main et des diables. La moitie des gens y marchent pieds nus. Nous sommes arrives au moment de la sieste sous un fort soleil et sommes repartis vers 18h  alors que le village reprennait son rythme. Il est un peu frustrant de ne pouvoir vraiment communiquer mais l’acceuil a ete chaleureux et le garde cotier nous a meme eviter de payer les droits d’entree et de parcs.

Nous avons navigue d’ile en ile, en degustant avec delices les beautes de chacune. Les iles sont minuscules, et en general personne n’y habite, sauf dos Mosquises ou il y a quelque specheurs et un petit centre de recherche sur les tortues. Les mangroves attirent les oiseaux, fous et pelicans, les recifs sont riches en poissons. Le sable blanc, doux comme de la farine, borde ces ilets paradisiaques. Ce qui surprend sans doute le plus ce sont les bleus qui se multiplient a l’infini, qui se degradent du turquoise a l’indigo, du transparent au profond. Les couleurs jouent avec la luniere, avec les grains qui pasent et avec le soleil qui se reflete a la surface. Il faut faire attention a naviguer ainsi entre les recifs d’autant que les cartes sont fausses. Greg est a la barre les yeux rives sur le radar et le profondimetre, je suis a l’avant a guetter les patates de corail. Une fois l’ancre mise (en general nous sommes quasi-seuls au mouillage), nous allons explorer ces iles. Les plages sont rien que pour nous, les enfants y jouent les Robinsons. Nous sommes heureux d’avoir retrouve des endroits un peu isoles, d’avoir laisse la foule et les parfois trop nombreux bateaux aux Antilles et de reprendre le chemin de ce voyage dont nous revions il y a un peu plus d’un an.

Sur le plan pratique, Greg a recolle le bateau pneumatique (mais c’est sa derniere chance de rester avec nous !), a installe un nouveau systeme de recuperation d’eau (mais il ne pleut quasiment pas), et nous avons enfin repare la fenetre du carre qui fuyait (quel boulot !). En chemin nous avons attrape un enorme poisson, si gros qu ;il a en fait casse notre ligne et tout emporte.

 

We left St Barth, Cecile (a varsity friend of Emmanuelle) and her family beginning of December. We tried to stop in Saba, renowned for its diving. Unfortunately, the swell was too large to stay and enjoy this island. We spent one night at a mooring buoy and had the feeling we were sailing as Merlin was rocking quite a lot. So, the next morning we left that big rock with its head in the clouds.

It took us 50 hours to do 400nm and reach Los Roques, a Venezuelan archipelago.  The good news about this kind of sailing is that Clea is not seasick anymore.

In El Grand Roque (the main island) the water was blue, clear and so appealing that we all jumped in once the anchor was down. We went ashore to do our clearance. It was siesta time and the village of El Grand was very quiet. We went to the Coast guard, the National Parks and the Immigration offices, who all stamped and signed our form. Of cause they were at either end of the small village. We haven’t improved our Spanish so communicating with the locals was frustrating. However, the people were very friendly and helpful. The village is very colorful and simple. There are only sand streets with no cars. People walk bare feet, the kids run freely in the streets and there are lot of “Virgen del Valle” (Virgin of the Valley), statues of the patroness of the fishermen. A great smell led us to the bakery. The kids played in a small park and Greg went shopping trying to understand the mysterious labels.

The next day we began the discovery of some of the 42 small, tiny, mostly deserted islands which surround a lagoon of about 400km2. The mangroves are abundant in some islands and grow right to the sea while other are only white extra thin sand, small bushes and creeping plants. Ashore, we saw mainly black lizards, pelicans, boobies and laughing seagulls…and some mosquitoes. Turtles at Dos Mosquises where there is a small research station. The coral reefs are everywhere and navigation demands concentration. Greg is at the wheel, his eyes fixed on the radar and the depth sounder, Emmanuelle is at the bow checking for coral heads and eventual obstructions. Usually we try to follow the clear blue path which is only sand. What’s most amazing here are the colors and the multitudes of blues and greens. They play with the light of the tropics and the great change of depths. These dazzling colors fluctuate from transparent to dark. We were mainly by ourselves at the various anchorages, which is a change after the crowed and more touristic Eastern Caribbean. We really enjoyed discovering the beaches which opened their arms just for us. The kids were playing Robinsons. We swam in clear and warm waters. In Dos Mosquises, the sun offered us another green flash. It might sound like paradise but for us it looks like it. It was refreshing and inspiring to discover these islands, rewarding as it was the kind of landscapes we were dreaming of for more than a year.

 

On the practical side we also fixed our leaking window, Greg was busy with various endless maintenance jobs (gluing the rubberduck, installing some rain catchers, filling up chips with gelcoat, …). The kids finished some school evaluations so they could start some well deserved holidays (1/2 of the year program is now done). We caught a really big fish …so big that it took our line and lure. All we heard was the bungie shooting back to the boat once it had parted. (Greg was so disappointed).

(more photos in the photo gallery)