Now to continue with our passage from Curacao to Trinidad, a voyage we were making because that's where all the friends we'd made in Curacao were going. The few times I've been seasick have all been after we sat in port for a while and then started sailing in moderately rough seas. The trip from Bonaire to Las Aves was one of these times. I really had to struggle to stand watch, and, to top it off the heat exchanger on the starboard engine sprang a leak so we were once again down to one engine.

If you're wondering why we use our engines so much in addition to our sails, remember the prevailing winds in this part of the world are the trade winds that blow from east to west and we were traveling from west to east, directly into the trades. Of course purists would then inquire why we didn't tack. Our catamaran is not easy to tack plus we like to know that we have ample time to reach our next anchorage before dark; hence we run our engines.

Another navigation note: at this time we were using a combination of paper charts and a cruising guide written by Chris Doyle to get our waypoints for our GPS. We also have an autopilot that we frequently use so that we don't have to constantly be at our helm located at the rear of the boat and totally exposed to weather. We've since added electronic charts and now have our GPS hooked into our autopilot making it even easier to sail the boat. Of course when we're on watch we're in the cockpit at all times keeping a lookout for other boats, oil rigs, etc., and with radar on at night.

At this anchorage we put down 2 anchors to make sure that we kept our distance from the mangroves and the mosquitoes they contained. Even so we had quite a mosquito barrage that night. When we attempted to raise the anchors the next day, we discovered the chain of one had wrapped around the other. Worse, while trying to sort it all out, we drifted into the mangroves. Fortunately the boat was unharmed and we were able to get the chain straightened out and raise the anchors.

We motor sailed on to a second anchorage in Las Aves and finally met up with the many species of boobies, large birds that make the islands their nesting ground. The boobies made a real weird sound that reminded me of a Steve Reich (American minimalist classical composer) piece of music. As there were no mosquitoes here, we figured the birds must eat them or scare them off somehow.

Charlie determined that the heat exchanger was OK but there was a leak in the water exhaust system so we turned the engine off once again on our passage between anchorages in Las Aves.

The next day we motor sailed on to the first of 3 planned anchorages in Los Roques, another island group belonging to Venezuela. Unlike Las Aves, Los Roques is populated and even has an airport on one of the islands. Both engines were running now so we had no trouble reaching the anchorage early enough; however, that night the anchorage became rough and we had lots of rain making sleep difficult.

After a small problem raising the anchor the next morning, we continued on to the second anchorage in Los Roques where I snorkeled and saw my first starfish. While listening to the daily weather report, we hear that in 72 hours the waves will increase due to swells from storms in the area so we decide to skip the third anchorage in Los Roques and go directly to Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela. In addition to the weather, Tiki my little male cat who had eating problems on the way to Curacao, was once again very thin and needed to go to a vet.

And so the next morning we set out for Puerto La Cruz, a two-day sail. We arrived there without incident on November 5 and docked at Bahia Redonda. Several of the people we'd met in Curacao were already here as was Fred's boat, but not Fred, who was in Merida, a Venezuelan town high in the Andes, for an intensive Spanish course. Linda and Jerry were there also.

A sad note - Fred died suddenly a week ago in Trinidad. He will be missed.

To be continued.