Here we are in Bonaire, in the Netherland Antilles, having scampered too fast through some of the Venezuelan Islands. But what we have seen� has whetted our appetite to return another time.

We first went to the island of Margarita, which we had been warned we wouldn't like, but it is tax free, so the prospect of buying decent whisky for �2 a bottle was not to be passed up. Our locker space as you can imagine is now filled even more to bursting, and those concerned that we run a dry ship can allay their fears!

Quite apart from the shopping, I had also been told by some RCC members, who we met up with in Bequia, some convoluted story about mangrove swamps and buying pearls! It sounded fun, so on referring to Doyle, our pilot book bible for these waters, I reckoned I knew where she meant.

This meant a trip 20 miles west, where there was a so called marina, actually a tiny fishing harbour with boats moored by long lines which stretched the entire width of the place, and a good boatyard, with a travel lift. Giles desperately needed to send a fax, and they were charming and obliging about this, as well as telling us that we should not leave the boat anywhere other than in the harbour if we were planning a trip into the mangroves. Not the easiest thing to fulfil, as they were launching boats in the afternoon, and we had to hope for the best and anchor amongst a plethora of lines!
Out of this secure� area, we found a tiny village with dirt street, and huge Venezuelans playing a game of� hitting crown beer bottle caps with a long pole across the street.
In the tiny shop we did our best to explain that we wanted to go on a boat trip through the mangroves, and with much gesticulating, and wishing that we'd listened better to the Spanish tapes (thanks Julia), we understood that his brother would appear and take us there, which he duly did!

Off we went in a brightly painted boat into the river that went through the swamps. It was a beautiful experience, going through very narrow channels, which were fascinating, but did not contain as much wildlife as one might have hoped for. The inevitable pelicans, and� herons and egrets, but not a lot more, although we were treated to the spectacle of a cormorant trying to eat the most enormous flying fish, with wings akimbo out of its beak!

Well. we meandered through some truly beautiful mangroves, through tunnels reaching over us, and their weird roots stretching out in a surreal way around us, until we reached an opening to this wide huge beach on the north of the island, La Restinga. There is one caf� there, and a few stalls, which, on my quest for pearls I went to see, and there, sure enough we found pearls of every hue. We bought enough for our girls, and some for me, but as ever, one wishes that we'd bought more. Another place that needs revisiting!

This place is only reachable by boat, and� has a few Venezuelan tourists, but no more.
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On we went, another� 55 miles to the beautiful and uninhabited island of Tortuga. The great excitement of the journey was that finally we caught a fish!
So far Emily had nominated herself as fisherman, and at every opportunity she had a line out, but had caught only one Bonito, (2 got away)! �But the fish that we caught was the real thing, a big tuna, no fisherman's yarns here, 31" long, and weighing we reckoned about 16lbs. Mike proved himself a great gaffer, and hooked it through jaw, and I squirted its gills with rum, this is meant to kill them!
After lots of blood, lots of speculation and everything else, we had it on board, and duly cleaned and filleted it. Great excitement, and a restored confidence in our ability to catch our grub!

In Tortuga, we anchored in a beautiful bay with one other yacht, and a fishing boat. When we rowed ashore I leapt out of the dinghy, and have never experienced the soft velvety sand, so fine that it felt like clay, but without any of those cloying qualities. We walked and swam, got prickles in our feet, and walked across to meet� some young Venezuelans in an aeroplane, who had flown from Caracas, landed on the scrub, and were camping for the weekend,
What a wonderful lifestyle, we thought about Henry Lab, needless to say, but worried that they had to take off in 25 knots min of cross wind.
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We went on to the other end of� Tortuga the next day to the wonderful Horseshoe Bay, more white sand, and beautiful beaches on either side of the tiny island. Then on for 100 miles through the night to Los Roques, an archipelago of coral reefs and tiny uninhabited islands.

We went into one of the recommended entrances, and found ourselves surrounded by reefs, spending ages trying to work out where we were, and running aground rather alarmingly in the process. Eventually we motored up between reefs, and came to a wide opening, where we selected an island, where there were yet more adrenalin rushes as we crept through breaking surf to a tranquil anchorage, more white sand and deserted beach.
We would love to have longer to explore these islands, but on we went for another overnight� passage to Bonaire.
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Next stop 700 miles approx is the archipelago of San Blas, which is Panama, and we are greatly looking forward to it.

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