After dropping Grandma Nades at the airport we left Grenada on passage heading for the Venezuelan islands.
We travelled in convoy with Sunboy, another Aussie boat also with 3 kids on board and who did the ARC as well. It was good travelling in convoy especially given a few security incidents around these particular waters. We had a good uneventful passage and arrived at the Los Roques archipelago around lunchtime on the third day. What an amazing place Los Roques is!! It is full of reefs requiring some tricky navigation, however we managed it well especially once we rigged up some ratlines for the kids to climb up to spot the reefs. We spent a couple of lovely days in unspoiled anchorages with very few boats. Compared to the Caribbean islands it was very quiet and pleasantly free of boat boys hassling you to buy stuff. As the Los Roques is a national park with only one settlement we managed to avoid checking in with the Venezuelan authorities and hence had a blissful couple of days cruising around by ourselves. We also caught up with our friends on A Small Nest (a lovely Belgian family with 3 kids who also did the ARC). We then did a short bunny hop to Las Aves in strong winds but downwind and then a further bunny hop day sail to Bonaire. We are really enjoying Bonaire - it is quiet, civilised and the snorkelling is really good. Next up we will overnight in Curacao then Aruba followed by Cartagena on the Columbian coast and then the San Blas islands which are just near Panama. We are looking forward to seeing Lisa (John's sister) and Leon who will transit the canal with us (hopefully around 22 Feb). Happy Australia Day for tomorrow from the Nika crew