Isla Margarita
14 November 2010 | Venezuela
We left Trinidad and traveled by night to Isla Margarita. We traveled with lights out due to recent concerns of robberies. We deployed our paravains and had a wonderful cruise for the 24 hours that it took. We are traveling with another boat Kaija Song which is a 50 ft Benetau. Kaija and Gerry are a lot of fun. Their special attraction is an 80lb rotweiller named Doc. He is a lot of love plus being very entertaining.
Isla Margarita has been a pleasant surprise. John was able to buy diesel fuel for .76 US a gallon. We took on 900 gallons and will probably buy 300 more before we leave. The island is a resort area for mainland Venezolanos. It has a fishing fleet but sadly a lot of the waters have been fished clean. There is a sardine processing factory here. Most of the fishing fleet will leave for Brazil soon to continue fishing. In December, the island is 100% occupied. The rest of the year not so much. It is 1/3 the size of Trinidad. The people are friendly but petty crime is rampant. We were advised to be very careful with our possessions as well as show no indication of wealth. This isn't hard for us- never wear jewelry and we don't carry much money with us.
We took a tour of the island and enjoyed both the historical
areas as well as museums and yes traveling through the mangroves to a beach and a lovely lunch.