Yesterday we sailed from Los Tetstigos to Isla La Blanquila. Blanquilla, like Testigos, also belongs to Venezuela. It is a bit more out of the way than Testigos. Many people visit Testigos because it is in-route from Grenada to VZ. Blanquilla is West North West from Testigos and not in-route to anywhere. We were hoping to find a place less traveled. We did. We sailed the 90 mile day trip with our good friends on the Catamaran Independence (Indy). Our goal was to try and make a Blanquilla anchorage in day light. We didn't. It was a dead downwind run with variable winds. We started strong with our 5am departure. Spinnakers we set and we were off and running. About ? way the wind died down and we watched our daylight arrival slip away. The last quarter of the trip brought strong winds and great spinnaker sailing (10kts boat speed in 15kts true wind) and as the sun slipped over the horizon we used the last bit of daylight to drop the sails just outside the entrance to our chosen spot for the night. We edged our way into the anchorage using depth, binoculars and radar to negotiate the new surroundings. Our electronic chart software was useless. As we poked our way into the anchorage the electronic chart had Zen four wheeling across land. I could hear my father saying over my shoulder "never trust the electronics". Fortunately, the water is sooooo clear (gin clear) that, even under near total darkness, we could see the shadows of the coral and we both dropped securely in a nice sandy spot. When we awoke this morning we were exactly where we wanted to be, all alone in a very secluded tropical anchorage.

One of the best parts of the day was landing two 20 lb yellow fin tuna. NICE! We finally broke the ice by landing the first fish of this voyage. This is not due to lack of effort. We have been fishing on almost every leg of our trip. We caught a bunch of fish but we kept losing them before they could be landed. We were very good at catch and release but we aren't sport fishing here. We want to eat. The first fish hit on the rod and reel that Indy lent us. We were sailing along under spin and main with no easy way to slow the boat. I was worried that we would repeat our sport fishing drill. Fortunately this fish took a good bite of the lure and in a few minutes we had him aboard. All hell broke loose after that. We suddenly realized that we weren't actually prepared to catch a fish. We were so used to losing them at the transom that we didn't have any place to put it. After some frantic scampering around the boat Monique came up with a huge plastic bag and we officially "bagged" our first fish (I couldn't resist). Just as the first guy was in the bag, Cole yelled "fish on"."fish on the other line". We ran over to the other transom and this time we were prepared. We reeled him in and placed him in the bag with the other one. Monique took over from here and an hour later the fish were filleted and marinating (minus the sushi bits we ate along the way). By the time I was done cleaning up after anchoring, Monique had an outrageous meal prepared and I sat down to a two inch thick tuna steak.medium rare with soy and wasabi.are you drooling yet? I can't wait to taste what else Monique conjures in the galley with this bounty. We will post some more pictures when we get access to a broadband connection.

We will be hanging around Blanquilla while we explore the island for a few days.

COMMENTS:

Nonna

My goodness what an exciting experience! I can see your father's adventurous spirit in you, Monique! You hunt - me cook! Congrats also goes to Cole for alerting you on the second catch. Your freezer must be full of tuna steaks. Great fish story. Love ya, Mom

02 Oct 2008

Darlene Barkman

Save some for me! Great story to read today. Have been missing you guys, and kids keep checking scype to see if you have reappeared. Keep us posted with the awesome stories. I envision them as if we are all there with you! Love- Dar and the gang xoxoxox

03 Oct 2008

Erika

Hi Guys! This story really made me miss Monique's cooking...and of course your entire family! Miss you! Love, Erika

03 Oct 2008

Brian

Nothing better than fresh tuna!! You're next conquest shoudl be Mahi Mahi.. stop at the next floating log/piece of wood in the water and cast a lure, you'll probably find a few hanging underneath.. You're now coming to a ridiculously good fishing area in northern Venzuela, just outside Caracas, the port of La Guaira. There's an underwater peak that rises to about ~200' under water in 1,600' water, only 10 miles offshore. Teeming with fish... i've been many times. LaGuaira the port is "authentic" but I'm hoping you have better places to stop along the way.. Keep the hooks in the water!!!

07 Oct 2008



Jason

Finally a real fish on Zen, baby yellowfin, yummy. love to see it. Enjoy the adventure with the Fam, may the seas be smooth and the wind @ your back J & D

07 Oct 2008