Los Testigos: South Observation Bay

Los Testidos Islands (Witness Islands) are located far from the Windward Islands and Trinidad, making them very tempting for lovers of secluded anchorages to visit. We anchored in South Observation Bay, which was remarkable for us. The archipelago includes 6 islands, inhabited by a population of two hundred fishermen and a coast guard garrison. The Coast Guard did not fail to visit us immediately and conduct a detailed inspection of the boat. Not finding anything prohibited for import, they wished us a pleasant pastime during the permitted 48 hours, which we took advantage of. The uniqueness of the island of Grand Testidos is made by a huge mountainous sand dune, thrown across the island and filling the entire underwater coast with sand – this makes the water near the coast look azure, again reminding us of the waters of the Bahamas. We walked along this sand mountain from shore to shore, coming out to the windward side of the Caribbean Sea. It seems that the constant and strong easterly winds simply throw the sand from one side to the other. It was a great disappointment to see masses of plastic bottles brought here by the Caribbean current from the Windward Islands – is this not evidence of the harmfulness of using plastic bottles? The Witness Islands have witnessed plastic madness, probably, instead, it would like to witness human intelligence. Kill plastic before it kills you!

New Year with a New Journey

This day has come! The beginning of the new year has become the beginning of our new journey, the beginning of a new stage of our project Sail for Science. Two months of intense work on the boat in conditions of constant heat, frequent rains and lack of ocean breeze are over, we are free to sail wherever we want. We decided to sail west, exploring new islands and countries, and conducting CTD measurements along the South of the Caribbean Sea. In the first leg it will be Panama, and there we will decide where to go next – the Panama Canal and the Pacific Ocean, or the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

We are heading for the remote Venezuelan Islas Los Testidos- a 100-mile night crossing. The weather is windy and choppy, but everything is fair, even the rain:)

We are on the water!

It happened – we are on the water! We planned to launch on December 23, but right before that the traveler lift broke down. One could imagine our disappointment, after two months of intense work on repairing the boat, to find ourselves on one day separating us from the cherished goal. Christmas holidays were approaching and the lift repairmen were in no hurry to work, only after almost a week the lift started working again – we were first in line, not believing our luck. According to preliminary information, the lift was supposed to be in operation only in the New Year. Thanks to everyone, especially to the lift operator Omar for the excellent job!