100nm to the West of Guadeloupe lies a sand bank, just about 700 meters long and 70 meters wide. After a season with quite crowded anchorages in the Caribbean, we were hoping that this stop would provide us with some quiet days to relax and explore a site that is really off the beaten path.
Most sailors don’t stop at Isla de Aves, as the island is not an official entry point into Venezuela. There is little information to be found about the island, and all we knew before arriving, was that there was (or used to be?) a military base there. But, we did not know if it was still in operation.
As we arrived, we noticed the quite large building on the island, but there was no activity that we could see. We did notice, however, two dinghies sitting on the island, which meant that there might be someone there. And, we thought right. Right after we had dropped our anchor, four men exited the building, and started to put one of the dinghies on the water.
We were visited by two friendly military guys, Jesus and Andres. They spoke only Spanish, so the admiral’s Spanish was put to good use. They had some questions on the boat, crew and our float plan, and checked our papers. As this is not a port of entry, we did not receive any documentation, but they did put all the info in their own binder.
They informed us that we were most welcome to stay, and that it was two weeks since the last sailboat visited the island. They also informed us that there was a total of eight people working on the base, and that they were there for seven weeks at a time. And, they invited us to a tour later on. This warm welcoming was not what we expected, and we were immediately taken by their hospitality.
The ownership of this tiny island has been disputed many times throughout history, between the Netherlands, England and Venezuela. It was Isabel ll of Spain who acted as judge when it finally was appointed to Venezuela in xxxx. It might have helped that Venezuela at that time was a colony of Spain 😊
With the ownership of the landmass comes an ocean territory that ranges an extra 200nm around the island, making Venezuela’s marine economic zone tremendously large.
The guided tour lead to an invitation to have lunch with the crew the following day, which was a Sunday, and slow day. We were asked to bring something to drink, preferably alcohol. Gin tonic for lunch turned out to be very popular, and a first taste for most of the crew. And, we got to try Arepas, a traditional Venezuelan dish, that is served in many different versions. Lovely!
We were still truly amazed by the hospitality the crew as well as the Commandante showed us. We were initially thinking of staying a couple of nights, but were soon invited to stay more nights. One of the guys had his birthday in not too long, and as we had supplied them with flour and sugar for the cake, they would like to invite us for his birthday party on Friday evening. Which meant spending another five nights on the island.
The captain checked the weather forecast, and we decided to take them up on their invitation. This meant we had plenty of time to explore the island’s pristine waters, as well as spending some more time onshore. Over the next few days we had an awesome time hanging out with these open hearted guys.
The last night we celebrated the 22nd birthday of Antonio, the crew’s youngest member. We were just a tad older than the crew, which was from 22-32. But, we had a really fun night playing dominos and comparing music across borders.
We left the following morning, after spending one week at the island. Our original plan was not to stop in Venezuela at all, and we were so happy that we changed our minds. We left the island and the crew truly mesmerized by the warm people and the beautiful nature, and couldn’t wait to explore the next islands on our plan, Los Roques.
