Off to lovely Venezuela...

In a few hours we will be pulling the hook and setting sail for Venezuela. The last few days have been spent completing a couple of small projects and doing lots of research on where to go safely for fuel. Venezuela has earned a rough reputation thanks in part to attacks by pirates earlier this year. The plan is to head to Isla Margarita, the largest offshore Venezuelan island and possibly stay there a few days. At this point it is hard to tell as the weather does not look like it is going to cooperate towards the end of the week. The weather models are showing 35 plus knots of sustained wind starting on Wed and several squalls are expected with 50 knots or more. Our best weather window to get down there and get fuel is to leave tonight at around 10 PM and I anticipate it taking no more than 30 hours in a worse case scenario. I suspect we will probably arrive just before sunset tomorrow as we will be running with the wind and current. I'm not sure what the internet situation is down there so it may not be until the weekend or the beginning of next week when I return to Grenada and can update progress. If things work out well there are a couple of local attractions that we are going to try and see, one being the worlds largest waterfall, Angel Falls. I'm not too worried about safety in regards to piracy or thieves. There is a large local cruising community and since the attacks earlier in the year the security has been heightened. Unfortunately, it's probably just as dangerous to park your car in a bad neighborhood in Los Angeles or Fresno, hell, my truck was broken into while I was in Vegas and it was sitting on the driveway of my home in a "safe" yuppie neighborhood in Clovis. The reality is that anywhere can be dangerous and I feel confident that as long as I take the necessary precautions Venezuela is going to be enjoyable for a few days. I will be taking down the American Flag as well as keeping anything valuable locked up tight in the boat. The big thing is dinghy security and although I'm not sure anyone would want this little red rocket, I will be securing that tightly every night as well. Last check showed diesel fuel at 8 cents a liter or 32 cents a gallon. So we are locked and loaded. Jaymie and I made a quick market run this afternoon to stock up on necessary provisions. The good news there is that we chose a perfect time and probably a mile from the store it started dumping rain on us so we were treated to shopping in a freezing cold store while we were soaked. Luckily this time, there was a taxi available and we weren't forced to carry all the groceries back like freaking Sherpas. Got a few parts at the boat store, refilled our drinking water jug, got some ice and once we were back onboard we got everything stowed and the boat ready for sailing. Hopefully by this time tomorrow night we should just about be safely anchored up in the harbor outside Porlamar in Margarita. On the flip side of the coin, if you don't hear from me by next week I fully expect someone to start a campaign to free me from whatever hellish Venezuelan jail they throw me in. I hear customs can be an interesting experience so we'll see. Puss in Boots, I know you have hook ups and primos everywhere so e-mail me your connection down there in case I need to bribe some corrupt official. It's been a while since Puerto Rico so let's hope my limited Spanish is up to the task. Take it easy