Islas de Aves are two separate little island archipelagos, (Aves de Barlavento and Aves de Sotavento) separated by about 10 miles of deep water. They got their name from the large number of birds that make them their home. The birds live in the dense mangrove forests on the larger islands.
On the way there we got the spinnaker out again - loving this downwind sailing!
Once again we had put the fishing lines out. Just as we were approaching Islas de Aves, we had a load of birds (boobies) circling above us
– maybe we had finally caught a fish!!! I felt the line – yes it was taught, we had caught something!! Steve took over as the fisherman, reeling in the fish as we took in the sails. I ran to get a bucket to put the fish in. It was looking long and thin as Steve pulled it in. What was it? A tuna? mahi mahi? No, it was a ………… bird……. A booby to be exact.
Needless to say neither fish or poultry were on the menu that night!!
Our first stop was the first of the 2 islands, Aves de Barlavento. After we anchored up we took a dingy ride to the island – the landing was in a little clearing in the mangroves.
We saw a bird nesting near by
and lots of hermit crabs. On one side of the island there are mangroves and then on the other, is reefs and stones. We saw an area where all the visiting boats inscribe their boat name on a stone.
Many species of birds live on the island but boobies predominate – we saw red footed boobies. While in the dingy, birds would circle us almost landing on our heads. A quote from the guidebook: “do not anchor too close to the shore as you will probably get splattered by defecating birds and bitten by bugs” – we were fine where we anchored. Surprisingly there were 3 other sailing boats in the bay.
The following day, we sailed about 2 hours over to Aves de Sotavento. We decided not to put the fishing lines out again! Some friends had told us we would not see any officials in Aves. We anchored in a beautiful horseshoe white sandy beach bay.
We heard some repeated calling on the radio – I recognized the word “catamaran”. We had anchored off the coastguard station bay!!
A few minutes later we were visited by 4 Aves de Sotavento coastguard who must be bored out of their minds with this station!! They came on board, took all our boat and passport particulars, checked our safety equipment, took a look around the boat, enjoyed the cola and peanuts we offered them and then left, with the only stipulation that we could not stay in that beautiful bay!!
We motored around the corner, through the reefs, to Mangrove Bay. Out in the dingy we saw some turtles and rays.
The following morning and an early start. We motored 3 miles over to another of the islands, Curricai, in the archipelago, with a beautiful long white sandy beach.
A dinghy ride ashore for an hour or two and then we set sail for Bonaire, 40 miles away. Very soon we were having another beautiful down wind spinnaker run. We made excellent time with speeds up to 11 knots!
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