Avoiding Venezuela

[YesIsail]

Ive done that and left from Dominica, Portsmouth in the north of the island and the street market is the best and cheapest place to buy vegetables and other food you will need from your passage mmmm delicious mango, avocado.... Wind was around 25 knots almost all the way, we just had a bit of our genoa out, fishing is really good, we scored some big Mahi Mahi and tuna, in fact we had to stop fishing because we had so much...

I didn´t see any other boat apart form big oil tankers, some of them are on automatic pilot and dont care about sailboats, so be alert.

No troubles at all, stayed at around 200 miles from Venezuela.

[Emerald Sea]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

Each to their own but the fear factor involved here is way overdone in my opinion.

The prudent sailor will steer a wide berth in troubled areas. Do drop us an email when (if) you get back as you wave past the Venezuelan locals.

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by Emerald Sea

The prudent sailor will steer a wide berth in troubled areas. Do drop us an email when (if) you get back as you wave past the Venezuelan locals.

I understand people's fears but most of these fears are made up and then embellished by even more sailors as the drinks start flying. I'm not sure the average person is even a good judge of risk. To my knowledge there has not been a single incidence of boats being boarded off the Venezuelan coast so why all the fear, we are not talking about Somalia here. I'm not sure what being prudent means considering that the ABC islands are just as close to Venezuela as the most offshore Venezuelan Islands are or very close to it. The closer you get to the ABC's the closer you get to Venezuela so being prudent it might be best to give the ABC islands a pass and sail direct to Colombia, then of course there are those that think Colombia is not safe either. Best stay in the Eastern Caribbean and tell stories to each other on why staying there is the prudent thing.

[robert sailor]

Not trying to be a dick but one of the ABC islands is about 19 miles from Venezuela so as you sail there you are getting closer and closer to Venezuela. The Venezuelan island of Los Roques is about 75 miles off the mainland. Why is the perceived safety so different between the 2 of them?

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

I understand people's fears but most of these fears are made up and then embellished by even more sailors as the drinks start flying. I'm not sure the average person is even a good judge of risk. To my knowledge there has not been a single incidence of boats being boarded off the Venezuelan coast so why all the fear, we are not talking about Somalia here. ............

Search for the Explorer boarding on noonsite. So at least one. Totally agree you can't go to Bonaire without being near Venezuela. For us I just don't see why you'd want to take the risk of stopping in Venezuela now. There's lot of other places to enjoy and the passage from the eastern Carib to Bonaire is great downwind sail.

[robert sailor]

Ok I guess 3 years ago might be considered recent but these folks were less than 5 miles off the coast of mainland Venezuela and I certainly have never recommended that, to the contrary I have suggested not sailing close to the mainland or its larger inhabited islands. That aside I still think it doesn't make sense to try and stay 200 miles away from Venezuela and then sailing within 20 or 30 miles of the mainland while heading to the ABC's, what am I missing here. As a balanced comparison, 2 boats were boarded enroute between Grenada and Trinidad. Has this stopped people from sailing to either island....I doubt it as neither has the bs mystique that Venezuela has, plus there are hundreds of cruisers in both locations that remind timid folks that it's probably ok to make the trip. Probably lots more buddy boating going on but that's a good idea if you feel you need more security. I'm just suggesting that just maybe traveling from Trinidad or Grenada to the ABC islands is reasonably safe, why? Because no one to date has been boarded on that leg.

[Paul L]

I agree with you that it is reasonably safe to travel from Grenada to Bonaire also. I'm not sure I agree there are hundreds of boats cruising Venezuela now, at least not forgiegn ones. My point was no real need to stop at the Venezuela out islands on this trip. We did the passage 18 months ago and didn't stop. I have previously gone as far as Margarita, but that was a long time ago. No histeria, just balancing options and risks - there's not enough time to cruise everywhere.

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by Paul L

I agree with you that it is reasonably safe to travel from Grenada to Bonaire also. I'm not sure I agree there are hundreds of boats cruising Venezuela now, at least not forgiegn ones. My point was no real need to stop at the Venezuela out islands on this trip. We did the passage 18 months ago and didn't stop. I have previously gone as far as Margarita, but that was a long time ago. No histeria, just balancing options and risks - there's not enough time to cruise everywhere.

I'm not sure where the hundreds of boats are either, a few dozen probably at best in a year, maybe less. No you don't have to stop at Venezuela, few do actually but Bonaire has great diving and I could easily do a month there. Next time I'd spend a bit longer at Santa Marta as well, nice place with great night life. Colombia was fantastic, all in all. That whole side of town (western Caribbean) has a lot going for it and pound for pound more interesting in my mind that the Eastern side. We are in Guatemala right now, just arrived and not sure where to go from here.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

I'm not sure where the hundreds of boats are either, a few dozen probably at best in a year, maybe less. No you don't have to stop at Venezuela, few do actually but Bonaire has great diving and I could easily do a month there. Next time I'd spend a bit longer at Santa Marta as well, nice place with great night life. Colombia was fantastic, all in all. That whole side of town (western Caribbean) has a lot going for it and pound for pound more interesting in my mind that the Eastern side. We are in Guatemala right now, just arrived and not sure where to go from here.

Yea, we spent our max allowed 90 days in Bonaire. Can't beat the diving. Cartegena was good too.

[GordMay]

➥ 'We're living worse than in a war': Venezuela's deepening economic crisis - World - CBC News

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by GordMay

➥ 'We're living worse than in a war': Venezuela's deepening economic crisis - World - CBC News

It's terrible that these lovely people are having to go through this, it will be years before this gets squared away.

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

Not trying to be a dick but one of the ABC islands is about 19 miles from Venezuela so as you sail there you are getting closer and closer to Venezuela. The Venezuelan island of Los Roques is about 75 miles off the mainland. Why is the perceived safety so different between the 2 of them?

The problems in Venezuela are inherently political. People are hungry because of food shortages, and the food shortages are the direct result of Venezuelan price controls.

Islands off the coast that are subject to Venezuelan price controls might reasonably expected to be dealing with shortages, islands that are not would most likely not.