Captain's Log Page 9

Tideline Yacht Sales
17 Lockwood Drive
Charleston, SC 29401

PHONE: 843.813.3711
FAX: 866.467.8840
Email: glen@tidelineyachtsales.com

      We found the island and its inhabitants to be interesting and inviting. The beach is the primary attraction for the majority of the visitors, but most cruisers tend to explore the interior. It probably has something to do with the fact that we are surrounded by water all the time.

The main downtown area would not look out of place on 5th Ave in New York, and has all the boutique stores, restaurants and entertainment commensurate with a modern city. We made the most of all the facilities available, and stocked up on all the necessities. Our next port of call was Cumana. This is the first city founded on South American soil, in 1521, by Gonzalo de Ocampo. The city itself has not retained much of its colonial origins, and has had to be rebuilt at least three times. There were major hurricanes in 1684, 1765, and 1929, and each time much of the city was rebuilt.

We were anchored off Castillo de Araya, a huge Spanish fort that was built in the 17th Century to protect the salt pans that had been discovered. The Dutch needed the salt for their herrings, and the Spanish considered the Caribbean their domain. To protect their interests they built their most expensive fort, and this effectively kept the Dutch out. However, in the late 18th Century the pans were flooded by the hurricane, and the fort was damaged by an earthquake. Because the pans were flooded, the Spanish did not want the fort to fall into enemy hands. They used all the available gunpowder to blow up the fort. The results were not what they had hoped for, and visitors today can still see most of the fort.

Although there was still a lot more to see and do, we decided to move on as we needed to consider the time. We were planning on heading up the chain of islands, and had not even left Venezuela. Our next stop was Puerto La Cruz.

Puerto la Cruz is a friendly port city that bustles 24 hours. The promenade is lined with restaurants and clubs, and is very lively. We anchored next to "Three Ships" in front of the city, and had a wonderful view from the water of Puerto La Cruz.

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