T&T: Venezuela

[Milt Baker]

Judy and I spent five months in Venezuela aboard our Nordhavn 47, arriving
last December and departing in April, and we agree with most of what Dave
wrote.  It's a terrific place to visit, but, still, it's a Third World country
with an anti-American strongman president with all that portends.

Here are a few of our observations:

--There's a strong case to be made that Venezuela is a hopelessly
dysfunctional country, but the sunny days, low humidity, balmy tradewinds, and
friendly natives make it an enticing destination for cruising yachties.
Another serious benefit: there aren't many places in the world where the
dollar is very strong, but Venezuela is one of them.  Twenty dollars (plus
lunch) buys a full day of service from an excellent "boat boy," generally a
strong guy in his 30s or 40s who's been working on boats for years and has
many boat skills.  Our main man, William, did first class work for
us--washing, waxing, cleaning, polishing and painting.  He worked hard and
delivered an honest day's work.

--We berthed Bluewater at Maremares Marina, in the El Morro Lagoon.  When we
were there it was the most expensive of the marinas in the lagoon, and our
dockage including water, electricity, cable TV, phone and slow dialup Internet
service: about $525/month for a Med mooring.  I believe that's increased
slightly since we left.  Maremares is an excellent marina, but it's fallen on
hard times and there's much deferred maintenance.  The lagoon would remind you
of Fort Lauderdale.  Marinas, boat yards, shopping centers, and private homes
with boats out front share the lagoon, which is patrolled for security by the
Guardia Nacional and which is always buzzing with boat traffic.  Weekends find
it filled with dozens of Venezuelan boats, virtually all of the power boats
boasting shapely bikini-babes, out on daycruises.  On the other hand, the
foreign cruisers are nearly all sailors, and their babes and skippers are a
bit longer in the tooth.  Of perhaps a couple of hundred foreign cruising
yachts here, no more than a dozen or so are power boats.

--Security is one word on all Venezuela cruisers' lips; a lot of attention is
paid to security issues.  El Presidente Chavez' intense dislike for President
Bush notwithstanding, most Venezuelans love Americans and recognize that
therebs a difference between Americans and their government.  From our
limited perspective it seems unlikely that Americans will be made unwelcome in
Venezuela any time soon--there's just too much American infrastructure,
including a large American oil company presence which plays a crucial role in
getting valuable Venezuelan crude out of the ground, refined, and out to world
markets and keeping hard currency flowing into the country.  Still, Venezuela
is is a country where only a shadow of the middle class remains, and everyone
knows it takes a real middle class to support a democracy.  From what we could
see, the vast majority of Venezuelabs residents are desperately poor and a
very few are wealthy.  Where there is poverty there is also its partner,
crime.  On advice from friends lived aboard their Grand Banks in Venezuela for
two years, we did not wear gold or silver jewelry away from the boat, and we
carried only the cash we need for the next few hours.  There are areas, some
right outside some of the marinas here, where we would not dare go on foot in
the daytime, much less at night.   When it comes to security, a little common
sense here seems to go a long way.

--We never used credit cards in Venezuela because credit cards are charged at
the official rate, and the unofficial or black market rate is typically about
20% better than the official rate.  In effect, paying cash for everything gave
us a 20% bonus on everything we paid for.  Although it is legal to change
money only at banks, we asked around, found a ready corps of Venezuelans ready
to change money for us at "street" rates, and generally tried to change it
$1000 or more at a time.  Inflation is rampant in Venezuela, so it's best not
to have too much local currency.

--We did a fair amount of coastal cruising, but always in company with other
boats.  Anchoring our alone is a no-no in Venezuela.  The evidence shows that
"banditos" freqently board boats anchored alone; while the aim is usually
robbery, rape and murder are not unknown.  In fact, the anchorage area at
"Marina Juan" on Isla Margarita is adjacent to a barrio with rampant poverty
and crime, and there seems to be at least one dinghy theft or boarding there
every week.   We visited Mochima several times, Isla Margarita twice (using
the marina near the Hilton), Cumana, the Gulf of Cariaco, Isla Tortuga and
Islas las Roques--all without any security problems at all.  And the cruising
is terrific!  Except for the last two, we were always in company with other
boats.  Getting out to the islands (Isla Margarita excepted) seems to be
completely safe because they are too far from the hotbeds of poverty and the
banditos don't go there.  We spent weeks in the islands and loved our time
there.

--Provisioning in Puerto la Cruz is first-rate, according to Judy, the
supermarket maven.  We were fortunate to have a huge U.S.-style supermarket
b
Unacasab
 about 15 minutes away by dinghy, and another smaller but
excellent supermarket b
Fijorcab
 10-15 minutes by cab.  While you wonbt
find everything you can find at Publix on 17th Street in Fort Lauderdale,
youbll find close to 90%.  Judy was delighted to find fresh packaged arugula
and tasty fresh tangerines and tomatoes, for example, not to mention packaged
Tropicana-style orange juice and deli turkey by the liter or b
media litreb

(half liter) as she buys it.  And prices for most provisions were far less
than Stateside prices.  We compared a local carbonated orange drink to one
made in the U.S.; although they had different names, both were made by Coca
Cola and they tasted identical and the Venezuelan product was about half
price.  No wonder cruisers coming down the Caribbean chain feel like theybve
reached heaven when they get to Puerto la Cruz!

--We enjoyed wonderful Argentinian and Columbian wine at less than half what
we'd pay in the USA.  Local rum, very good quality, is $1.56 a liter!   And
the local beer, as Dave mentioned, comes in tiny cans (one friend calls them
"training beers) and is reported excellent.  Venezuelans are big beer drinkers
and there's plenty of beer to go around.

--On fuel, the good news is that it's really cheap.  In fact, I don't see how
they can get it out of the ground, transport it, refine it, transport it
again, and deliver it to you at a marina for 7.5 cents a gallon, but that's
what happens.  However, the paper chase to get the "permisos" for fuel are
endless, the rules always changing, and one is never sure one can get the fuel
needed until it's in the tank.  We tried to keep our tanks full, but it was a
contining battle.  Speaking good Spanish (which I don't) helps a lot, and
having a pretty wife or daughter who speaks excellent Spanish works miracles!
Still, there was one time when we sorely needed fuel that we had to resort to
a little "tip" to oil the machinery. But only once.

--We had one of our best haulouts ever at PMO in Puerto la Cruz.  The 100-ton
Travelift was in excellent repair and had no difficulty with our 100,000 lb.
boat, the work done was of high quality, everything contracted for was done on
time, the workers worked hard and had a good sense of humor, and the boat was
launched on time as promised (though barely).  The bill was exactly what was
estimated.  Security in the yard was excellent.

Bottom line: our winter in Venezuela was a wonderful experience and we hope to
return someday.  We loved the laid-back Venezuelan lifestyle, the savory meals
we had in so many excelent restaurants at a fraction of what we'd have paid in
the USA, learned enough Spanish (with twice-weekly personal lessons from a
tutor) to be get along well, really liked getting to know the many Venezuelan
friends we made, saw a bit of the country, and gained a real appreciation for
Venezuela and its culture and beauty.

--Milt Baker, Nordhavn 47 Bluewater, Solomons, MD


Dave Cooper wrote:

Many folk have asked privately for an update on our Venezuelan experience so
far. So I thought it might be of interest to the general list. This will be
as brief as possible!