Los Roques

Check in at Gran Roque:

We arrived around 2pm and checked in the next morning. Our boat is a 45 foot monohull with 2 adults and one child on board.

It cost us $260USD in total for the 2 weeks we spent here.

• $200USD for a 14 day cruising permit;
• $40USD for check in;
• $20USD to check out at the same time (to save a long windward beat).

In hindsight this was the cheapest 2 weeks cruising we have done, with very little else to spend your money on.

Anchorage notes:

Anchorage at Gran Roque (11 56.75N, 66 40.85W)

• 3-4m over mostly sand with occasional small coral heads.
• A little exposed to strong SE winds and chop.
• Amazing amount of bird and fish feeding activity at this anchorage.
• Very friendly captain (William) on a 50′ charter boat often here and super helpful.
• Fruit and veg available most mornings on the waterfront outside the basketball court, or 4-5 small /markets for basic supplies – fresh fruit and veg is actually pretty cheap. Several bakeries at southern end of town with white loaves ($1) and sweet treats a plenty.
• Everything closed during siesta.
• Free WiFi in the town square and excellent hand-made ice creams in a small kitesurf apparel shop at the east side of the main square.

Francesky Anchorage (11 57.49N, 66 38.8649W)

• Tight and relatively shallow entrance (we draw 2.5m and we were fine), should only be attempted with good visibility and light.
• Very protected anchorage in 5-10m with sand/seagrass bottom.
• Great restaurant on beach in front of anchorage, lunchtime food and drinks, music and a lovely outlook, with reasonably cheap local food.
• A short walk from the beach to the NE side of the island brings you to the ‘pool’ which is great for snorkeling and has the underwater virgin statue, and lots of fish in the lagoon.
• The island has lots of friendly lizards that will happily come up to you and climb your legs or hands if you sit still long enough!

Noronqui del Media Anchorage (11 55.5N, 66 44.78W)

• As another boat had the preferred anchorage inside the atoll, we anchored at the western end of the island in 6m.
• Mostly sand with patches of old coral with live soft coral on top.
• Don’t anchor closer as there are lots of shallower coral heads, and your anchor and chain will ruin the soft corals prevalent in the water that is less than 6m deep.

Caranero Eastern End Anchorage (11 53.15N, 66 50.68W)

• There are two small inlets here, the more eastern of the two is much smaller, open to the SE and provides little shelter from the wind – we didn’t check the holding.
• We anchored in the more west of the two anchorage in 5m over seagrass, surrounded by mangroves.
• There is a mooring in the northern corner of unknown security, but very close to the mangroves – you’d need to be a small shoal-draft vessel to utilise safely.
• This was a very well protected anchorage with good holding in sand, and would provide protection from all angles, but a little exposed to strong wind from the South.

Mosquisas (11 47.8N, 66 53.67W)

• In good light you can get in over the shallow reef to the WSW of the anchorage.
• Anchor in 3-4m over sand and seagrass.
• Sheltered from E sector winds, but exposed in others.
• There’s a turtle sanctuary and hatchery ashore and when staffed they will happily show you around.
• Water is turbid so it’s not great snorkeling.

Bequeve

• There are a number of places to anchor here in 3-5m, mostly in sand.
• You need good light and attention to the depth sounder to navigate between the islands and inside the lagoon.
• Unless you are in the lee of one of the islands the anchorage is pretty rolly, but good holding.
• There is a heap of fish and bird life around.

Other notes on Los Roques:

• This visit was the highlight of our 2 years cruising to date, and comes highly recommended as a place to visit if you appreciate good snorkeling, wildlife and nature. It’s the only place we have cruised that there are constantly pelicans crashing into the water beside your boat fishing!
• Very, very friendly and helpful people everywhere – it was a pleasure to converse with the local Venezuelans who appreciated being here as much as we did.
• We saw 4 other cruising yachts our entire time and several local charter yachts.
• Bring as much USD cash as you think you may need as most places don’t take credit card. A few shops do and you need to give them your passport number to enter into the eftpos machine. The ATM was locked when we were there.
• Groceries – there are a few small grocery stores on Gran Roque selling both fresh produce and dry goods. We only bought produce and were surprised how inexpensive it was (not the freshest but ok). E.g. $5USD for 2 dozen eggs, $3USD for a cabbage, capsicum, cucumber and a big bunch of bananas.

Los Aves

Check in at Los Aves:

Expect a visit from the officials, who will ask for food and drinks. We gave them some of our olive oil (which is like gold here), a couple of bottles and cans of Coke and beer, and provided them with snacks while they were aboard for an hour doing paperwork.

Notes on Los Aves:

• Again, there are lots of fish and bird life.
• Local fisherman asked us for water and gave us fish in return. I believe they will also trade diesel or petrol (which is very very cheap for them) for water, 1 for 1, so you would do well if you have a watermaker on board. I can’t vouch for the quality of fuel that they provide, but they are very friendly and appreciative of water.

Tim & Kath Riding More
SV Patea

Related Content: 

Venezuela, Los Roques: Cruising Los Roques – Fears Unfounded (2019)

Cruising Los Roques – Feedback from cruisers (2018)

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The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of Noonsite.com or World Cruising Club.