Imagine getting dropped off an uninhabited desert island with only your kite gear, then spending the day downwinding in 20+ knots from island to island to island, over crystal clear, shallow flat Caribbean-blue water. We did that and much more during our recent scouting trip to Venezuela, solidly placing it in our Top 5 list of must-see destinations.
Last month we decided to scout Venezuela as a possible new destination. Whereas Brazil's windy season runs July-January, the islands off the coast of Venezuela blow December-June, with the most consistent wind being March, April and May.
After arriving at the airport in Caracas, our first mission was to exchange money. As it turns out, the Venezuelan government has fixed their currency against the dollar at a rate of about 2,150 bolivars to the dollar, so if you try to take out money via ATM, which is typically the best method of exchange in most countries of the world, you're stuck with that rate. The actual free-market rate is much higher of course, and there's a vibrant black market for US currency in Venezuela, with rates fluctuating as high as 4,000+ bolivars/dollar. We managed to find a trader in the airport who spoke only Spanish and worked out a deal for 3,500 bolivars/dollar. This is somewhat risky business for them, as these guys are looking out to make sure they don't catch the eye of the many military police patrolling the airport. Our next challenge was making our way from the International terminal to the domestic, which meant walking outside along the airport road about the distance of 2-3 city blocks. We made it safely and checked in for our flight to Porlamar on the island of Margarita. [Note: for Kite Adventures tours, our guide will greet you as you arrive at the International terminal in Caracas, exchange your money, and escort you to the domestic terminal, accompanying you for the duration of the trip.]
After the brief 30-minute flight, we arrived in Porlamar. Alejandro, the local guide we'd been working with to design this adventure greeted us at the airport and drove us the less than 10 minute drive to El Yaque, a spot famous amongst windsurfers for decades due to the strong consistent wind there. We checked into our beachfront hotel, grabbed a snack and went down for the night. The wind was already blowing hard at 10AM during breakfast the next morning. We made our way up to the kite beach, paid for a lounge chair so we could leave our belongings safely and rigged up our 7m and 9m kites. The launch here is a bit sketchy as it's directly in a wind shadow behind a hill, but windsurfers still clearly control this beach and the kiters have apparently taken what they could get. Once out on the water, the wind was very strong (slightly overpowered) and it provided a great warm-up session for our trip. The conditions here are chop, and the wind can get fairly gusty in the afternoons. In terms of the three locations we visited on the tour, it was our least favorite, but similar to our Cumbuco stop with our Brazil tour, it's serves it's purpose -- it's very close to the airport, the wind is reliable, and there's a number of good options for eating and partying at night. Before the day was over, Alejandro had made arrangements for a guy named Paba to escort us by boat as we downwinded to Isla da Coche first thing the next morning.
After waking up early the next morning, had a quick breakfast and headed up the beach. We pumped up our 9m and 12m kites, and headed downwind across the channel (12km) towards Coche, with Paba hanging back behind us in his boat, to make sure we made it safely. When we started out, Coche was a faint outline on the horizon. We arrived at Coche about 40 minutes later and made our way to the downwind-most point of the island and around the jetty that protects the bay where most people kite. We kited out of the dark choppy water of the channel into into a perfectly flat, Caribbean-blue bay. The wind here is directly offshore, and during the day boats provide rescues for a small fee should anyone have trouble getting back upwind. The wind however is very steady and because it blows offshore and the bay is protected from the channel by the jetty, the water close to shore stays very very flat. Just as we arrived in the bay, the wind dropped quite a bit and weren't able to make any headway upwind. We dropped our kites and Paba shuttled us to shore where we waited for the wind to pick up. I also needed to repair a leader line and a bladder. Fortunately former British pro rider Chris Valentine has his shop and school on the beach and had me fixed up in no time. By noon the wind was hitting low to mid 20s and we were back on our 7s and 9s for the rest of the day, kiting for nearly 4 hours straight. After we were sufficiently wiped out, we headed back to El Yaque by boat with Alejandro. After a quick shower, we went out for a traditional Venezuelan meal. The place was packed and the line out the door, but Alejandro knew the owner so we were seated immediately, and had a great meal.
We got to bed early so we could get up at 4:30AM to head to the airport on our way to Los Roques via Caracas. If this were an actual tour, we would have spent a couple nights in Coche, but as we were just scouting the areas, we kept our time there brief. After two quick 30-minute flights we landed in Los Roques around 10AM. Roques is an archipelago of Venezuela, a former fishing outpost turned national park, and one of the most amazing places we've ever kited. Despite the consistent wind, it's not well known as a kiting destination, and during our three days there we only saw 4 other kites, all on the first day. The multitude of islands and sandbars are protected by a big barrier reef, so it's primarily flat, crystal-clear shallow water, and white sandy beaches. It reminded me more of Fiji than the Caribbean. Kiting is not allowed on Gran Roques because of the proximity to the aircraft taking off a landing, so you need to take boat shuttles to the various other islands in the archipelago. There are two nice sunset chill-out bars on the beach that we went to each of the three nights after kiting. There's also a range of options for dining on Roques, from an inexpensive pizza/pasta place owned by a Venezuelan who was brought up in Florida to a more expensive (but worth it) on-the-water restaurant serving traditionally prepared local seafood. Alejandro knows everyone and was incredibly helpful in directing us to the best places. It's rare here to find anyone who speaks English so having Alejandro around to arrange everything, especially coordinating our boats to drop us off and pick us up around the islands was absolutely essential.
The three days we kited there were all fantastic. On day 1, after a quick nap following our flight, we got shuttled by boat up to one of the islands upwind of Gran Roques. We arrived with all of our gear and a cooler with water, beer, and lunch on a small sandy island facing an enormous shallow flat-water bay. The wind was blowing 25+, and we rode for a few hours on our 7m and 5m. On day 2, we went further upwind and our boatman took our pumps, bags, and cooler to the island from the day before. We were on our 9m and 7m, fully powered all day long in super-steady wind. Alejandro gave us a downwind tour for a few hours, traversing from island to island, eventually arriving back in the bay where we kited the day before. We stopped to eat lunch and then had another quick session before our ride home. Our third and last day started with a quick shuttle across the channel to a nearby island where we set up our gear and embarked on a 12km downwind across the channel to the most beautiful island and bay we'd seen yet. The wind was lighter today, so we were on our 12m and 9m. There's a restaurant on this island that only serves lunch (fresh fish and lobster) to those in the know, who put their reservation in a few hours early. Alejandro made his way over immediately upon our arrival at 10:30, and we enjoyed an amazing feast when they served lunch at 1PM. We took a few last tacks late into the afternoon until our ride came to take us back to Roques for the last time.
We left Venezuela wishing we could have stayed longer, but elated that we'd found such an incredible place. We'll be back for sure!