After stocking up with rum and beer (150 bottles rum, 12 cases of beer) and lowering our waterline significantly, we headed for La Blanquilla. In order to do a straight shot there from Margarita, we had to move from Porlamar anchorage to Juan Griego which were told was the only other safe anchorage on the island.
Paul & Joyce had wanted to leave on Thursday for Juan Griego (they had all their provisions and had managed to buy all the rum they needed) but because our rum supplies hadn't arrived in full, we needed to stay on one more day. We pointed out that their going ahead by themselves was possibly not a good idea on the basis of safety and security (this was the ONLY place in the Caribbean where we buddy boated for safety and security - all the other places we were together just for fun and laughs and company) so it was a very important point. We didn't think they should go on ahead by themselves and I know we didn't want to go to Juan Griego by ourselves or to La Blanquilla, so we made a decision that if they were going to go on ahead without us, we'd simply go straight up to St. Thomas, which would be the safest route out of there if we were on our own. Everyone had warned us that these parts could be a little dicey, so naturally I was concerned. I guess we made a good point because they thought about it and agreed to wait for us - PHEW!!!! Turns out it was a really good thing - as you'll see as you read on.
Fortunately the rum arrived first thing Friday morning and they also picked up a couple of extra cases, so at 10 am on Friday 24th April, we all left Porlamar together and headed the 30 miles to Juan Griego. Along the way we discovered a leak in our waterpipes (a hose had come off) so again we lost all our water into the bilges. Fortunately we knew that Paul could give us some of his water (he's a real saviour!!!) so when we arrived in Juan Griego, we tied the two boats together (which took some doing) and Paul's water hose fitted right into our water tank so we got about 100 litres that way - thanks Paul, we so appreciated your help!
About 5 pm that day (it was a Friday, can't remember the exact date), a GuardaCosta boat came out with 4 youths on it (all in their late teens) wearing camo gear. They tied up to our boat, not asking permission, and all four boarded us quickly, barely allowing us time to get our fenders out, telling us they needed to do paperwork. I was nervous and called Paul on the vhf to let him know what was going on, and the four guys came down below and searched our boat from top to toe. I can't say it was a comfortable feeling, I had only got my p.j's on at the time so had to rush around looking for a shirt to put on as they came down below, but they didn't care about that. I don't speak Spanish so fortunately P's Spanish was enough to get us by but they looked everywhere, opened every cupboard, every locker, every lazarette, asked all sorts of questions, asked about our alcohol (due to our leak we had all our provisions, cans, tins, jars and bottles out on the table drying), played with the airhorn (made me jump out of my skin, they laughed like crazy), played with our binoculars and just hung around. While not exactly threatening us in any way, we were well aware of the power they had and they intended to show it to us. They showed no respect to the boat, clumping all over our cushions with their big boots, looking in the dinghy and seeing if everything was tied down (it was). We had no firearms fortunately so after an hour, they filled out some paperwork and left. We think that they wanted to see if there was any stuff they could pilfer or come back for later, anything that wasn't secured. Fortunately all our stuff was very secure, we didn't have any firearms so they couldn't confiscate anything and they left empty handed.
They went to LadyH and boarded them. Paul carries a shotgun on the boat and they asked him if he was armed, he of course said yes and showed them the weapon. They tried to confiscate it (Joyce speaks some Spanish and refused to relinquish it, although the coastguard was well within their rights to take it away as it had not been declared.) They told Paul and Joyce that they needed to go ashore to see the big boss. Again Joyce said no, if your boss needs to see us, bring him here. The guards weren't too sure how to handle that, but they took some of the shotgun shells and tried to load the gun. What a disaster if they had managed to load it. Joyce put her foot down and said absolutely NO WAY, you will not load the gun. Anyway, after some very uncomfortable moments, the guards put the gun down and told Paul and Joyce that they were going to give them a gift by letting them keep their gun. In return, Paul and Joyce must give them a gift, and took a bottle of Kahlua and a lot of chocolate. They also confiscated Paul's extra shotgun shells. Then they left. If they had loaded the shotgun, who knows what would have happened, what their purpose was, but even if they were just doing it as a joke, they seemed so immature and childish that they probably would have accidentally shot either one of themselves or Paul and Joyce - it doesn't bear thinking about.
And yes, we had been warned about petty theft in Juan Griego but didn't know it would come from the coast guards!!
It could have been a lot worse, fortunately nothing else happened and at first light the following morning, we left for La Blanquilla. We were all just so thankful that we had buddy boated there and that our boats had been so close together - if only one boat had been there, goodness knows what the outcome would have been but we were in vhf contact all the time and it was reassuring for both of us to know that another boat was right there, just in case. Bottom line - if you're going to Juan Griego, don't go alone - buddy boat with someone.
