The birds (said dramatically, like Hitchcock)

We broke up the trip from Los Roques to Bonaire with several days in Las Aves, which are also islands that belong to Venezuela. Isla Aves de Barlovento felt practically prehistoric with the gigantic mangrove trees and the nonstop caws of the constantly circling boobies.

That's a newly hatched chick under there. Under where?

The birds continued to fly around all night. On land, you couldn't walk more than a few paces along the rocky shore without coming across a nest on the ground. It was like nothing we have ever seen before. And it's amazing that we didn't get pooped on.

 

Birds, shmirds. Throwing pieces of coral is way more fun.

Bird bones and crab remains. Can we keep them? Uh, no.

 

We also visited Aves de Sotavento. We got there late in the day and visited a nearby beach that was covered with huge piles of the biggest conch shells we have seen. The local Venezuelan Coast Guard came by to check the boat and our papers. They were very friendly, even if their boat did put a couple of scuffs and dings in our hull. As they were leaving, they asked if we had any food to spare because their freezer had gone on the fritz and most of their fresh food had gone off. Their next shipment wasn't due to arrive until three weeks later, along with the new crew. We were mostly out of fresh provisions after a couple of weeks out of Grenada but left them with some pasta.