Hey guys. I posted a question a few months back regarding kiting in Venezuela and got a few answers but seems like no one had really been. Just finished 3.5 weeks here and I can safely report that it is friggin awesome.

There are two main places to really kite: the Los Roques archipelago and Margarita Island, centered around El Yaque. They offer two completely different experiences. Los Roques has a whole bunch of small posadas you can stay in, and every day you get chucked into a little tinnie and dumped on an island somewhere with an umbrella, a chair, an eskie with a lunch, beers, water, and some snackies. You kite pretty much all day and the tinnie comes and picks you up again at sundown. Tons of flat shallow water, no waves. Some areas with coral hazards but just miles and miles of water to explore on your own. I kited 4 of 6 days, with winds ranging from probably 18-23 knots. The only thing about it is it can be isolated (IE, self launching and landing was the norm for me as I was on my own) so it's better being there with a friend if you run into trouble. And since a lot of the conditions are offshore you need to be pretty decent. You can hire guys to follow you for downwinders and rescues for I think 20 bucks a day. I ran into trouble one day in light offshore winds that died and thankfully the boat was nearby to rescue me. Some of the beaches too are littered with coral, making water launches necessary.

El Yaque is unbelievable - large beach but shared with windsurfers, swimmers, families, etc. I had honking 23-29 knots 3 days and kited every day I went (total 5 days). There's a dedicated launch for kitesurfers but it's unfortunately in a huge wind shadow of a hill, and all the locals have this awful tendency to throw kites to launch them. All lessons offshore on tinnies and well away from you. Kited on my 11 and 7. Shallow water with sandy bottom for about 50 meters and then deeper with a bit of chop but no waves. There are about 6 schools on the beach that offer rentals, compressed air pump for the kites, padded lounge chairs with waiters coming out and serving you cold beer and food about 10 feet from your kite... and an attractive Venezuelan sports therapy masseuse that will give you a massage on the beach after your session for 25 bucks. Not to mention apartments and hostels on the beach dedicated to kiting with professional sail repair shops (popped my bladder and tore the LE, they repaired it for 40 bucks). Everyone is super relaxed. I am here at the end of the season so there were usually about 6-7 kites on the water.

Spent 4 days in Choroni, its a very chilled surfer town but no wind unfortunately.

Anyways, I have a few pictures I may upload later. If you guys have any questions feel free to ask. It's been an incredibly awesome holiday and I've progressed a lot on this trip.

Sound great mate. Thanks for the follow up.

And the girls aren't exactly ugly over there are they!

Hey Pete, sounds awesome. I look forward to seeing your new moves (on the water that is, I ain't no $25 masseuse ).

Hold on to that tropical stoke and perhaps through the power of your mind Melbourne's 12 degree water and grey skies will seem like paradise!

Was there in xmas 2004. Not very windy - maybe 3-4 days out of the 2 weeks we were there (Probably that time of year though)

Very relaxed... and Los Roques Rocks!
1st pic is some dudes camped on some random island... wake up and roll into the water (which is warm). Kite all day and the locals will go out at catch you fish & crays for dinner!




So wished I had more time in Los Roques.


El Yaque not so awesome... pretty rammed and nothing to do when not windy... except drink beer and lay around Launch area is a bit sketchy but you can get one of the shops to run you up the coast to Kite Beach for a down winder back to the hotels.


(Launch area in foreground)


(View from laying on the sunloungers on the beach)


THE most awesome pizzas were here^

Hey Mate! Sounds awsome! Did you feel safe? I was there 10 years ago and found it OK (except when I had a gun pointed at me to loose a watch and US$100!!!)but a friend who lives there told me it's getting worse. Did you freeze your a*** off in the busses? How was the POLAR? CS

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csjena said...

Hey Mate! Sounds awsome! Did you feel safe? I was there 10 years ago and found it OK (except when I had a gun pointed at me to loose a watch and US$100!!!)but a friend who lives there told me it's getting worse. Did you freeze your a*** off in the busses? How was the POLAR? CS

Holy. The beach has changed a lot. Way more developed now, with stalls and surf shops and a boardwalk. Dont have a photo unfortunately.. I understand Margarita has gotten a bit more dangerous but everyone I spoke to at Yaque thought it was hilarious that I was concerned about my safety. There's apparently a police station that has opened up near the beach to keep the turistas safe. The Polar is still cold, the Cocolocos still pack a punch, and you can still get a glass full of rum for 5 dollars. For some reason seabreeze wont let me upload pics from my proper camera but here are a few from my headmounted crapjob.

Were they taken somewhere on around Los Roques?
(The 2 windiest days of the trip and we were on a yacht cruise out to the islands



Our xmas tree



Local Taxi Fuel was AU$0.05 a litre!! The old guy was most chuffed when I offered to fill his tank for him - I was chuffed to buy 70l of Petrol for $3.50

I wonder how much it would cost to get a pipeline from there to Here?..... Buy fuel for .05c/L .... sell here for say... $1.00 /L .....sell 200,000 litres per day.... capital outlay paid off in 3 months...profit huge for the next "eternity"....


I'm in the money!!!!

I'm gonna start a syndicate....anyone in?

very nice Pete.
looks like you got a good nose for destinations :)
first PNG and now Venezuela..

keep on living the dream bro

I went to Los Roques in 2010 for 12 days and I can tell it was the best flatwater kitetrip in my life.
The views are stuning a the place is isolated of the rest of the world, so it is perfect for resting.
The average cost is ridiculously cheap, someting around $100/day including flight tickets from Caracas do Grand Roque, meals,
boat shuttles and front water accomodation with air-conditioning and breakfast.

The main language is obviously spanish, but it is not uncommon finding some felows with good english.
Most places are offshore wind, so make sure there is a boat around in case of accidents.
Also, waves are rare over there and when they come, the coral reef is really shallow. (I still have scars to count the story)


I recommend the following:
- Ask the boat guy to leave you at Cayo Fabian and take you at Francisqui. This Down wind is unbelieavable.
- When tehre is no wind, go for diving or ask one of the boats to do some wakeboarding.
- You can hire a boat/drive to stay with you all day long, but it is a lot cheaper if you bring some beers with you
and invite them to drink along the day.
- The "night club" is a very smal and simple place, called Neptuno. Don't be afraid to get in and learn some salsa.
- Go to the turtle's project at Dos Mosquices and ask to see Matchet, the tammed pelican(priceless).
- Ask for a tour in what they call "paradise of sea stars".
- If are not confortable with offshore wind, stay at Francisqui island (the closest one).
- NEVER exchange money in the official money exchange places.
Absolutely everyone in there exchanges money, from the taxi driver to the drug store guy.
The exchange rate from the official places is nearly 4x times LESS than with the mates on the street.
The official rate is $1 -> 2.5bsf, o nthe other hand, the black market is $1 -> 4 to 6bsf depending on negotiation.

If you are looking for a english speaker guide, go for Alex:
kitesurfvenezuela@gmail.com
584242524600

These are some photos of my trip:
www.flickr.com/photos/frankllin/collections/72157617918503003/

If you are really interested in more details I wrote a complete article i nthe link below(translated from portuguese by google translator):
translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=pt&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kitesul.com.br%2Findex.php%2Flos-roques.html

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fsamir said...

I went to Los Roques in 2010 for 12 days and I can tell it was the best flatwater kitetrip in my life.
The views are stuning a the place is isolated of the rest of the world, so it is perfect for resting.
The average cost is ridiculously cheap, someting around $100/day including flight tickets from Caracas do Grand Roque, meals,
boat shuttles and front water accomodation with air-conditioning and breakfast.

The main language is obviously spanish, but it is not uncommon finding some felows with good english.
Most places are offshore wind, so make sure there is a boat around in case of accidents.
Also, waves are rare over there and when they come, the coral reef is really shallow. (I still have scars to count the story)


I recommend the following:
- Ask the boat guy to leave you at Cayo Fabian and take you at Francisqui. This Down wind is unbelieavable.
- When tehre is no wind, go for diving or ask one of the boats to do some wakeboarding.
- You can hire a boat/drive to stay with you all day long, but it is a lot cheaper if you bring some beers with you
and invite them to drink along the day.
- The "night club" is a very smal and simple place, called Neptuno. Don't be afraid to get in and learn some salsa.
- Go to the turtle's project at Dos Mosquices and ask to see Matchet, the tammed pelican(priceless).
- Ask for a tour in what they call "paradise of sea stars".
- If are not confortable with offshore wind, stay at Francisqui island (the closest one).
- NEVER exchange money in the official money exchange places.
Absolutely everyone in there exchanges money, from the taxi driver to the drug store guy.
The exchange rate from the official places is nearly 4x times LESS than with the mates on the street.
The official rate is $1 -> 2.5bsf, o nthe other hand, the black market is $1 -> 4 to 6bsf depending on negotiation.

Where the hell were you guys back in March?!?! The exchange is 1:8 now, with unofficial being 1:4. It meant carrying about 2500USD into the country and not using any bank machines the entire time I was there. It helped that I prepaid the accommodation via international money transfer to european accounts (The Posadas are mostly run by europeans).

The coral is a bitch. Saw some waves in the distance and spent about 90 minutes tacking back and forth towards them only to find the entire area blocked by a giant coral reef. My beautiful La Luz has some love bites along one edge now. Sigh.

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chino said...

attractive Venezuelan sports therapy masseuse that will give you a massage on the beach after your session for 25 bucks.

Could turn nasty considering what comes out of me after a session with the harness done up nice and snug.... Sounds good tho!

Sounds a great trip... :) I only just now saw this thread... I like Venezuela and have spent quite a bit of time there. Have a bunch of friends in Caracas, Valencia and on Margarita Island and my fairly recently ex girlfriend is from there. There are some very beautiful places. I have enjoyed many a day in the Caribbean soaking up the sun, beers and seafood around the Islands out from Tucacas. My avatar is from there - 11pm, floating with beers in the Caribbean and the water glowing with white sparkles of plankton... Awesome! I met many wonderful people over the years from Venezuela. Great food too ;) Yes there are some stunning ladies But I think the average is no higher than here. There are many a person walking the beach in a Brazilian Bikini, that maybe shouldnt! same same as anywhere haha Ohh and Silicone is everywhere! When you seek a break from the waves. chilling on a Caribbean beach or floating with a beer between the very close spaced Islands in many areas is almost unbeatable for relax. A trip to the German village - La Colonia Tovar is amazing and beautiful. Like being in Europe. I believe it received a lot of funding and people from the German and Nazi exodus at the end of WWll...

However you do have to be aware of all to have a good time:
Get into the cities and some towns and you do have to have your wits about you. The road from Caracas International airport into the city is fairly safe in the daytime, but at night it can be deadly. Locals as a rule regard 11pm-6am as the most dangerous! If you arrive into Caracas late - stay at an airport hotel after dark and get a shuttle to it, then leave next morning. Never flash money, especially US dollars and tho is near impossible to do, try not to look like a tourist when in a big town or city. I have had some close calls. My ex girlfriend had a gun in her face 6 months ago at a shopping center car park packed and in broad daylight and both her parents neighbours held up at gun point in their homes last year. Traveling thru a major city, particularly Caracas - being shot in your car by a motorcyclist and passenger robbing you or stealing you car is a worry enough that all my friends there are concerned about it and drive accordingly. It didn't seem as major a concern in small towns. Venezuela was apparently a jewel to see pre the current "Dictator" - president Chavez and I wish I had seen it then. Tho an oil rich nation, the economy has died as the President hoards the money and funds Cuba and Iran in a big way. The guy is a NUT, loved by the poor he exploits and makes poorer and hated by those who have a dollar but he exploits and makes poorer. However he is losing popularity, but tries to cement his power. Poverty and Crime is huge! Tho its doesnt affect some safety of areas, it does others. Inflation is unbelievable! Some things are cheap and many are not - In a regular bakery I paid AUS$60 for 2L orange juice and 2 little pastries. My ex's Suzuki Grand Vitara 2wd [not 4wd and is badged Chev as the President hates Suzuki, now GM too I hear] cost US$96000, her washing machine cost US$9000.... Right now the Aussie dollar as high as it is and the US dollar so low makes it better for visitors than it has been. Tho inflation is scary day by day... My last trip cost me 3 times more than the immediately following same time I spent in Texas.

There is much beauty to be seen and experienced in Venezuela and many wonderful people. I certainly wouldn't discourage people from going, but you must be prepared for the not so pretty and just be aware, so as to have a great time... I have read some great experiences and advice here... Brazil, Argentina and Costa Rica for me next

ps: The Pizzeria looks great and Los Rogues is suppose to be a wonderful place and very popular with Venezuelans as a holiday destination. Wish I had been there... Good pics...

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cam0063 said...
Inflation is unbelievable! Some things are cheap and many are not - In a regular bakery I paid AUS$60 for 2L orange juice and 2 little pastries. My ex's Suzuki Grand Vitara 2wd [not 4wd and is badged Chev as the President hates Suzuki, now GM too I hear] cost US$96000, her washing machine cost US$9000.... Right now the Aussie dollar as high as it is and the US dollar so low makes it better for visitors than it has been. Tho inflation is scary day by day...

Holy sh!t
It would want to be good
A comparison that comes to mind, a new hiace van in Fiji would be a similar price, but all the things us tourist use like food, accomodation are way cheaper eg a local beer is only AUD 2.50 and the karva is free if your game