Monty’s day

Monty’s day

We went on a boat to see the turtles and then we went to a beach and then we went back. We went bumpy and it was so big waves and we went jumpetyy jumpetty jump.

This morning we found a lizard and I catched it and I held it on the back of my hand and it was a baby lizard and it was so cute. Then Mima holded it and it went up her back and then we didn’t know where it was but it was actually in her hair. We were having breakfast and Mima said I think it’s in my hair. So we looked in her hair and we couldn’t find it so we finished our breakfast. I saw a little crab with a shell. We played with it and Mummy got snipped and then Mummy got snipped and I was so brave that I could hold it when it was coming out. And I didn’t want it to snip me and it didn’t snip me.

Then after breakfast the lizard came out of Mima’s hair. It went down her neck and popped out her sleeve and I came and told Daddy. Mima said “I said it was in my hair”. And it was, ha ha ha haaaa!!!!!

Cayos de Agua (Hugh)

Today we went to an island that is part of the Los Roques archipelago, Cayo de Agua. No windsurf rental here, so sub-ideal but otherwise pretty much perfect. I get to windsurf again tomorrow.

So, Cayo de Agua – the only permanent aquifer for drinking water on the archipelago and so a bit of a magnet for itinerant injuns back in the dark ages. These fellas came here for the Queen Conches, for which they had a bit of a taste. So much so that one of the islands is entirely made up of discarded Queen Conch shells that the injuns threw away. I guess they were fed up of the only other thing on the menu – fish.

We hung out here all day snorkelling – saw a manta ray, turtles, parrot fish by the dozen, other assorted pescados, a sting ray. A lot of the coral is dead though – according to the local research place this is the fault of global warming – a 0.1 degree rise in sea temperature apparently causes the symbiotic algae to be expelled from the coral polyps so ending the happy relationship that has until that time worked so well. Given the lack of care shown by the boatmen dropping anchor, I doubt whether this is the only explanation. Seasonal storms, or maybe even fishing with a bit of ordnance.

Interestingly, when we visited the turtle sanctuary I was offered a job. These guys wait until turtles hatch and make it to the sea, then catch them and grow them up for a few years before releasing them back into the sea. The idea is that by getting them through the hopelessly small stage, their chances of survival are increased significantly. They don’t just hatch the eggs – allowing the turtles to crawl to the sea apparently sets their compass so that they will return and themselves lay eggs some 30 years later. That’s the theory anyway. They’ve been doing this since 1965 and although marked turtles from here have been found as far away as South Africa, Australia and the like, none have yet returned to lay their own eggs. I pointed out that the first should have been due back almost 10 years ago, so if I were them I would be starting to give up hope a bit, but their own optimism seemed undimmed. Perhaps it was this insightful input, combined with some basic maths, which sparked the researcher’s interest in my joining the program, who knows. There would be worse places to be stationed – I was reminded of an old friend, Taff, from Oxford days who went somewhere similar to study butterflies and is still there some 18 years later. There’d need to be a bit of swell to make this one workable though, and although it would be ideal for kite-surfing and the like, I think I’ll let this opportunity go.

The sun here is mega-strong. Sarah has done a great job kitting out the team in all over body sunsuits and with 50+ sun factor suncream applied liberally almost every hour we have just about survived so far. The problem is that no suncream is entirely waterproof, and the kids are good enough to go and wash the suncream off in the sea following each application. Eliza had an incident following the first day when it emerged that her top had ridden up a little exposing an unprotected sliver of flesh day-long and this was mega-burned and very painful by the looks of it. Sarah has burned her legs a bit snorkelling today, and my nose has gone south as usual. I have been windsurfing in sunglasses, a hat, a long-sleeved rashvest, trousers and shoes, which has turned a few heads. The nice hire lady (Lucille-Lotta – yes, her real name) was a bit surprised when she first set the rig up and I jumped on and surfed off, fully clothed. Not the coolest man in town, but definitely the least sun-burned.

Before we came a lot of people told us that we wouldn’t find the Venezuelans very friendly. I have to say that we haven’t found this to be the case. I guess travelling with a young family does tend to break down barriers. The kids are all very inquisitive and have been out caring for the local wildlife on the local beach – puppies, cats and pet parrots have all been doing pretty well for attention. On occasion their rather eccentric behaviour has also penetrated any Venezuelan reserve that does exist. Eliza caused great amusement yesterday by reading her book while utter chaos reigned around us. We were boating upwind into a big swell and most people were holding on for grim death. Not Eliza – she was completely immersed in her book. The day before, she had caused similar hilarity amongst the boat drivers when, faced with a rather unfortunate position on the boat when returning home, with spray crashing all over the place, she donned full facemask and snorkel for the remained of the journey home and just sat there getting drenched.