Venezuela

In the Caribbean the summers mean hurricanes and tropical storms, and the insurance companies require the boats to be out of the "box", meaning below 12 degrees N or way up the east coast of the US somewhere.  In 2006 we hurried down to Trinidad for our first summer and stayed plugged in at the Crew's Inn Marina.  We enjoyed our time there, which included a 3 week stay at a timeshare resort on Tobago.

When the summer of 2007 rolled around we decided to summer over in Venezuela, which was highly recommended by several other cruisers.  We had a great time and subsequently spent the next 2 summers there as well, in the Marinas at Puerta La Cruz, on the NE corner of Venezuela. 

However, once Chavez started getting traction in his press for Socialism the availability of basic necessities started getting very iffy and the crime rate got much worse.  We felt lucky to get away intact in the fall of 2009.

The country is/was beautiful and I hope you will visit this link to our travels there during those years.

                               Our Venezuelan Travels

                            A few shots of here and there in Venezuela

In the meantime, here is a youtube video made by a young man from Russia and he thinks conditions are pretty horrific these days. Socialism? - NOT! 

                                  Venezuelan Crime   (youtube)