Los Roques - Venezuela

 

Planning

I used my miles to get to Caracas, I used TAM (Brazilian Airline) and arrived very early to Venezuela I had booked my inland trip in advance before gathering some info on Internet about the location. The trave period was from April 16th to 21th, 2009

There are a lot of good sites for information, but there is a monopoly in on-line booking, the companies offer packages in U$ or EUR and charge very high prices for the tourists:

http://www.los-roques.com/

http://www.los-roques.org/

http://www.losroques.org/ 

So I had to find a local travel agency, it still had higher prices that in country booking, but that was the only way for me, since i had so few time to arrive on site and solve transportation and lodging, that I didn't want to risk the trip. I used Roquemar travel agency, they are located inside the Maiquetia international airport arrival and I negotiated to pay them only on arrival (nothing in advance)

 

I think they accepted because what low season My Package included: flight, lodge with full pension (breakfast, lunch box and Diner), in and out transportation to Olé Hotel, one night at Olé Hotel (I needed this night on the hotel because of my return trip, you may also need it on the way in or out from Venezuela, depending on you flight time)

Roquemar Travel - Rosa gallo - conturven@yahoo.it 

But if you speak spanish and have time to book everything after arriving Venezuela your trip could be half the cost, that is what I noticed after my trip and will explain here in other topics

 

1st Day

We arrived in Maiquetia Airport at 6:00AM local time, our flight to Los Roques was scheduled to 9:00AM, we cleared customs and entered in the Airport lobby 

At our right was the Roquemar travel agency office already opened In the way between the gate and the office a lot of people offered to exchange money, even while waiting for the bag a guy offered us to exchange with a very low exchange rate around 4 Bolivares to 1 dollar, (please see the tips topic later were I will explain about exchanging money there)

We were a little worried and avoided changing the dollar very quickly, we went to the office and paid the lady for our package in dollars as agreed. The lady offered to exchange rate of 5 to 1 (not very good)

After paying we had to wait for 2 hours on the lobby for the flight, we keep looking for the guys in the lobby to see one that was more reliable to exchange dollars, suddenly we found one and after negotiating we got 5,5 to 1 and exchanged the money. Just as a note please verify the black marked currency prior to your trip, so you know what is the rate and can negotiate(on my time it was 6,4 but would never get it there on the airport or in Los Roques)

The lady took us to the National terminal were the flight leaves (walking is around 5min after leaving the airport main door to the left, no need for taxi). arrived to the gate, made check-in, paid the boarding tax and entered (we flew by Chapi Air). It was a very small plane with only 6 passengers, the flight took 1 hour and the islands view is amazing, also the landing... We arrived on the island and were transferred to the Pousada Corsaria, changed our clothes, picked up the lunch box and went to the port to get a boat to the island (my package didn't had the tours included and I think that is better this way)

We closed the transfer to Francisquí, that was 20 min by boat, the price per person was B$30 plus the umbrella and chairs more B$30, we arrived there around 11:00 and requested the return at 17:00 It is a very beautiful beach, very white sand, but with lots of tourists there. There is a very nice place to snorkel in the back of the island, with lots of fish and nice corals. We return to the posada very tired, had diner and slept right away to recover the energies for the next day. By the way the posada food was not good, but eatable...

 

2nd Day

On the second day we decided to do the longest island tour, to Cayo de Agua. This tour goes to Cayo de Agua, then on the way back stops on Dos Mosquises and Espenquí The boat leaves around 9:00, but ours delayed a lot. It costs B$120 per person with the umbrella and chair included The trip to Cayo de Agua takes about 1:30, but it is worth!

The place is very beautiful and has less people than the other islands (but still many people), there is also a nice snorkel place on the side. We stayed there until 14:00 then moved to Dos Mosquises On Dos Mosquises there is a Turtle project that you have to pay B$5 to see the turtles in a poll, we didn't paid for it and walked thru the island, it is very small and looked like in the back was a good site for snorkel, but we didn't had time to do it

The last stop was Espenquí, where we stayed for 1 hour. It is a very nice and beautiful place, there was a little dark because of the clouds and we decided not to do snorkel (not enough time to do it also) but some people commented that is a very good spot to do it. 

We returned to the Gran Roque... We had diner, again not in especial and went to the little village to see what was the move. There aren't many people moving around, just a bar with very loud music on the main square So we decided to go back to the posada, near our posada was a karaoke, that made also a lot of noise until late We definitely didn't liked the posada, there was noise at night, very poor food quality and was not very clean

 

3rd Day

We decided to take the tour to 2 islands: Crasquí and Noronquises the cost B$70 for the tour with umbrella and chair First we stayed on Noronquises, where we ere told that we could snorkel and see some turtles, we really tried but couldn't find any of them, maybe because there was a lot of people also there and they went away. We stayed there for around 2 hours and when we were leaving we could see some turtles from the boat swimming just were we were snorkeling Bad luck...

We went to Crasquí, a very beautiful place... On the left side after the trees there was a very nice snorkel place, very beautiful corals, lots of fishes and we could see a ray!!! It a place that must be visited

We returned to the main island as usual a very beautiful sunset and nothing really special to do in the village

 

 

 

4th Day and Return

Since our plane was leaving on 17:00 we had to go to one of the nearest islands, we chose Madrisquí, it costs B$25 (plus the umbrella if you want), but when we arrived at the beach we saw some trees and a house that should be open during high season, so we dropped the extra cost and used the chairs and the shadow that was available ;)

We had meet some people that were willing to go to Cayo Muerto, it is a very small island, only sand and nothing else around you. we spoke with the boat driver and he said that would charge B$40 each to go there (I found it very expensive because was just 5-10min from Madrisquí by boat) anyway we decided to go since we were not returning there so soon...

We stayed on Madrisquí, it is nice, but not as the other islands, the snorkel spot is not very big and was too many waves At 12:00 the boat came to take us to Cayo Muerto, we arrived there and I took some pictures, but is too small for 4 people and also we didn't have the umbrella (we declined it before) so we decide to go back to Madrisquí and stay there until the return At 14:15 the boat came to pick us up and return

We went to the posada took a shower and got ready for the return The flight was scheduled to 17:00, but we arrived earlier and I think that many people also, so the plane was with all passenger there and left before the time, around 16:15...

We arrived to the airport and there was no one waiting for us on the terminal, as we were instructed we didn't left the terminal and walked to the right going to the international terminal to get to the travel agency; When we arrived there and had to wait to be transported to the Olé Caribe Hotel It was a very long ride, lots of traffic jam and passing by very ugly places until we arrived to the Hotel, we stayed there and the driver was going to pick up us ate 5:00 Our flight was leaving at 7:50 The hotel is nice, the food is good and the price showed on the check-in was around B$475 (not bad at all if you consider the black market dollar), for me it was already included in the package The ride in the next day took us 30 minutes to the airport

During the Check-in we discovered that we had to pay a tax raise that was imposed by the government, extra B$20 per person! The Hugo Chavez way... The boarding tax was B$137,50 or around U$64, of course we were not paying in dollars, so we went back to the arrival hall were we exchanged the money 1st time (going upstairs) and found the same guy that we exchange before for 5.5 So we had some extra Bolivares left to spend on the free shop, but was very disappointing; there was nothing on it, just chocolates and Run, so we bought some chocolates and went home... So don't think that you are going to take advantage of the exchange rate on free shop... keeping bolivares is not a good investment and are not accepted everywhere, even the black market dealer don't want it and pay nothing.

 

Hints / Tips

When to go:

I suggest the low season (I always travel on low season) less people and better prices High season goes from December to Holly week (Cristian holiday that vary between March and April) and July The locals told us that doesn't rain very much there, the worst month is December we experienced some rains while there, but very fast and didn't impacted the tours 

How to go:

There are some airlines that i know that fly there: 

Chapi Air - www.chapiair.com/

Aerolínea turística Aereotuy LTA - www.tuy.com

Transaven - www.transaven.com

There are another companies also

You can check the times and prices with them, some accept reservation by deposit, no credit cards accepted 

Where to stay:

Make sure you get photos and information of what is included on the posadas package, most of them are very rustic, not hot water (despite this is not really a problem), no air In low season I suggest to fly and look and negotiate on the island

A quick research on the web can give you information of the better ones

By what I saw I suggest: La Cigala, Piano y Papaya y La 

Money:

Take dollars or Euros with you and exchange them in the black market for bolivares Before traveling check what is the current quotation on the internet, so you can negotiate better with them. also check how the bills look like, so you don't get fooled with false money

Avoid lots of people around you while exchanging; try to negotiate with only one person, avoid the groups; check the money bills; count them carefully;

Never show the money until everything is checked and ok.

This will make it safer for your trading 

What to take:

- lots of suncream, the sun is very strong there

- snorkel - if you like will be much more cheaper and easier for you

- after sun cream

- sunglasses the sand is too white - but don't use them too much or you will get the marks

- beach stuff...

- light clothing Be careful because the maximum weight allowed in the flight is 10Kg, with too much stuff is easy to pay overweight 

Security:

- Los Roques is a pretty safe place, you can leave your stuff on the beaches while walking around

- In the Airport and on land is very dangerous, don't show any valuables and look over yours bags, wallets and purses 

Other:

- A overnight in land could be needed on the way in or out, I suggest the the Olé Caribe hotel were I stayed. A taxi from the airport to there should cost very much. I don't suggest staying in Caracas

- Be careful with you money and count the change returned. When paying the national boarding tax the lady didn't returned me the change and I only noticed after a while - Negotiate the boat tours in advance and ask several different persons, they could try to take advantage of you, the best is to ask in the information point near the dock 

 

Any suggestion or comment please let me know

Please send your comments or doubts I will be glad to help

Regards