Birds. Birds. Birds.

Islas de Aves

Islas de Aves are two separate little island archipelagos separated by about 10 miles of deep water. As the “Aves” name implies, there are many birds here. After a nice day sail from Cayo de Agua, Los Roques, we arrived at Isla Sur in Aves de Barlovento and were surprised to find three other boats in this remote anchorage, one of them American flagged. A contrast to the white sand beaches in Los Roques, Isla Sur has a horseshoe reef on one side and dense mangrove forests on the other.

We could not believe the number of birds here, many species of the booby bird, including the red-footed booby, as well as herons and seabirds. We anchored close enough to the mangroves to see the bird action, while staying far enough away to avoid the noise, bugs and other nuisances that thousands of birds create. We have never been “bird watchers” but while in Isla Sur, we spent many hours watching, chasing and photographing birds.

The other amazing thing about this anchorage was the snorkeling, the best we had seen all season. It was all very shallow, but still colorful with many different types of coral and a wide variety of fish.

We spent several days snorkeling, bird watching, relaxing, and even entertaining here before moving to Aves de Sotavento, a quite anchorage and the last stop before leaving the Aves for Bonaire.