Where to go this winter? (Bonaire, Mauritius)

I wouldn't even entertain going to Dahab right now, had my trip cancelled in February due to some nutter strapping a bomb to himself and blowing up a bus!

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mcross19 said..

Windy season is January to April, get yourself out there!

No the centre you used was Vela, they have down sized somewhat, quality kit but not much of it. Planet windsurf and Natalie Simone are at the far left of the beach up by the pier (where the trips to Coche go from). No need to speak Spanish as I don't speak a word and seem to have got by ok. The Girl at Planet windsurf speaks very good English her name is Jade (pronounced Hade) and the two guys who do the rigging are excellent.

If anyone does go there beware at Caracas airport, they have a habit of changing the gate, flight time and even cancelling flights!

The American Dollar and Euro is so strong out there, you get 10 times the bank rate on the black market so you can eat out for peanuts, I spent a couple of hundred Dollars in two weeks and lived like a king!

Nah, its the same place. I was saying to the right, as you look at the water, looking out from my hotel. It is the closest hire place to the jetty. The next one along was right outside my hotel, but didn't seem to have much bigger kit for someone my weight. There was a french guy running the place I hired from. The people that helped you with the gear spoke no English except for one girl that spoke a very little.

When I went there were not many people that spoke or understood English. The guy at the hotdog stand/shop was the only one that seemed fluent.

In fact, it got worse for me. The staff at the hotel would try and help me out with what I was asking, but in the second week they started acting like they understood no English whatever. It turned out that one of the staff told them all that I was going to a Spanish school, so they figured they would help me out by making me speak Spanish and refusing to even understand hand gestures. Frustrating, but good none the less.

While I am reliving the trip, there were a bunch of taxi drivers there that couldn't speak English that would sit around all day waiting for fares. There was one taxi driver in a different company who taught himself English so that he could get more business from tourists. Guess who got all the fares while the other company's drivers sat around... As a note to anyone traveling there, its good to know the price for taxi fares, and the local currency but also the equivalent in dollars. Every taxi driver should accept dollars as the local currency has huge problems with inflation. Dollars are stable. The taxi prices are supposedly fixed and every driver should be able to show you a rate card that shows the cost to get anywhere. Look at it before you catch a taxi and agree on the price.

It is cheap though, depending where you eat. It was something like 8.5bf to the dollar when I was there, and the rate at the airport from all the scammers was 7bf to the dollar. I thought it would have doubled by now.

Caracas airport is a bit strange. I missed my return flight out of Venezuela because the flight from Margarita left an hour and a half late. Apparently quite normal. I had no idea where to even find the airline's offices in the airport as nothing has signs, even in Spanish. Eventually I paid a guy to help me out, but it was very confusing. A tip to someone if you go there via Caracas airport (other than don't leave the airport), is to allow a long buffer for changing flights.

I want to go back now!

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mcross19 said..

I was actually getting 60 Bolivars to the Dollar if you know where to look.

60! Wow, that's impressive. I guess it means someone wants to buy something from overseas. If I were them, I would be asking for and hiding dollars, because in 10 years they are still going to worth something. Unlike the Bf.

I wonder if there were people willing to sell USD in exchange for Bf other than tourists? I didn't have to exchange back, but I am sure the rate is not that good.

For anyone else that cares, the Bolivar depreciates steadily and most people there accept USD if they can even though the government doesn't allow it. The government also fix their exchange rate to a level that is well below the actual exchange rate value. In effect, if you withdraw cash from an ATM, you get the government rate and it rips you off big time. When I was there, it was half of what you would get from the people on the street.

The 2nd Wind Facebook page has the 2014 pricing up now