Margarita is the largest island in Venezuela. It’s where I grew up, in a small fisherman’s village called El Yaque, that’s now probably one of the most popular destinations in the country for national tourism as well being a watersports Mecca.

High season begins right when the Caribbean swells and wind start’s blowing, and December is the month that everyone wants to be a part of Margarita, which for me is Chaos! The past years I have spent Christmas and New Years with my family but this time I wanted something new, a change of fresh air, tranquility and a complete different way to kick-off 2012. I didn’t want to go very far from home so I decided on calling my good friend Oscar Cisneros from Los Roques Archipelago, which is one of the most beautiful places on the continent.

SO NEAR YET SO FAR
Oscar is a Native, Surfer, Skater, Fisherman and now one of the best wave riders here in Venezuela after Ricardo Campello and I. The last couple times I went I have been motivating him to start wave sailing since he was only free ride windsurfing, going island-to-island when there was no swell to surf. So I started giving him some gear and a few pointers and told him to get on the water and surf with his sail!

He did exactly so, and became totally obsessed! So fanatical that he sends me photos and videos almost every day and was asking me when I’d next return so he could show me how much he’s improved. He is such a great human being who would give you all of the little that he owns just to see you happy. You really don’t meet many people like this in life.

So I told him that I would love to go. The only problem was that I wanted to take all my toys with me. Since I’d go for a month, I’d need surf board, SUP, my windsurf gear, a couple masks and a 3-prong to fish and eat every day. Oh and I also brought him a brand new AHD seal 90L board to try out, so the major problem was transporting myself and all that gear. The inter-island planes are so small it looked impossible, plus Deivis Paternina wanted to join me as well to train freestyle for the 2012 tour.

As soon as Oscar heard that I was coming he started to look for a ride on any boat going to Los Roques. He has one of the best jobs working at Oscar’s tourist Shop right in front of the airport, so he knows almost everything that’s happening on the Islands! He finally found a ride for us both on a catamaran called Dali which was supposed to arrive here on Margarita early November 2011 for maintenance and return 2 weeks later to Los Roques for charter work.