Going to Venezuela!

[Willar]

CITGO Petroleum is wholly owned by PDVSA, the national oil company of Venezuela which is controlled by the government. When Chavez took over he installed his army and political allies into running PDVSA. All have made a mess of things because they know nothing of running an oil company. Many US companies (ConocoPhillips, Exxon-Mobil, etc) have pumped big money into Ven. and now Chavez is suddenly canceling and changing contracts. He need more money since the oil company is so poorly run by his friends and production has fallen off dur to their incompetence.

Chavez continues to blame the USA and Bush for his problems and is negotiating with the Chinese to buy all Ven. oil because he thinks he can hurt the USA by not selling oil to us. What a joke. If China buys all his oil then we'll just buy oil from other countries who formerly sold to China and we'll still have plenty.

Also, Chavez is demanding the USA turn over a Ven. fugitive (based on trumped-up charges) and we are refusing because he won't agree to follow international protocol and laws. I wouldn't be surprised if they start grabbing US citizens for hostages.

The anti-USA propaganda being spread across Ven. is terrible. I wouldn't even think of stepping foot in that country. We barely have diplomatic relations their so if you get in trouble with the law you are on your own.

According to our State Department:
"Sporadic incidents of harassment and intimidation of U.S. citizens by pro-government groups, Venezuelan airport authorities and some segments of the police have been reported over the past few years. Additionally, anti-American sentiment, expressed in graffiti, harsh political rhetoric, newspaper advertisements and rally pamphlets, exists in some segments of Venezuelan society."

Read more here:
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1059.html

 

[Ana]

The political state of the country is very crappy, as explained above. However, the people (most of the people) are the same they used to be during the democracy(mainly a bunch of "parranderos" party goers).
Anyone that arrives to the main airport, MIQ (Maiquetia) or La Guaira port and drives to the capital, Caracas, has very good chances to experience the traces of what it was a great City. A look to the Avila mountain should be mandatory including going up using the cablecar. Puerto la Cruz is another city that can be used as headquarters for great diving (mainland across from Margarita island)

The comment about the mudslides, was true. Keyword "was". This happened I forget how many years back, when the rains were what we would refer as a "100 year flood". Like the poster mentioned there were full neighborhoods covered with 15 to 20 feet of mud. For what I heard, they rebuilt on top of that. And this happened in the areas surrounding one of the main ports which happens to be next door to the main airport. It is a geography thing. The capital is a valley surrounded by good size mountains. To get in or out they used pretty long sets of tunnels. They also have a couple of very small airports in the city but only good for small planes. Most of the people living directly on the mountains are in the bad side of the poverty line, hence, they don't exactly care about putting rain gutters to properly route the water.
Used to be kind of cool to arrive at night and see the mountains all lit up like a nativity set, crippier in the morning when you saw the tin roofed dwelings, fortuantely there were many other things to look at.

Not counting Angel's Fall (world tallest) because is way inland, far from any diving, unless your idea of diving is a hole in the ground. The real beauty of the Country is its coastal waters. Last time I heard (month ago) the abundance of fish is still comparable with the amount of cars on I-95. Maybe because the Japanese keep getting away with cutting the dorsals of dolphins (the flipper kind) and throw the rest back. I guess the animal becomes great fish food. What ever the reason maybe, diving the venezuelan coast is worth the trip without a question. Los Roques, Las Aves and Morrocoy are the most known places but the coast covers a bit over 2 thousands miles. Most of those miles are within some un-named great dive spots.

Do not behave as the poster child of the "Ugly American", learn a few words in spanish, stay away from political matters and open your eyes. You can have a great dive trip. Unlike Fidel Castro I don't think this Chavez guy is a diver. I mention this so you don't have high hopes about good nitrox mixes.

 

[diverkim]

Be aware that the economy and government in Venezuela is very unstable and unfriendly to Americans. Chavez is a copycat of Castro and hates the USA. Anti-USA propoganda there is terrible. I would stay out of Ven and stay in the Netherland Antillies.

Why is it that every country attacked by the US or the leader of that country is labeled anti-American. It is reverse logic. If the US attacks a country then logically it is the US state that should be labeled anti-that country.

 

[Willar]

Why is it that every country attacked by the US or the leader of that country is labeled anti-American. It is reverse logic. If the US attacks a country then logically it is the US state that should be labeled anti-that country.

LOL! If you read up on Chavez and his comments on the USA since his "election" you would see how he hates the US. His national oil company, PDVSA, owns Citgo here in the USA and guarantees him great revenues for his oil. However, he continues to put incompetent military friends in positions of power at PDVSA and they are making a mess of things there. Oil production in the country is down 40% and Chavez can't figure out why. Plus Chavez makes a show of selling small amount of oil to the Chinese since they are supplying him military supplys. He's a bomb waiting to go off in South America.

 

[drbill]

Willar- Globally there are many countries, including Venezuela, where our government has "intervened" on behalf of the economic interests of American corporations. Certainly you are aware of the history of covert assassinations, invasions and other actions that have interfered in the internal politics and social structure of some of these countries. Is it any wonder that some of them might be labelled "anti-American." As an American citizen who believes our government has no right to intervene in these matters, I don't blame them.

 

[vladimir]

I recommend "All the Shah's Men" for a little insight into some of our Iranian adventures.

 

[Doc]

I want to nominate this for old post reborn thru re-animation. It's alive!

Let's see, 16 posts, 252 look-sees and started on May 29, 2005.

Los Roques is great diving, but it is an acquired taste. Unfortunately, as god awful as she was, the Hughes Antares III no longer plies the waters. It was the only way to explore the miriad wrecks in the sand obscured currents. Not for you average AOW diver. Bill, I would dearly love to dive with you there.

Now, what's all this hooey about the Shah's men? To say that the US had anything other than altruistic intentions, well... after that scarlet fever on the injun blanket thing- well, by krikey... you better put your money where your second stage is.

If but not for the USA the Venezualans would be using their oil for.... oil?

I have been diving in some of the waters off of the most awful countries in terms of human rights violations. Chicago for instance.

(The People's Republik of Illinois)

 

[smokey braden]

roatanman,
i also spent a week on the m/v antares in los roques and thought the diving was great.
do you think politics will change one day and we would be allowed to go back?
if so, please let me know.
i too would love the opportunity to dive with you and dr. bill.
the local people i met while there were very nice and treated me well.
they were more polite than some other carribean locals i've met while visiting their country.
regards,

 

[Doc]

roatanman,
i also spent a week on the m/v antares in los roques and thought the diving was great.
do you think politics will change one day and we would be allowed to go back? the local people i met while there were very nice and treated me well.
they were more polite than some other carribean locals i've met while visiting their country.regards,

I don't think politics was the issue that shut it down. Too bad, as the Diving in Los Roques was just a HOOT !

The travel to Los Roques was dreadful. Overnite on the mainland at an isolated resort that was lovely- but a pain.

Transfer to/from the smaller interior airline airport from the Intl airport. Annoying at best.

The Airline blows.

The delightful inhabitants of Gran Roque were a wonderment.

The Hughes Antares III, plain and simple, really sucked. For its entire length of service complaints were fielded about the sewage smell. The mark of death in nautical engineering. Nothing can be done usually, put a bullet in it and move on. They finally did. Add to that the miserable re-supply situation. What little that was available was a long steam South to the mainland. What are you going to do- air freight it in with those yahoos over at the airport? You don't have time between passenger weeks to do that.

Both of the times I was aboard the entertainment (and you couldn't escape it) was Yani at Red Rocks. (The Linda Evans debacle)

The diving is just not for everyone. Shallow diving, ripping currents varied widely throughout the dive. The viz was often limited due to the stirred up sand shallows.

This is the price you pay for a fabulous collection of wooden wrecks. Some days, they lie exposed, sometimes they are "disappeared". These shallow areas of the ocean were used by pirates and the like to evade capture. They knew the path to go safely (or not) while the possee chased them and crashed into the reefs.

I think the pleasant nature of the locals is largely due to their isolation. We visited some european college kids at the turtle research station and loaded up for the visit in advance. We brought candies and lighters and what ever. They were on cloud nine. Better that even than money or tips for their guide services. They had nowhere to spend cash, anyway!

Speaking of 'difficult locals', sometimes, you just can't blame them. For many years, I thought the Bahamas was just Nassau and Grand Bahama. I was pretty well sick of their attitude, especially when I am traveling (unlike here at SB), I always am Mr Nice.

About ten years ago I went aboard the Nekton, and although looking forward to the diving, due to the Bahamas route, I was anticipating the worst. What a pleasant surprise to get off the islands that ugly americans had abused for so many years- what a great experience to get off and away and enjoy the islands that we hope for.

Much like pollution, an island's tourism success kills what we went there for in the first place.

Los Roques is still quite safe in that regard!

 

[cyklon_300]

Sewage smell? Oooohhhh, yeah. That was a signature element of that liveaboard...had to launder our clothes twice to get the funk out...but I never pick a boat, I pick a location. If you wanted a liveaboard in Los Roques, you had one choice...so it was a moot point.

Los Roques wasn't world-class diving, but it had its moments. The brief time we spent on Gran Roque was pretty entertaining...finding luggage that had been thrown into giant piles at the airport, shopping, playing with the packs of mangy, mongrel dogs, admiring the reddish-orange hues of the smoke from the municipal garbage dump fire at sunset...

On board the Antares, we settled in for days of fairly decent diving and nights of horror waiting to see what culinary abomination the cook came up with.

I don't want to sound harsh, but jeez, the poor man could not prepare edible food...and after diving all day, we were famished. Thank goodness for the cracker jar. The last night 'special' meal of paella was especially noteworthy...fresh octopus, molluscs, fish and enough salt to make you think the entire ocean had been dehydrated and used as seasoning...two bites were plenty and then it was time to load up on crackers again...

Night dives were always exciting from the Antares as the engine of the chase boat had a funny quirk of not starting on regular basis...nothing like floating in open ocean under the stars listening to the boat crew drifting further and further away as they vainly tried to pull start the outboard. It was soothing to hear them uttering in unison their favorite nickname for the motor...'Puta, puta'...

A memorable trip, but not one that I'd do again...