Link to Video Laguna La Acequia

We are underway with the recuperation of the Orejeta, its a slow process replacing one by one all of its pieces of wood to maintain its original shapes with one exception, we are bringing her side edges up 10 cm for a bit safer navigation due to the fact that we will be sailing her n the open sea.

We changed several bad boards, sanded, patched, caulked and painted everything, the underwater body with anti fouling, the wood with varnish.

We also lowered the mast, patched up some cracks with epomon and varnished.

It is already anchored again and looking beautiful on the pier of the Concorde marina in Porlamar.

Now we only need to recover to complete the next phase, manufacture and place the sail, learn to navigate it for the expedition journeys that we have in plans for her.

La Piragua undergoing maintenance

Our Piragua was letting in too much water so we once again paddle it to Pampatar to ground her and perform necessary maintenance

After a bit more of a year in the water La Piragua is undergoing its first major maintenance

Paddling & Sailing day in honor of or Virgen del VAlle

During the traditional yearly parade on September the 8th 2022 in honor of The “Virgin of the Valley” Margarita Island “patrona” on mariners

Almost a 100 fisherman gather in Pampatar in their boats to pay tribute to the Virgen del Valle and cruise together along the coast “Barloventeando” their statues or pictures of the Virgin.

In our case, we displayed this beautiful sail with was intervened by the famous artist Ilde Vasquez @ildevasquez

This happens in every locality around the Island.

“La Orejeta”, the smallest of the fishermans boats in Margarita Island, this one in particular was the last one that sailed and was meant to be used for fire wood before we where able to rescue her and plan for its restoration. Here pictured in the village of “Espin” in Cariaco, where our allies from @astigolca will begin the plan to restore it.

To keep costs down, the Piragua was built in Cariaco in the mainland coast. In August, 2021, our tribe gathered together, in our allies @Astigolca riverside carpentry shop where it was built, for a crash course on rowing. Then —after a proper launching Ceremony— we paddled her 170 kilometers to her home port in Pampatar, Margarita. Her name: “Fernando Cervigón”, is in honor of this great man, who (among many other things) founded the Marine Museum of Margarita.