CHACACHACARE, A VISIT TO THE LEPER COLONY

FEBRUARY 8, 2014

Leaving Chaguaranas

We have had thunderstorms all week while a front blew through.  Friday the sun came out and the winds were light, time for us to take a dinghy trip to Chacachacare.  Originally our plan was to take It's Perfect and sail the 8 miles to the island and spend a few days in the bay.  With the thought of being 8 miles closer to Venezuela, the dinghy seemed like a good option.

 

Dinghy Captain

Chacachacare Dead Ahead

We left Chaguaramas bay about 10:30 am loaded with extra fuel, snacks, extra water and windbreakers.  The weather can turn chilly when the skies cloud up with rain.  We motored out of the bay heading due west with few other small boats on the water.  The water was flat as we passed the small islands, turning into 4 to 5ft swells crossing the channels in between.  It took us about 45 min. to make the crossing and dinghy into the bay.

Doctors Residence



Stairway to Heaven?

In 1924 a group of Dominican nuns established a convent and Leper colony.  They built a Catholic chapel and hospital..  The convent and the doctors homes were built on opposite sides of the bay far from the main settlement..  The women were housed separate from the men and many of the lepers lived out their lives on the island of Chacachacare.  In 1984 the cure for leprosy was found and the settlement abandoned.  For years after the settlement was closed it looked like people had just walked away from everything leaving the buildings like a ghost town. 

We slowly entered the horse shoe shaped bay, there were no other boats or people in sight.  This bay is sometimes used for an anchorage, we thought there would be someone there.  We docked at the old concrete pier by the main settlement.  The island is beautiful, the water here in the bay very deep and clean.  Going ashore was like stepping back in time.  The houses and buildings are all in very bad shape, the vegetation is slowly reclaiming their space.  The paths were overgrown and we were hesitant to venture too far into the bush.

 We walked through what is left of the hospital and some of the housing that is still standing.  Relics of a community that struggled with a disease doctors knew little about.  We also found the building that created power for the community with what appeared to be a huge old diesel powered generator. 

There are no sand beaches on this side of the island, the land climbs steeply from the shore in most places.  On the west side there is a great anchorage with a beautiful black sand beach.  There has been trouble with pirates on the west side of the island and most do not ventures that close to the mainland.  Trinidad patrols the waters of Chacachacare but their boats are limited.  Staying in the bay of this beautiful island will have to wait for peace to come to Venezuela.