Mochima National Park

Mochima National Park is in Sucre state, off the Northeast of Venezuela.

Understand

History

Named after the town of Mochima, it is just one of a number of national parks along Venezuela's northeast Caribbean coastline. Created in 1973 it was the second marine park in Venezuela and encompasses the entire shoreline between Puerto La Cruz and Cumaná plus 32 islands just offshore.

Get in

i have gone and you can rent a* . (updated May 2015) You can take a bus from Puerto la Cruz to Santa Fe, and from Santa Fe you are able to get an pen backed van to the entrance of Mochima for around 2.BsF per person. You will be dropped off at the entrance which is a long road so don´t try to walk. There are buses which seem to run approx every 20-30 mins which then takes you right down to the Inparques office.

Fees/Permits

As Mochima is a National Park you have to pay to camp overnight on the beaches. The cost is 10.BsF per person per night. You also need a boat to get to the beaches, which costs 80.BsF however this is the total cost of the boat so if you wait for more people to turn up, the price for you goes down as it is split between how ever many people there are.

Get around

Boats to the westerly islands leave from the Paseo Colon in Puerto La Cruz; boats to the eastern end of the Park go from the port at Guanta.

See

Some of the more popular islands include Las Borrachas, Monos, Arapito and Chimana Grande.

Do

Scuba-diving, snorkeling, sun-bathing, relaxing.

Eat

Fresh, fried fish from the thatched beach restaurants. Best served with tostones, or mashed and fried plantain.

Oysters with lime - but beware of beach sellers with buckets of oysters who will tell you a low price for your first taster but then will charge a fortune after they've happily cracked open a couple of dozen shells.

Drink

Cold beers, sold on most of the beaches either from thatched restaurants or beach sellers with cool boxes.

Sleep

Lodging

• La Carreta, Calle la Marina, ☏ 0416-307 86 82 // 0416-482 63 68FORMATNOCC, jcorralesf@gmail.com. 

Camping

You can camp on the beaches in Mochima for a price of 10.BsF per person per night. You must pay this fee to Inparques and the office is located opposite the boats when you get down to the waterfront.