NO. 1 GEOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT AND STATION RECORDS 13 



of the cape, 21-22 fathoms, and another 1 mile southwest in 10-13 

 fathoms. Only the hours from 6 to 9 A.M. could be utilized for dredging 

 because of the intensity of the north-northeast wind, which reached a 

 force of 5 on the Beaufort Scale by 10 A.M. and 6 by 12 noon. 



From Cabo la Vela to Pta. de Gallinas, a distance of 32 miles in 

 the same east-northeasterly direction, are two large bays with narrow 

 entrances. El Portete, located 12 miles east of Cape la Vela, has a shallow 

 entrance between Pta. Gran Tonel and Pta. Coco. Eleven miles east of 

 Pta. Coco is Pta. Canon, marking the deeper entrance of Bahia Honda. 



Bahia Honda, Colombia, is located on the northwest side of the 

 Peninsula de Guajira about 8 miles southwest of Pta. de Gallinas. It is 

 a deeply indented bay nearly 3 miles deep opposite its opening between 

 Pta. Cafion and Pta. Soldado with a width of 6 miles in a northeasterly- 

 southwesterly direction behind them. Pta. Canon on the west is 121 feet 

 high, and Pta. Soldado on the east is from 80 to 93 feet high. Both points 

 are rocky, and a long mesa on which a customs house is located extends 

 eastward from Pta. Soldado. Anchorage may be had within the bay in 

 6y2 fathoms, sand bottom. 



Two dredge hauls were made from the Velero III in the vicinity of 

 Bahia Honda, about 2^4 niiles and 1^ miles offshore and in 9-10 

 fathoms, coralline bottom. Not wishing to enter the port, the Velero III 

 kept well outside the bay itself, anchoring off the concrete building on Pta. 

 Soldado, which houses a garrison of soldiers. The general aspect of the 

 hinterland is one of extreme barrenness. (See Chart no. 4.) 



Venezuela West of La Guaira 

 Gulf of Venezuela 



Between Pta. de Gallinas, the northernmost point of the Peninsula 

 de Guajira, and Cabo San Roman, northernmost point on the Peninsula 

 de Paraguana, an airline distance of 99 miles, occurs the most extensive 

 indentation on the north coast of South America, leading to the Gulf of 

 Venezuela. The gulf is 53 miles wide at its entrance between Pta. de 

 Espada on the west and Pta. la Macolla on the east, and it opens to an 

 extreme width of 104 miles opposite Bahia de Calabozo, its western 

 portion. Average depths are 20-23 fathoms in the eastern portion of the 

 Gulf, 12-15 fathoms in the Bahia de Calabozo, with green mud bottom. 

 In the southwest portion of the Gulf of Venezuela is the entrance to 

 Lagima de Maracaibo, a large lake measuring 60 by 100 miles and with 

 depths to 80 fathoms. On the 33-mile-long narrows separating the Gulf 



