Essequibo River, British Guyana

Raptor in Essequibo River

Guyana is the only South American nation in which English is the official language. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Brazil to the south and southwest, Suriname to the east and Venezuela to the west.

Essequibo is the largest river in Guyana and the largest river between the Amazon and Orinoco. It flows from the Acarai Mountains near the Brazil-Guyana border 1,010km northward through forest and savannah into the Atlantic Ocean.

We set off from Domburg, Suriname on 3rd February 2012 and anchored opposite Bartica (N 06.23.964 W 58.37.037) the next day. It was approximately 265 nautical mile ride. We landed the dinghy at Cool Breeze, cleared in and spent a day exploring the town. 

Streets in Bartica

Street near Cool Breeze

Bartica occupies a unique natural location in the north-central Guyana where the mighty Essequibo, Mazaruni and Cuyuni rivers meet. Considered the "Gateway to the Interior". 

Even though this is the launching point for Guyana's diamond and gold miners, the place is not well developed and a little disappointing to find garbage everywhere. 

It's unparalleled natural location is one of the most intriguing sites for a town. The name 'Bartica' comes from an Amerindian word meaning 'red earth', is abundant in the area.

 

What about them?

Unfortunately garbage everywhere

We departed Bartica for Baganara Resort on 6th February. We motored 15 nautical miles up the river.

Here are some photos of the river on our way to Baganara Island (approx. 40nm inland). Apparently this about as far up the river we can go with a sailing vessel. Smaller & more powerful boats are needed to go further up through the rapids.

The rocks looks like a huge crocodile

A tiny island in the middle of the river with a bridge between the private property and an overgrown shipwreck on the right

It's calm in the river

Reflections

Baganara Resort

Baganara Island Resort on Baganara island (about 40nm up the Essequibo river). A peaceful place away from the city with nature all around. Had fun playing pool and table tennis all day. There are hammocks, chess board, frisbees, football, volleyball & kayaks too. All these to ourselves! 

I guess we came at a good time (off peak season). Even though the entrance to this river was pretty tricky with all the rocks, wrecks, stakes, shallow areas and limited charts, its definitely a nice place for some R&R. 

We anchored just off the Resort (N 06.20.027 W 58.35.545) for 4 days.

Our crew David

Monkeying around

Red Howler Monkey

A little settlement by the river

Exploring in the dinghy

Mangroves

Beautiful isn't it?

We departed Baganara for Bartica on the 10th February to clear out, and anchored 18 nautical miles (N 06.48.169 W 58.30.562) from the river mouth for the night. We headed off for Trinidad and Tobago the next day.

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Suriname - A Melting Pot of Cultures

Suriname is a former Dutch colony is located in the northern coast of South America, surrounded by Guyana (in the west), French Guyana (in the east) and Brazil (in the south). Its the smallest independent country in the South American continent.

We arrived in Domburg, a small village situated 6 miles up from Paramaribo on the Suriname river, the evening of 22nd January 2015. It was a day's sail (approx. 125 nautical miles) from St Laurent, Maroni river.

We picked up a mooring (N 05.30.380 W54.02.041) at $8 EUR/day opposite the Domburg Habour Resort. A small marina with 14 moorings, a floating pontoon, showers and a restaurant. At that time, they were building a swimming pool too!

Nice day to rest & relax

Wild Water Lillies somewhere between Domburg & Paramaribo

Here we rented a car for $10/EUR a day from a local and drove into Paramaribo, the capital of Suriname, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its colonial buildings.

The building style is a collection of European architecture with Surinamese influences. The city centre is very charming with its old wooden, colonial houses. It felt like we were in Europe!

Other parts of Paramaribo reminded me of home (Malaysia), with its many mini-markets, busy traffic and crazy drivers.

The inhabitants are a mixture of its indigenous people and descendants from Europe (primarily Dutch and English), Asia and Africa. Lots of Indians, Chinese, Indonesians (Javanese), Creoles and Africans.

It's a very culturally diverse population. There are temples, churches & mosques everywhere. It's one of the last few countries to have a mosque next to a synagogue. Living in peace and harmony.

Mosque & Synagogue - Side by Side

Temple

More Temples

The Synagogue

Mosque

The one thing I really wanted to do but missed out on there was to volunteer at the Green Heritage Fund Suriname. It's a charitable non-profit organization established in 2005. 

There are several programs established with the idea to reinvest the all earnings in the programs to help improve the fate of animals and the environment. 

Their vision is "to create a society that consciously works towards the continued improvement of its environment and the promotion of a green, clean and healthy Suriname". Wonderful! 

The program that really caught my attention was the Xenarthra program which involves rescuing, sheltering, caring, rehabilitating and releasing sloths, armadillos and anteaters, i.e. taking care of these orphaned and distressed animals until they are healthy and ready to return to the forest. 

 

I really wanted to volunteer for that because I really like sloths, perhaps it's cos I feel like one. Haha! I corresponded via email with the founder and director Monique Pool several times, however, due to timing constraints, we were not able to make it happen.

They also have a Dolphin program to collect basic data on the wild Sotalia Guianensis dolphin population in the estuary of the Suriname River. These dolphins look similar to the bottlenose dolphins but are smaller in size. The aim of this program is to increase knowledge and awareness of the wild dolphin habitat and populations, to help protect them and make better environment decisions.

So if you're ever in Suriname, do check them out!

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French Guyana

S/Y Yelo up ahead

We departed Lencois, Brazil at 05:30 hours of 23rd November 2014 and crossed the equator from Southern to Northern hemisphere about 150 nautical miles from Lencois. 

We were headed towards Degrad de Cannes in French Guyana when we met our friends on S/Y Yelo at the entrance of Mahury River on 27th November and decided to follow them to Ile de Salut instead.

We're so happy to meet Daniela & Rolf again. The last time we met was in South Africa about a year ago. We anchored next to S/Y Yelo on Ile Royale at 3.5m deep in soft mud. It was a rolly anchorage (N 05.16.345 W 52.35.406).

Ile Royale

3 Islands on Ile du Salut

These islands were part of a notorious penal colony from 1852 onwards for only the worst criminals of France. The main part of the penal colony was a labor camp stretched along the border with Dutch Guiana, which today is Suriname.

Île Royale was for the general population of the worst criminals of the penal colony to roam about in moderate freedom due to the difficulty of escape from the island. Today, the island is peaceful with monkeys, iguanas, peacocks roaming free..

Île Saint-Joseph was for the worst of those criminals to be punished in solitary confinement in silence and for extra punishment in darkness of the worst of the worst criminals of the penal colony.

Île du Diable (Devil's island) was for political prisoners, including Dreyfus in 1895-1899 after his conviction in metropolitan France for treason. No one is allowed on this island.

Raptor & Yelo

Île Royale

View of Île Saint-Joseph

Close up of one of the peacocks

One of the many Iguanas

Lots of monkeys swinging from branch to branch on our walk. Spotted these two watching us!

Colourful Macaws

Daniela & I

Devil's Island

Kourou

The town sits at the mouth of the Kourou River, which is 112 km long. Within the Kourou district lies the Guiana Space Centre and the European Space Agency's main spaceport.

We anchored in the river near the marina (N 05.08.852 W 52.38.689). It's a pretty small marina but we were able leave our dinghy safely and access fresh water taps at the docks.

A big thanks to dear our friends Daniela and Rolf for helping us organise tickets for the Ariane Rocket Launch. It was a once in a lifetime experience.

Guiana Space Center

Replica of Ariane Rocket

Everyone's setting up their cameras and waiting for the launch

Kinda funny we were so happy chatting with each other we missed the count down - and suddenly saw it in mid air

Trail of smoke from the Ariane Rocket

Kourou

St Laurent du Maroni

The town was founded in 1858, a penal town whose inhabitants were nearly all guards and liberated prisoners. Formerly the arrival point for the prisoners before they were sorted into different camps/prisons. Those who were lucky enough to stay in Saint-Laurent were generally better treated than prisoners in other camps. Their work was simple, they were free to go wherever they wanted inside the prison, and were given better rations.

Today, St Laurent is just like any other town with old buildings in colonial style and penitentiary architecture. There is a wonderful fresh vegetable market every Wednesday and Saturday morning where you will see a colourful mix of diverse ethnicity such as the french ("metropolitains"), creoles, amerindians, hmongs, chinese, brazilians, surinamese living here.

We anchored in the Maroni River (N 05.30.380 W 54.02.041) for almost 2 months next to S/Y Yelo and we met new friends Philippe and Chunny. A couple about to embark on their overland journey in South America in their big Green Truck Motorhome. We also met David (an Italian Aussie) who was starting up a marina right where we were anchored. 

There's not much to do/explore in St Laurent but its a great place to be for a boat! Being in the fresh water, our hulls were barnacle free! It did leave brown watermark stains just above our water line, but better that than barnacles, right?

The fresh vegetable market every Wednesday and Saturday morning

A small Carnival @ St Laurent

Scary masks

Daniela & I at the Carnival

Statue of a prisoner outside of Le Camp de la Transportation

Great place to ride our bikes

Will miss the baguettes but it's time to go!

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