As forecast, there was little wind when we set off so we had to motor for the first 6 hours - shortly after we set off there was a tremendous rain storm, and for the rest of the night we were literally surrounded by lightening. It was not close enough to be worrying, but very impressive nonetheless. By midnight the wind picked up, and we did more tacks over the next few days than we've done in the previous 6 months.
Rain squalls are a regular event in this area - one of the more impressive post-squall rainbows.
Dinner sorted for a couple of days - we caught this Wahoo on day 2, perfect timing for us.
Approaching the Guyanan coast is interesting, the land is very low lying and the water is shallow, and totally opaque due to the run off from the Essequibo. Five miles off shore you can't see any sign of the land, yet you are in 5 metres of water. There were a couple of small fishing boats laying nets and unfortunately we did manage to hit one - no harm done to the net, which was completely invisible under the water, but it did test our new rudder hydraulics which fortunately performed as expected.
We arrived in the river mouth in the late afternoon and dropped anchor. The charts are known to be unreliable in these waters, so navigation should be done in daylight.
Our anchorage - the chartplotter clearly has us on the land!
The next day we reunited with Aztec Dream and Fenicia and headed on up stream. Although for much of it the jungle extends right down to the water, there are many little home made slipways where boats are driven ashore for repairs.
Yet another rain squall, and a reasonably large trawler parked on the bank.
The largest repair yard we passed - although it all looked chaotic there were signs of people working on the boats.
But I think they left this one too long, it's being reclaimed by the jungle.
The river is vast, 20 Nm wide at the entrance - Hog island in the middle of the river is bigger than Barbados.
A lone fisherman laying his nets - in the rain.
We spent a second night at anchor in the river, this time we were joined by another Rally yacht, Atla, from Sweden.
Our anchorage - it was so quiet you could almost hear the silence.
Sunrise on the Essequibo
Heading up the river, with our lifting rudder and keel we are in the lead, checking for depth, with Fenicia, Aztec Dream and Atla following us.
Guyana is the Amerindian word for Land of many Waters, and to travel from the Capital city of Georgetown to the town of Bartica there is no road - you go by river.
An Essequibo water taxi, a slightly different style perogue to the Caribbean version - and with a roof to protect from the rain or sun.
Eddy Grant's holiday home - his own little island. He's Guyanan.
Finally, after 40Nm fascinating miles motoring upstream, we reach our destination: The Hurukabra River Resort, a small hotel on the riverbank.
The view out over the river from the Hurukabra Resort.
We anchored off the resort and over the next couple of days the rest of the Nereids Rally boats arrived.
This is a first - there have never been this many yachts up the Essequibo.
Our stay in the Essequibo River was action packed: the Nereid's Rally had laid on several events for us - starting with The Official Welcome ... We formed an orderly line, and were introduced to the Minister of Business and Tourism and various other dignitaries, speeches were made, steel drums played we had a lovely lunch, and then an elimination round of Miss Guyana took place!!
A boatful of Miss Guyana hopefuls being photographed by the rally organiser, Davide. The plan was to ferry the ladies out to the largest yacht for a photo shoot - bizarrely this perogue was considered unsafe, and the candidates were taken out in dingies instead.
Here we have Ian in the portabote ferrying two Miss Guyana's and the Minister himself back from the photo shoot - they don't look too happy about the change of transport!
We went on several trips to the nearest town, Bartica which has a decidedly 'Wild West' feel - it's a mining town, with several shops offering to buy the gold that can be sometimes found in the mines nearby.
The official dinghy dock - you drive onto the ramp and drag the boat up above the high tide level.
Water taxis - Guyana's version of the London Cab.
One of the main shopping streets.
There is also a large fresh produce market, and plenty of opportunities to buy street food. The overriding impression is how friendly and helpful the locals are.
This gentleman is selling what they call Custard, it's frozen and tastes a bit like Angel Delight - he shared his umbrella with me in one of the frequent heavy rain storms that typify the tropical climate here.
Regional Chairman of Bartica provided a courtesy trip up river to Marshall Falls which included a guided jungle walk and a whole body massage in the waterfall.
River Transport
On the way to Marshall Falls. The water is a deep rust colour from the natural tannins in the forest vegetation.
Even though it is not a particularly large waterfall, the power of the water is unbelievable.
The town of Bartica also laid on an official welcome for us - further evidence of the fact that visitors in yachts or otherwise are quite unusual in this area - there were a few speeches, a short play and a wonderful steel band.
Welcome to Bartica
Meeting the Deputy Mayor
Steel band in action - they must have played for at least 2 hours, making it look effortless. It was a magical sound.
The Nereid's Rally participants enjoying the music.
An absolute high light of our visit to Guyana was a trip to the Kaieteur Falls, at 251 metres it is one of the world's longest single drop waterfalls, with 136,200 litres of water falling per second.
The trip involved a flight on a 12 seater plane from a private runway on Baganara Island, just up river from the town of Bartica.
Baganara 'Airport'
Ian pretending to be Co Pilot - he was allowed to sit there for the flight as long as he promised not to touch anything!
The flight over the Essequibo and the rainforest was wonderful.
Sadly there is evidence of the destruction caused by gold mining - much of it is unregulated, and although the prospectors are required to fill in the pits before they move on this is not always the case, apart from anything else, the standing water then become a breeding ground for mosquitos.
First sight of the Kaieteur Falls from the air.
A very informative guide took us through the rainforest to various view points, it's a unique environment, and home to giant tank bromeliad plants - they grow to 3 to 3.5 metres and like the small poisonous frogs that live in them, are only found in this area.
Posing by the waterfall.
The water made some wonderful rainbows in the valley - a magical spot.
We had another short flight to Orinduik Falls, on the border with Brazil. This time we flew over the savanna, and it was almost as if a line had been drawn, the trees stopped and the grass began.
Our guide assured us this was natural, not man made deforestation. You can see the the shadow of our plane below.
Orinduik Falls - much smaller than Kaieteur but still very beautiful.
A quick massage in the Orinduik falls.
And now our time in Guyana is almost over - it's been great, a totally new experience for us to be 40 miles up a river in a totally new culture. Our next trip will be south to French Guyana, 300 miles into the current, which runs at up to 3kts against us and also into the wind. We expect it to be a hard sail.
A couple of final views of the Essequibo River.
Looks fabulous and you seem to be getting the most out of your travels. I'm off to Lisbon on Friday on a golf bash while Daf stays home to work and to look after Jean Claude. Catriona's back in 10 days after 10 weeks away. We'll find it very hard to give him back. Stay safe and have fun. xx
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