We all knew that there would be fishing nets strung across the estuary, the scale of them is truly amazing, many are a good kilometre long, with a small flag at each end and smaller floats along the length of the net. The plan was to motor to the mouth of the river, looking out for nets and fishing boats and once clear of the majority of the hazards, set the sails. So much for plans ... One of the rally boats got well and truly trapped in a net - Ian helped cut them free which involved scuba diving in visibility of approximately 30 cm in a current that was by then running at over 3 kts - staying with the trapped yacht was a challenge in itself! Eventually the yacht was free, but still had net on the propellor. Another dive was needed, but at least this time Ian and the yacht were drifting together on the current.
Blue Sun, the stranded yacht being towed away from the nets by Atla.
Finally sailing, the next day we passed a fishing boat that had caught a large shark, no idea what kind, but I was definitely glad I didn't know about them while Ian was in the water!
The fisherman is leaning over with a machete, Duplicat, another Rally boat is in the distance.
The sail was hard going - strong current, always against us, and beat the whole way. Sailing close to land we often got a lift, but you really had to watch out for nets - not really the place to be in the dark so we tended to tack out to sea at dusk. We did have some spectacular fishing success again, so plenty of fresh fish for dinner.
Spanish Mackerel, about 10lbs of it.
Heading for French Guyana - after several days at sea, we passed close enough to the Rally yacht Merlin for Damien to take our photo. As usual, the Hydrovane is steering for us.
After 5 days at sea we arrived at the entrance to the Maroni River - by luck, our timing was perfect and we caught the incoming tide up stream to our anchorage where the rally boats gradually assembled over the next few days.
Dusk in the Maroni - with the Nereids Rally boats World Dancer II and Merlin
Dawn - the time when you could hear the cries of the Howler Monkeys in the distance.
A rare sight - Nautilus in the early morning fog, photo taken by Sabina on Atanga.
We spent a week at anchor in the Crique Coswine, one of the tributaries of the Maroni River. Paying attention to the very significant tide we took the kayak upstream until the tide turned - the current is so strong you simply have to go with the flow.
A great way to see the river - photos from Damien, on Merlin.
Taking a break, and letting Ian do all the work!
Inspired by our efforts in the kayak we set off in the dinghy the next day to see how far we could get up one of the smaller waterways
Following Peter and Ewa from Coconut as the river became narrower.
Very soon after this we admitted defeat and headed back down to the yachts. It really is untouched virgin forest.
On this trip we visited the Amerindian village of Ayawande on the river bank near the yachts.
Ian found a drinking partner - the drink is cassava wine, drunk out of calabash bowls and made from cassava and sweet potatoes. It is then fermented - the cassava having first been chewed and spat out by the elder ladies of the community! We were told ours had not been fermented, but we did not dwell on the finer details of the production of the drink.
An Amerindian lady hand making clay pots in Ayawande Village.
The village - only accessible by boat, so no need for roads. There were hardly any people in the village, we were told that during term time the children go to school in larger villages and the population drops to about 30 people, but during holidays there can be several hundred in the village - you could certainly see evidence of lots of large scale communal cooking.
Nereids Rally had organised a trip by pirogue across the river to the village of Galibi, a Surinam Amerindian Village near the Maroni estuary - a stunningly beautiful location.
The view across the Maroni from Surinam.
We were given a thorough tour of the village - fishing is an important part of life here, fish is not only eaten fresh, but also smoked and salted.
Fish drying racks. We did try some of the smoked fish, prepared in a curry and it was delicious. The salted fish needes to be soaked and boiled and is a bit more of an acquired taste.
Interestingly the swim bladders are dried separately and exported to China for use in 'Traditional Medicine' although our guide had no idea what healing propertiee they might have.
We were all amazed by the traditional roofs on many of the buildings - they didn't look much from the outside, but the construction was a work of art!
Amerindian roofs - not very impressive from the outside.
We were all amazed at the way the palm leaves were plaited together to make a weather proof roof that will apparently last for tens of years - our guide hardly thought they were worthy of a mention!
After a very tasty fish lunch we watched, and finally participated in a traditional dance - I'm not sure that the music will catch on, there was an opportunity to buy the CD but we all politely declined.
The final rally destination is St Laurent du Maroni, a town known primarily as the location of the French Prison and Transportation Camp made famous in the book Papillon. Visiting yachts are still very much of a rarity here - Nereids rally organiser Davide has recently created the Marina Sainte Laurent with 30 buoys for yachts and a refurbished dinghy pontoon - and he had organised a reception for our grande arrival.
With our lifting keel we were able to lead some of the shallower draft yachts up the minor creeks until we rejoined the others and made our way in convoy up to St Laurent.
Heading to the Marina St Laurent - the yachts are 'Dressed Overall' with as many flags as possible on display. Photo from Sabina, on Atanga. We are the second yacht from the front.
This old steel ship is just outside the Marina St Laurent.
And this one provides a useful breakwater in the middle of the mooring buoys.
The jungle has moved in.
St Laurent du Maroni is a small multi cultural town, whose main highlights are the bi-weekly market and the old prison and the history surrounding it - as we plan to head to the Salvation Islands, also part of the old prison administration after we leave St Laurent I'll just focus on the Market:
The Chinese Section: locals queue for the breakfast, so we joined them.
Chinese breakfast Soup - delicious.
The market was surprisingly large, and immaculate. The produce is mostly arranged in €1 or €2 piles and the quality was excellent.
These are papaya and unripe aubergines.
There were several groups of school children in different coloured t shirts on a trip to the market.
Crossing the border over to Surinam is very easy, so a group of us from the Nereids rally took a pirogue across the river to visit Paramaribo the capital city.
Pirogue travel - the base of the boat is a single section of hollowed out tree, with rather flimsy sides and bench seating. You would certainly not want to be caught in one in a storm, but throughout daylight hours you can usually see at least 10 crossing the river at any one time.
The Paramaribo Pirogue Park - waiting for customers.
The city of Paramaribo itself is surprisingly large for a country with apparently 600,000 inhabitants, Dutch is the official language and the old town has some fine examples of its Duch Colonial history.
There were streets of old wooden ship lap boarded houses in the old town, although lots were in disrepair, there was lots of evidence of refurbishment and efforts to conserve the historic buildings.
Not sure what was so special about this building, but it was surrounded by the most lethal wall topped with broken glass bottles and barbed wire.
Possibly not quite the style of refurbishment historians would hope for!
Paramaribo really is multicultural - Hindu, Muslim, Roman Catholic, Jewish, Dutch Reformed, Moravian and Indiginous beliefs all seem to live side by side.
The Synagogue was originally built in 1719, and rebuilt as it stands today in the mid 1830's.
The much more recent Mosque, completed in 1984.
Not quite next door, but a short walk away is the Catholic Basilica, St Petrus en Paulus.
Apparently the largest wooden Roman Catholic Church in South America - a very impressive building.
And of course there was a market!
Two stories of market.
More aluminium cook ware than you can imagine. Aluminium is mined in Surinam.
Tomatoes are expensive and highly prized.
Fish is everywhere, neatly stacked.
As in the St Laurent market, you buy produce by the pile - shelled and unshelled cooked prawns.
Land crabs by the string.
Smoked fish - a local delicacy.
We shall soon be waving good bye to our Nereids Rally friends, it's been lots of fun, we have been to places we would never otherwise have visited and we certainly wish David well with his Marina in St Laurent. The cafe is doing well, the coffee is excellent, and we have even been able to try his very recently arrived Italian Ice Cream.
Gathering for a drink at the cafe.
A sight you don't see every day ... Samuel and Gabrielle taking their orphaned Spider Monkey home on the bike.
And finally - preview of the next blog, this statue commemorates the 70,000 prisoners held and transported through St Laurent before the penal colony was finally closed down in 1953.
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