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Cruising at Caiman Corner

ExploreSail St Lucia to Guyana 
by Steve Pearce of Ray Ashton & Associates, St Lucia

When the whole world is going pear shaped around you its time to take a break. I decided to go with my good friend Paul Stephenson of Cara Hotels to Guyana for a few days. Paul has lived in Guyana for a decade or so and has regaled me often over a few quiet Vodka's of the Countries beauty. 

I was captivated by Guyana almost from stepping off the aircraft. Old British Army Bedford trucks vie with Ox and cart and the infamous minibuses on the narrow roads. The architecture is Colonial, made of the abundant local timber and vast in scale. The Cathedral is the tallest wooden building in the world. 

Then there is the wilderness. Guyana has a population of 700 thousand, most of which live on the coastal belt, about 10% of the landmass. This results in a largely unspoilt forested area with an abundance of wildlife roaming free. Some of this we were lucky enough to see, including large black Caimen, a huge black Jaguar, Tapir, Howler Monkeys, Parrots and Macaws. 

On our return to St Lucia I bored the usual suspects in 'Castaways' with tales of the black cats and giant crocs. However a substantial amount of people showed real interest in visiting Guyana for themselves. We thought about the logistics of such a trip and the idea for ExploreSail was born. 

Six explorers set sail from Marlin Quay Resort, Rodney Bay, St Lucia in an Ocean Star 51.2. The usual North Easterly wind was typically replaced by South Easterlies, the current also against us. The sail down was made interesting by the company, 2 Brits, 2 Irish and 2 Yugoslavs. 

The Irish contingent had little sailing experience and their better halves had insisted they wear lifejackets and harnesses at all times. One decided on the second day to put on his lifejacket, harness and a miners headlight. The fact it was the middle of the day did not deter him from keeping it on for the next 4 hours. Our Yugoslav captain asked the question, "Why?" The reply, "Oh don't mind him, he's Irish and wears sun cream at night!" 

We had a few great tasting visitors, 2 tuna and a 4 foot Wahoo. A pod of Dolphin joined in the Tuna feast on St Patrick's Day. It took 3 days of motor sailing to cover the 480 nm from St Lucia to the 26 miles wide mouth of the mighty Essequibo River. This river is the 3rd largest in the world and boasts the biggest single drop waterfall. 

We were on a tight deadline to meet Officialdom at the river mouth to clear us in. To our knowledge only 2 other yachts have sailed up this river. We had to employ a shipping agent as the paperwork is aimed at commercial vessels. The Officials were excellent. We were cleared in 20 minutes by some extremely courteous and friendly gentlemen. 

This all happened at Parika where an old friend awaited. The Guyanese Coast Guard Vessel Essequibo looked familiar. We rafted up alongside her and found out she was previously HMS Orwell, Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth's navigation training ship. I spent time aboard her during my Commissioning Course in the Royal Navy. The Guyanese Officers aboard her now were also trained at Dartmouth.

After the official welcome we set off up the river. This was probably one of those times indelibly marked into memory. The river is a huge brown serpent, 26 miles wide at the mouth with three Islands at the centre bigger in area than St Lucia, Barbados and Martinique. We made our way up river cautiously, with depth varying from 2 metres to 40 metres. We followed a channel described on the Admiralty chart (1925 version). The banks are lush and green so the landmarks used on the chart are such as "trees, up to 296 feet"; to us all the trees appeared equally as tall! 

This river is not like the Amazon or Nile. It is not used as a motorway with container ships and other cargo plying constantly up and down. There is an old ferry, a few tugs with barges and Pirogue water taxis. The water taxis have not yet learnt the art of hassling every vessel in their vicinity. It made a great change to have friendly waves and greetings and not one request for money or attempt to sell us a Conch shell horn! We motored some 50 miles up the river to a picturesque resort near a fork where the Mazaruni River joins the Essequibo. 

Shanklands is on a bend of the river, where it is about 3 miles wide. It has white sand beaches and beautiful cottages set on a hill overlooking the river. The river remains serene and clear here, with good swimming and watersports. 

The wildlife abounds, a friendly Macaw inquisitively investigated our breakfast, a small Caiman swam in the inner river pool while one of our parties evening visitor, amongst the rafters above his king sized four poster was a small Tarantula! This he accepted after a while, even though his only phobia is spiders. He settled down with his luggage inside the mosquito net and a Maglight playing over all nooks and crannies like a World War Two searchlight. His next cry awoke us all when a parent of the first spider came out to see the visitors. This chap was about spread hand size, black with a reddish brown pattern on its abdomen. Much merriment from the rest of us and our unlucky amigo was captivated by the story about the Tarantula's abilities to stand on its back legs and jump at its victim. We had a discussion on the colour of the most poisonous Tarantula and left our friend to it, we being undecided if this was the deadly version! 

Shanklands has a very colonial style and you do feel you are in a time warp to the 1900's. The food is delicious, all locally produced and on time. You can sail on the river, explore on their launches, jetski or Kayak. Shanklands is a great place to relax.

After a couple of days at Shanklands we set off in 4x4 jeeps into the interior. We drove through the timber concessions to the Iwokrama nature reserve.
This rain forest reserve is about the size of Wales. It has a fantastic canopy walkway some 30 metres above the forest floor. Great white hawks nested next to the walkway and monkeys made there presence known with continuous shouting, if not a visual appearance. 

We arrived at the resort of Rock View Lodge in the Savannah region of the Rupununi. After the hours on the dusty trail our host, Colin Edwards brought us welcome beers at the swimming pool. 

Colin has made a real self-sufficient oasis over the previous 10 years. He has a deep well irrigating rows of fruit trees, vegetable plots, beautiful landscaped trees and palms. His livestock include sheep, cows, horses and wild boar. The only thing he brings in is Diesel for the generator and some extra meats for the shop, which is sold to the local Amerindian village. Colin provides various services to the local Amerindian population. These include the airstrip, football pitch, post office, corner shop, butchers, bar, satellite TV and HF radio link. 

The eight rooms at Rock View are beautifully designed and built with locally fired bricks and shingles. Hammocks in the meeting rooms, known as Benhabs may also be used. All hammocks come with nets. This is a place to chill out, watch the Cashews being roasted, meet Tommy the Tapir or go riding with the Vaquero's. 

Rock View has some great trails for hiking. One takes you up the foothills to give stunning views over the whole Savannah. The river is only half a mile away from Rock View and the fishing is good. The food is excellent, cooked on a Brazilian BBQ which is large enough to feed the population of Mexico City! After the BBQ we adjourned to the comfort of the bar for a few Guyanese beers and some well deserved fine rum. 

From Rock View we made our way through the Savannah adjacent to the foothills of the mountains. The route is dusty and takes a couple of hours. We arrived at Diane McTurk's Karanambu Ranch on the banks of the Rupununi River. The ranch is about 150 square miles of cattle grazing. The accommodation is local Amerindian housing with full mosquito netting. It was dry season and we did not have any mosquito problems. 

Diane runs a programme of fostering giant orphaned river otters. All are released back to the wild once they are big enough to survive. These Otters were hunted for fur but that practice has been stopped by education and pressure from Diane and her team. 

Again we were treated to superbly prepared simple cuisine and fantastic old world hospitality. Our adventure took us onto the low river for a day of fishing and the chance of seeing a family of wild otters. We actually met the whole family of otters, seven of them, who jumped into the canoe with us. These creatures are beautiful, playful and friendly. One of the otters is a rehabilitated guest of Diane. 

We fished at 'Caiman Corner' where the otters played around and ten large Caiman looked on in tired distain. We fished some ten feet from the most inquisitive Caiman, a twelve to fourteen foot monster. He was more disturbed by us than us of him. It was a wonderful experience, both the Otters and the Caiman. The birdlife is also easy to spot. Kingfisher and Eagle, Vultures and Ibis along with a plethora of other birds all feed from the river and its banks. As night falls the Caiman are visible by torchlight reflecting from there bright red eyes. The river banks were full of bright red eyes! 

In the early morning we set off into the savannah to find an 'Antbear'. This is a Giant Anteater. The Amerindian Vaquero led us to his feeding ground. The experience at Karanambu is difficult to recount. This is a safari into an area that is full of wildlife, and has not been seen by many people. We also had a visit by a Silver Fox (similar in size to a Wolf) and a 'Jagurundi' which apparently is a cross between a Jaguar and an Oscelot. It was a weird looking beast, long squat with a bushy tail. 

The road back to Georgetown was full of life with Powis (large turkeys), deer and yet more Caiman in the creeks. 

The trip ended with a cocktail party in Georgetown at Cara Inn. Our photo package was shown on the big screen including a close up of a particularly nice Veruka on one of the Irish feet. The Guyanese government gave us their blessings with a visit by the Prime Minister and Tourism Minister. We offered them the traditional St Lucian gift, bottles of Bounty Rum courtesy of St Lucia Distillers who supported the whole trip with the essential supplies of wines and rum. In return, after a few samples, offered all possible support and we are negotiating to set up a simplified Customs and Immigration check in and out for yachts. 

We had a fast sail back to St Lucia with current and wind with us. It took just 2 ½ days. We caught and feasted on a 20lb Skipjack Tuna. I did get a slap in the face from a flying fish who decided my bunk looked more comfortable than the sea. Amazingly he found his way straight in through the small deck level porthole. 

This trial run was a great success and ExploreSail was launched at the travel show ITB Berlin 2003 with a very positive response from the travel industry. ExploreSail will now operate a fleet of yachts for this trip, most around 50 foot and a luxury 100 foot brand new sloop for the high end market. The planned excursions will be 14 and 17 day packages starting in St Lucia with options to sail both legs or fly home from Guyana. Other options will be to fly all internal transfers in Guyana, visit the Kaieteur Falls near Shanklands or complete the whole trip in Guyana by 4x4 Jeeps.

Special thanks for making this trip a success must go to Paul Stephenson and Cara Hotels logistics team, Ray Ashton of Ashton & Associates, Bernard and Michael at St Lucia Distillers, Bee at Shanklands, Colin at Rock View Lodge, Diane and Eddie at Karanambu and Marlin Quay for a great welcome home.