Off The Charts In Guyana - Summary

Good-bye Baganara Resort

Good-bye calm river anchorage

Well the time had come for us to depart Guyana.  We were there nearly two months.  Only one other sailboat remained - sv Wild Matilda.  All the others had sailed on.

Fern locally called the "print" fern or "imprint" or something like that

Coating leaves an imprint but more importantly it is anti-malaria bush medicine

We anchored sv Honey Ryder off Bartica for two days while we provisioned and did our last bit of exploring as well as saying good-bye to locals we had met.  The Immigration and Customs check out was a breeze.  Again, SO nice to find officials making it easier for visiting yachts. We say - "Well done Guyana."

Good-bye Essequibo River

Because of the tide schedule and because we weren't in any hurry, we took two days to get down river.  The first night we anchored off the southern tip of Stampa Island, a tiny uninhabited mid-river island.  It was quiet and peaceful.  The second day we traveled the short distance to Fort Island.  We struggled to get anchored.  There was not much protection.  After touching bottom (lightly) we decided to find another anchorage.  We motored back up river approx 4 miles and tucked up on the south end of Baboon Island, another tiny unihabited mid-river island.  The wind was up that day, so we were glad to have the protection.  Tom did some boat projects, we both read and napped and I watched the interesting boat traffic going by, which included a series of 15 or so drift nets the spread across nearly the entire width of the river channel.  Scary!  At sunsest, we watched as thousands and thousands of parrots flew overhead to their nightly roost across the river, sqwaking loudly as they went.  Wow!  FYI - for those interested in cruising in Guyana, I added all our anchor locations into Active Captain.

Good-bye beautiful Guyana skies

The next morning we motored down the river and out the mouth.  It was not fun.  It was not pretty.  It was brutal.  The wind was up and on the nose - choppy.  A blinding squall hit just as we were passing Parika.  Luckily, it was Sunday and there wasn't much river traffic.  Finally we got through the fishing poles (remember those from the trip in?) and turned NW.  Whew!  Next stop Tobago.

Good-bye kewl insects

SUMMARY -
We had a wonderful time in Guyana.  It is so different from the rest of the Caribbean.  It was a nice introduction to South America.  The people of Guyana are friendly while a tad reserve aka no pushy touristy stuff  - only the maxi taxi loaders are pushy.  The raw beauty of the undeveloped land is stunning.  We owe a huge thanks to sv Wild Matilda, sv Liahona, and sv Persephone who had been before and went again this time.  They knew the ropes from last time and helped paved the way for many of our adventures in Guyana.  A big thank you also goes out to Stuart, Paul and staff at Baginara Resort.  They were warm and welcoming to all of us cruisers.  Would we recommend Guyana for cruisers looking to get off the beaten path?  Yes.  Would we go again?  Yes!

Good-bye weird and wonderful folage

Good-bye odd insects

Final note - Thanks for following along on our adventure Off The Charts In Guyana.  I know I can be a tad wordy and include a ton of pics that take time and bandwidth.  But in my defense, I didn't want you to miss anything!  

Also....Don't forget to check the Beyond Burgoo tab for Off The Chart In Guyana food adventures in Guyana.