Mon 20/01-2014 Day 571

[pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Xs2_gdDaWKs/UuGVXa2XrBI/AAAAAAAAZN4/Hgjrq9CmstM/s144-c-o/P1210017.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/112133179186774955122/SouthAmericaSection3Stage17GuyanaSurinameFrGuianeGeorgetownToCayenne#5972218810446883858″ caption=”This fishing flag shows nicely the strengh of the current and wind, in a 90 degrees angle to each other, but both all the time against me” type=”image” alt=”P1210017.JPG” ]

 

No place to land anywhere

Pos: here
Loc: mud
Acc: on my kayak on the mud
Dist: 49,3 km
Start: 6:10 End: 20:20

What did I learn on my first night in a hammock? This device can only be too small… even though you are supposed to lie diagonally and somehow flat in this way, my sleeping pad didn’t like to follow my orders and slid wherever it wanted to go, ending up always in a saggy middle position. Despite the hammock now stretched to the max, I was feeling way too saggy with my bottom low and head up. I was scared to touch the nylon fabric bottom with my only thinly covered body, and tried all the time to lie on the pad and to wrap my body with my blanket. The wind blew right into my face so that I had also to cover it, my hair bun was in the way lying with the head up, the moon shone too bright in my face, I had no ear plugs against the annoying bug noise. I couldn’t relax my poor backside stressed from all days sitting in the kayak by not able to really lie on the side in the saggy hammock, I couldn’t brush teeth without getting out again after having eaten only some few small things without having cooked a real dinner,  I took too much gear inside and it was everywhere in the way, so that I eventually threw a whole bag out just underneath me, after high tide was through.

It surely also rained a bit that I had to spread out my noisy rescue blanket. And then the problem how to pee inside without getting out into the bug infested night… I had to turn around in the wobbly thing and to kneel and to somehow use my “Freshette” female urinating device and relieved myself twice that night into a plastic bag which I was just about able to dump instantly through a tiny opening in the self-closing velcro bottom opening, before the bugs invaded my sacred bug free space. Just *not* on my gear bag under me… The bugs invaded anyway through an overlooked piece of fabric leaving the velcro just a bit open…

All in all one of the most fucking sleepless nights I ever had. The better choice after this night would have been my bed on top of the kayak…

The changing inside the hammock in the morning went ok, and outside were amazingly few bugs as the wind was either again or still up. I could have a quick breakfast on my kayak before sliding over the mud ledge back into the still rising water. Out again!

It was the river mouth crossing day, nothing exciting, just the current not with me any time. Hard work paddling against wind and current as usual. Surfy shallow halfway solid mud areas changed with dead calm soft mud. I enjoyed the view of those fish, about 30-50 cm long, with two long tentacles hanging down from their mouth for checking their way in the muddy water. But they also use their eyes to see – above the surface while having their mouth wide round open like a vacuum cleaner sucking everything edible in this water. Sometimes I was really surrounded by those big guys and hit them or they hit me more than once. No beach to be seen at any time on this other side, anywhere. Only grassy flat marshland, not even trees. One anchoring fishing boat was probably wondering where I wanted to go. I was wondering about that myself…

When night came, high water was about one and half an hour after darkness. I thought about just keeping on paddling those missing 60 km or such. In “normal” conditions with current and wind with me or at least not noticeably against me I’d just have done it. No problem, and I’d have arrived Tuesday night in Paramaribo already. But not with a constant +/- 15 knots headwind and counter current where you can’t rest without being pushed back with 1,5 – 2 km/h.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.ggpht.com/-t5RN-NJz6nc/UuGVP_QSosI/AAAAAAAAZN4/I3TYjj2szOQ/s144-c-o/P1200015.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/112133179186774955122/SouthAmericaSection3Stage17GuyanaSurinameFrGuianeGeorgetownToCayenne#5972218682780328642″ caption=”My beach vision from the distance turned out to be just flamingoes on their night rest at the grassy wet shore line” type=”image” alt=”P1200015.JPG” ]

 

I had at some point a vision of a nice light sandy beach, but soon realized those were only a line of pink flamingos standing on the muddy edge of the grass for the night… more and more “beaches” like that teased my mind urgently hoping for a miracle. So what to do for the night? I didn’t dare to run dry on highest tide, who knows if the water comes back reliably this high? I had my tide table with tide heights, but if I’d be sitting there stuck having run dry too high up, no one could get me out of there other than a helicopter… So I stayed at some point on the spot in about knee deep mud water when it was high tide, my paddle stuck in the mud as an anchor. There was also no need to get close to the grassy wet coast, just more bugs around. I prepared for the night with a small shower and by changing into dry long sleeve clothes, covered with my wind breaker pants and jacket. That felt great and cozy! No cooking dinner again though, just a few chips, nuts and beef jerky. I thought this time I’d just be sitting inside the cockpit with the spray deck on, wrapped in my rescue blanket against the wind and bending forward to get a reasonable rest…

17 comments on “Mon 20/01-2014 Day 571

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Randall Lackey

I couldn’t imagine trying to sleep sitting in my kayak,anchored in the mud,but then again also could’nt see myself battling the shoreline all night against the winds and tidal currents you’ve been fighting against. hope you were able to get a little sleep here and there and that you had that paddle sunk in good and well tied off.

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