[pe2-image src=”http://lh5.ggpht.com/-0I-bV29Nzr4/Un2yMFz_jLI/AAAAAAAAYTA/M3uHIUKmByI/s144-c-o/PA310138.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/112133179186774955122/SouthAmericaSection2Stage16VenezuelaTrinidadGuyanaCaracasToGeorgetown#5944103003987348658″ caption=”I was cutting my way on too low tide through the plant debris mud in one of the tiny ditches” type=”image” alt=”PA310138.JPG” ]

Ants again and diarrhea… 🙁

Pos: here
Loc: Shell Beach
Acc: tent
Dist: 23,7 km
Start: 8:30 End: 14:05

Yesterday close before dusk it was quite windy and I took the opportunity to have a bug free walk on the windy beach. I also wanted to check out the black stuff gathering quickly on low tide in front of  the red beach sand. I thought it is only a thin layer of this black vegetation humus which was in batches also on the red beach. The black area had deep ditches where the water ran up and down and where I still could see some red solid sand. It was two hours before low tide. But the black stuff turned out to be a THICK layer, and it was soft… shite! Ok, I wouldn’t want to try at night if I could walk on it without sinking endlessly, but as I saw still some sand in the small ditches in between I hoped I may be able to drag my kayak through those ditches to the open water, still walking on solid sand? Well, it was an idea and worth a try.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh4.ggpht.com/-kIqHoA4jCIc/Un2yXNGSKHI/AAAAAAAAYTA/3l6sKsRe6vI/s144-c-o/PA310139.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/112133179186774955122/SouthAmericaSection2Stage16VenezuelaTrinidadGuyanaCaracasToGeorgetown#5944103194921674866″ caption=”The mud impact was not too bad, the pant I took off and could wash later before jumping into the cockpit” type=”image” alt=”PA310139.JPG” ]

But low tide was at 8 am, and sunrise at 6.30 am, and by no way I’d have liked to try this game in pitch darkness and risking to get stuck, with the water going down. I could have launched early in darkness, maybe minimum three or better four hours before low tide, but still, if I got stuck… When I woke at 4 am, it was raining heavily and that made my decision to stay and to wait easy. I didn’t sleep well either, I was scratching my body all over. Why? The secret was revealed at 4 am: ants in my tent! What the heck – I had all my plugs in the zipper joints, but they still managed to crawl through one plug, this time fortunately only those very, very tiny ones, obviously not biting, just tickling my skin. Still I urgently had to get rid of this invasion! I had taken some bug spray inside my tent, and this Deet containing spray did the mass murder job this early morning. They were running fortunately mostly in streets, obviously aiming as usual for my food pod with the delicious food left overs and liquid in there and crawled also under the mattress to an open olive bag. Thank goodness they didn’t take the crossing over the pad and over me…but there were millions, soon all mostly dead when I ran out of spray. A new bottle was in my kayak, but there was another invasion just waiting outside to enter my tent – mosquitoes en masse. No way would I open the tent before I want to leave and be fully dressed…

I could live with the state of the ants now, and tried a bit  more sleep. Not really successful, as it was dead calm eventually after the rain, and I urgently wanted to launch! At full low tide I decided to pack, and when I as ready to go my three indigenous neighbours also decided to try if their boat would to float. They were shy, me too, and I didn’t dare to ask them for help. They were working on their boat, I was dragging mine into the too narrow channel and surely got not far. I needed less weight, so I unloaded the stern with most water and food, could walk it back to the beach in the ridge, and dragged little by little my kayak further out, not without having both feet in that vegetation mud. But there is worse mud, this was deep, but still felt somehow solid. I also saw the boys carefully walking through it, so I kept on going, but soon lost my solid sandy narrow ground. Three steps through very soft mud, to get my gear back inside the kayak, then a few small waves flooding my channel with me sitting on the kayak and “stepping” the feet into the solid mud to lift my weight and to push, and I was happily out!

I took off my long pants quickly before sliding my backside into the cockpit and washed them and certainly also my neoprene socks and sandals, but besides that, the impact of the mud inside my kayak was limited. I cleaned the boat outside, and happily paddled into the dead calm morning. Well, three hours later than planned, but earlier than I thought yesterday evening. Still three hours = 15 km missing before the wind set in and the usual rain squalls pushed me back.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.ggpht.com/-9EER_wd8BCE/Un2zs63yOpI/AAAAAAAAYTA/CotsuI-VBL0/s144-c-o/PA310140.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/112133179186774955122/SouthAmericaSection2Stage16VenezuelaTrinidadGuyanaCaracasToGeorgetown#5944104667497773714″ caption=”Palm trees are growing in a right angle here…” type=”image” alt=”PA310140.JPG” ]

After about 13 km the beaches were gone, only a few hidden campsite to spot inside the dense forest. Fortunately I stopped on one of the last beaches to take care of my diarrhea which started this morning. No idea where this came from…I ate as usual and the same stuff as always. Maybe my soft coconut candies got old? Two wide mud flats sticking still out on high tide were to be given a wide berth, then I spotted again a beach after 23 km – mine! My stomach was hurting, I was not sure about what was going with my need to see a “toilet” At least when I hit the beach, hopefully I took care of it for the last time .

[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.ggpht.com/-HuJsy3rJCZ4/Un20LRjwCrI/AAAAAAAAYTA/-zpQwOqUgs0/s144-c-o/PA310143.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/112133179186774955122/SouthAmericaSection2Stage16VenezuelaTrinidadGuyanaCaracasToGeorgetown#5944105188983835314″ caption=”Some local campsite” type=”image” alt=”PA310143.JPG” ]

The beach was a wide sandy spit with seemingly a steep end where I hopefully can launch tomorrow morning without getting stuck. Some locals just had left this campsite this morning, the fire was still smoking. I could study their way of making camp, and am thankful for my tent. Sleeping on woven palm tree leaves under whatever rain cover with bugs everywhere…no thank you! Not sure if they are coming back tonight, but there is space for all. I am hoping my stomach is getting better over the night! I put a bunch of garbage bags handy, just in case…

[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.ggpht.com/-ublFCghllEA/Un21wDVF9wI/AAAAAAAAYTA/05iNbl7sN_k/s144-c-o/PA310145.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/112133179186774955122/SouthAmericaSection2Stage16VenezuelaTrinidadGuyanaCaracasToGeorgetown#5944106920331048706″ caption=”Some woven palm tree mat to sleep on in the local camp – I do prefer my Thermarest mat…” type=”image” alt=”PA310145.JPG” ]

[pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-6EUxrp4FKws/Un20ZFog2xI/AAAAAAAAYTA/_FK6EEMIkXQ/s144-c-o/PA310144.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/112133179186774955122/SouthAmericaSection2Stage16VenezuelaTrinidadGuyanaCaracasToGeorgetown#5944105426300754706″ caption=”The locals were obviously feasting on mud crabs in their camp” type=”image” alt=”PA310144.JPG” ]