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Thank goodness this long point had a channel. Outside is just shite…
Pos: here
Loc: Punta do Surunha
Acc: tent
Dist: 38,4 km
Start: 6:15 End: 15:30

I slept well and safe beside the friendly family’s house, just a bit hot as it was raining occasionally and I had to close my outer tent fully. At least no monkeys knocking at the door at night…

I crossed over the bay to the antenna at the village, and tried to ask one fishing boat anchoring upfront the beach about the passage entrance. It sounded like they were not really sure, and I decided to land at the village beach to ask the locals. They confirmed the passage being to the right, but there was supposed to be no water on low tide! I’d have to wait until the water would come up the beach to a certain spot…

Ok, bother, but waiting won’t kill me, even if patience is not my job. I had spotted already from the water a jetty on top of the beach sandbar, assuming the channel passage must be just behind the sand bar, at the end of the marsh where the forest begins. On walking up the beach, I saw the jetty leading into a channel, and some boats inland. This must be the passage! The locals also pointed there, not very far away!

After chatting a while, I was walking up to that jetty, and spotted a deep channel really bare of almost all water. It arrived there from an entrance running from further south parallel to the beach. This will take at least two hours, I assumed…and spent my time watching the village as much as they were watching me as an exotic animal. I’d love to read, but pulling out my ebook in front of the curious local’s eyes I didn’t dare.

After 1 1/2 hrss I decided to give it a try, found the entrance easily, and turned left into the channel leading to the jetty and the village, despite there was another smaller one going straight. But the local guy also had drawn some direction looking like I had to take this way. I passed the village and the dry boats on a moderate amount of water, then the channel really turned narrow and shallow. Was THIS the passage the fishing boats also could take? I even dragged my kayak over a log, assuming this passage is just not well maintained, before realizing this must be the wrong way!

There was only the option of the channel going straight off the entrance, or another entrance further south. I paddled back, and the straight one turned out to be well maintained with cut trees, and it had actually more water than it looked at the beginning. Eventually it soon became wide, and the whole channel was only one km long before I hit the next bay! And I assumed the amount of water would have been plenty for me, even without waiting for 1 1/2 hrs…

At least this very long jutting out wide headland HAD a channel! The paddle around the last headland made me not really keen on going around more of them…

One more bay to cross, just some strong headwind, no more problems. I spotted the entrance of the next channel left to a village, the tide was already quite out, and after confirming with an anchoring fishing boat this would be a passage, I headed in to land at the village, but couldn’t reach it at mid low tide any more. Another beach was accessible with maybe 100m dragging, this was all right.

Sure my camp was widely visible from all the sitting dry fishing boats, and soon I had five fishermen visiting, bringing also probably the whole village. I was patiently answering the same old questions, carefully watching if they are friendly people, especially the lonely fishermen, but all good. Just a bit annoying, being the centre of a spontaneous noisy village beach party for a while…