[pe2-image src=”http://lh4.ggpht.com/-OSRfEsrZ9R0/Uvn_ZMdCGNI/AAAAAAAAZoY/-YgCPKTDjSQ/s144-c-o/P1290007.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/112133179186774955122/SouthAmericaSection3Stage17GuyanaSurinameFrGuianeGeorgetownToCayenne#5979090788615854290″ caption=”Campsite in the forest behind a sandy small beach” type=”image” alt=”P1290007.JPG” ]

13,4 hrs, 3,4 km/h avg…

Pos: here
Loc: sandy forest
Acc: tent
Dist: 45,5 km
Start: 4:00 End: 17:40

A little too much for a little sick person… my throat is sore, glad I don’t have to talk. If I’d be in bed, I may get a temperature. Instead, I have to go to the max again, until a reasonable camp site shows up. Launching in darkness over a muddy edge where the water was lower than last night despite high tide, I tried to jump in backward while sliding the kayak down and fell into the water. Not a real good start… clothes were wet anyway, my head stayed dry, all was warm, still shivering the first hours a little. I barely get my full paddling power at night, and it is always high wind so far in darkness. So again until light only 2,2 km/h, barely worth the effort getting up so early. Should I have paddled longer yesterday?

When light came after 4,4 km, the light accessible forest with deep water upfront was gone for a dense bushy one with shallow muddy foreshore. I’d not have found there the same great camp site, so it was a good decision. I need to reach a beach tonight, I marked the first one, but not certain one, 35 km ahead. A definitive beach was 41,5 km ahead. So with my regular headwind speed just about reachable for the next high tide. If I’d not had to make so many detours because of shallow mud fields. Wide breaker fields are not speeding me up either. The last ten km I was sure something happened to the coast here, there must be eventually sand now, as the surf got quite high and rough. I had to paddle far out, watching if I’d see my first beach.

It came… but the surf stayed just before high tide at 4 pm high and ugly, it was breaking nasty over the visible sand bank. Thousands of small “beach birds” had their break in the air around high tide, flying around my boat, as they may be washed off on top of the sand bank now. I unexpectedly had to wait with landing until an hour after high tide or more, this would just take me to the better beach anyway. I’m not used to deep water and steep beaches with no mud any more! Landing here would be too dangerous now, surf plus logs plus steep beach. It calmed down, either because it became after high tide, or because the area got less surfy in general. Up front my long to be reached beach three fishing boat were anchored, obviously knowing this would be a calm place at night.

I couldn’t wait until i got to the long beach, the water was calm now, and I spotted a sandy beach in a forest. I barely could get my boat between the trees, not  a good spot. I backed out again, and in the third next bay came an easily accessible forest beach, obviously also used by fishermen as a camp site. No one there, 2 km left to the big beach which looked only green as yet – this was my private place! Easy calm landing after the long day, just what I needed. The evening wind keeps the bugs at bay while making camp and showering, and then “Home, sweet home!” crawling dead tired into my tent.