Not really. Just enjoying life and staying awhile. Spent a day enjoying a ponga ride to and thru a huge mangrove area on the Rio Sirpe. They brought kayaks along and we spent time paddling thru the narrow mangrove passages looking at birds, plants and different species of mangroves. Beached the kayaks and took a 1/2 hour walk into the jungle to see what we could see. The guide with us knew PLANT NAMES! So nice to meet new species and become first name friends. Also saw birds, frogs, lizards, monkeys and ever so many insects. Way cool. Back to the ponga and up to the town of Sirpe we stopped at a restaurant for lunch and then back towards Bahia Drake. The ponga captain and guide pointed out various birds, animals and reptiles that I never would have seen - including 3 more types of monkeys, a crocodile, bats sleeping in a line on a tree over the river, white ibis.... you get the idea. Really enjoyed the day and rested well that night.
Rich and I challenged the inflatable kayak again. There is a river that goes up into the jungle very near where we are anchored and we were told it could be navigated a ways up in a kayak. So, we inflated and set out on our adventure armed with a small cooler containing lunch, snacks, water and beer. Also brought camera, field glasses, bug spray, you know, the essentials for jungle stream exploration. Good news. We CAN paddle the kayak in a more or less straight line and yes, we are still friends. When our friends on s/v Laniki took kayaks up this stream it was earlier in the year and closer to the end of rainy season. The water level was further down and we were hauling the kayak over one set of rapids after another. Decided to head back and were successful in kayaking down the same rocks we just hauled the kayak over going upstream. Yahoo! No mishaps and much fun. The water was fresh and ever so cool. The birds calling and jungle trees covering the stream made a lovely setting to just sit in the kayak and eat our lunch and lay back looking up into the trees. Saw many beautiful and colourful butterflies flitting thru the canopy.
Have met many interesting landbased people here. It is a wilderness camp area and very difficult to reach. There is a dirt road, landing strip for very small planes, and ponga traffic from Rio Sirpe. There are two tiny stores and trucks that come once a week supplying vegies, fruit and meat. Also met some new cruising boats and saw a few people passing thru we had not seen since Mexico cruising grounds. So, now it is almost time to travel on. If the weather holds we'll head out early Tuesday morning (today is Sat, I think). Randy and Gail on Otter, friends from our first year in Mexico, are planning to be at Isla Del Cano and we will be meeting them there. It is only 12 miles off shore from Bahia Drake so we are not talking a long passage. If the weather holds we can stay at the island for a few days. The snorkeling/diving is supposedly world class. Makes me wish we had an underwater type camera. Then it will be off for a longer journey, about 70 miles, to Gulfito in Gulfo Dulce. Gulfo Dulce has a few different areas to explore so we hope to be there for a while, as well.
Life is good and we wish you all could see this beautiful place. Maybe we can find a more sophisticated and robust internet cafe in Gulfito. I'll write more soon. In the meantime, sending all of you joyful greetings and much love
from the yin side
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment