Check out that growth!

The photo to the left is the same as the one posted when I arrived in Brazil. The second photo is just a few weeks later in French Guyana. All of that growth above the water line is from being heeled over by the NE trades while crossing the Amazon river delta area. I managed to scrape all of that growth off after the photo was taken to have it all come back after another six hundred mile passage from French Guyana to Trinidad! I have never seen growth like this anywhere else...

Flashback post - Devil's Island

If it has been awhile since you have seen the movie or read the book, Papillon, this place will bring it right back. Most of the buildings are in a real state of decay, but not all, including the infamous solitary confinement building. Pretty eerie feeling walking amongst the ruins.

Trinidad

Six dollars a night US to anchor at TTSA and the fetch is several miles with shallow water! The other cruisers I have met complain about how third world this place is but where are the third world prices?

Trinidad is definitely turning the page. I haven't seen this many boats in one place in a long time. There are chain chandleries that feel like West Marine, cruiser nets on VHF, and more yacht services than I could ever afford....

Bocas de Monos - panning from the east towards the south.

Paramaribo, Surinam

My head is starting to spin with all this grinding. Over five thousand miles sailed, four countries and all this without having spent more than three nights in a row in the same anchorage since I left Simonstown over two months ago. I am starting to identify with being on the boat more than on land.

I doubt I will stay here more than a couple of days. I'll take a break (maybe a week in one place!) in Trinidad, maybe, because things need to be done to the boat, otherwise it is still the fast track to Cartagena where I look forward to taking a break from sailing. Sit around,learn Spanish and try and score good deals on boat gear from those "stuck" cruisers - the ones selling bits and pieces of their boat to keep the habit going. I am sure there is a lot more to Columbia than cheap cocaine...

Kourou, French Guyana

Real quick pit stop. This place is outrageously expensive being a space center town. Also, the jungle thing doesn't go with sailing in my opinion. I had less than a foot of water under the boat coming in, 4 knot reversing river current and all kinds of bugs I have never seen before are now living on the boat. I am out of here ASAP, maybe Paramaribo or straight to Trinidad. Stopped in Fortaleza and Devil's Island. More later.