It all started like clockwork, Eben was on board by 7 am and we set off for Nargana Island where we were getting permission from the Congressa, to go up the river. Two little islands joined by a bridge, choc a block with buildings. It is where Eben went to University, he proudly said it has shops and a police station, but no fresh water. They bring fresh water from the river in barrels in their dug out canoes to the island. Seems amazing they want to live so crowded with no water or electricity by the looks of it. Not the nicest anchorage, pretty filthy water and all the outhouses on little jetties. Rowan and Eben got the permission and returned to PolePole for a cooked breakfast with his bread. Luke introduced him to marmite which he didn’t like but the home made lime & ginger marmalade from my sister in South Africa he really liked! He picked out the ginger immediately.
Sunrise
Eben on board sailing to the Diablo River
Densely populated Nargana Island
Spot the loos hanging over the water!
Bridge to the little island next door
We set off in JeldiJeldi (the dinghy) and it was quite something to get into the river as the mouth was littered with uprooted trees. Needless to say we hit a few submerged ones, luckily we were going slowly. It was another cloudy day, but we were grateful as the sunny patches were roasting. It took a few minutes and we were in the lush jungle, the water was fresh and crystal clear. Goodness knows why nobody lives down here as it is so gorgeous after the manic town. They do however bury their families on their plots, we passed a couple of cemeteries. All along there are small holdings with a dugout canoe moored up, they seem to be minimal clearings with mainly bananas and enormous mango trees.
Eben guiding us to the river mouth
Tiny river entrance
Initially loads of Mangroves
The river widens with lush vegetation
Mangroves
Loads of birds, including the prolific Turkey vultures. The Giant kingfishers were very busy, elegant Green herons were very brave and let us get close. We were thrilled to see a toucan which was a highlight. Eben rather took the magic out of it by calling it a ‘Guna Chicken’!
Small holdings
Cemetery with a huge trophy!
Spot the heron on the submerged tree trunks we had to negotiate
We had to go incredibly slowly and carefully to avoid submerged tree trunks. The river got shallower and shallower until we beached, so we had to get out and tie JeldiJeldi up to a branch while we had a refreshing swim. No point in going further. Our return trip was only slightly marred by a downpour, which to be honest was refreshingly welcome. We did pass a local dugout with a large family in it, we were rather glad to interrupt them trying to entice two iguanas down a tree. We know they eat them so we’re pleased to have disturbed them and hope the iguanas live a little longer.
Luke doing some skilful driving
Heavy drops of rain
Plenty of raptors about
We finally got back to PolePole and said goodbye to Eben who was going to get a taxi back to his island, Banedup. There are endless islands called Banedup, we have worked out ‘dup’ is island in the Guna language. We set off for Coco Islands about 20 minutes away. We had just confidently got out the reef area, Rowan had called me back into the cockpit and we were all just enjoying the moment when there was an almighty scraping bad noise, we had hit coral! The charts showed deep water but are infamously incorrect in these remote areas and we had hit a big coral head not shown on the chart. It was such a bummer as we knew it must have done damage. We turned around and followed our route that we had used earlier to avoid this area.
We rather nervously got to Coco Island and landed up anchoring securely opposite an island that has lost all its vegetation and looks like the sea will take it back under water. Our Bauhaus guide says that every time he comes back to do the island guide, a few more islands have disappeared. At least we were holding fast, even if a bit rolly, poor Rowan dived down to look at the damage. One dagger board is seriously damaged, it is split open, sadly it is the opposite dagger board to the one we did a little damage to in Barbuda earlier this year! Anyhow we have planned to haul the boat out here to fix the dagger board, so hopefully this one is repairable too. It really put a dampener on a very good day.
The residents of the submerging island, one of the Coco Islands
Beautiful Coco islands
Dark clouds in the setting sun
Luke made us delicious hamburgers on Eben’s bread, difficult to eat with a huge dollop of guacamole I made, but really delicious.
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