Visit by Motor Yacht “Passagemaker” to the Essequibo River.
By Peter Quentrall-Thomas Published: 30/11/2009
The Essequibo River is the longest river in Guyana, and the largest river between the Orinoco and Amazon. Rising in the Acarai Mountains near the Brazil-Guyana border, the Essequibo flows to the north for 1,010 km through forest and savanna into the Atlantic Ocean. There are countless rapids and waterfalls (e. g., Kaieteur Falls on the Potaro river) along the route of the Essequibo, and its 20 km wide estuary is dotted with numerous small islands. It enters the Atlantic 21 km from Georgetown, the capital city of Guyana. Its many tributaries include the Rupununi, Potaro, Mazaruni, Siparuni, Kiyuwini and Cuyuni rivers. For over 30 km from its mouth, the river's channel is divided by the large flat and fertile islands of Leguan (about 28 km²), Wakenaam (about 44 km²), and Hog Island (about 60 km²). Fort Island is situated off the eastern side of Hog Island. Fort Island was the seat of Government of the country during the Dutch colonial era.
The Essequibo River is breathtakingly beautiful especially at sunrise. A good time to be up making your coffee is 5.30 because at 6am all the birds are on the move leaving their nests and heading for trees which are in fruit. “Birders” should look for books about the birds of Venezuela in English as I don’t think there is any easily available bird books for Guyana.
Getting There
Passagemaker is based in Chagaramas in Trinidad so we had a choice. Round the north coast as shown in the cruising guide of straight down through the Serpents Mouth which is the name of the channel that separate the southern end of Trinidad from Venezuela. We opted for the Serpents Mouth as you can clear customs, have a leisurely scenic cruise down the west coast of Trinidad, overnight in Columbus Bay and then head out into the Atlantic nice and rested. We took four days going down to Guyana and two and a half days coming back solely due to the currents. When we went out through the Serpents Mouth we could just make 3 knots under power but we “surfed” back through the same channel on our return doing over 9 knots.
Don’t be put off by apparent narrowness of the Serpents Mouth. Even dedicated cruising charts like the Imray-Iolaire chart for the Lesser Antilles make it look like a tight squeeze. Suffice it to say right off Pta. Bombeador 9.57 N 61.34 W on the coast of Venezuela which fronts the same Serpents Mouth there were no less than twelve ultra large iron ore carriers moored and they need plenty of depth and room to swing so there is lots of room for you and me. We came through the “Middle Channel” off Pta. del Arenal, the south western most tip of Trinidad, and had over 25 feet under the keel at all times.
Wildlife.
Guyana has a lot of wildlife but you are unlikely to find it near the river. Don’t expect to see jaguars coming down to the river to drink etc. There are too many humans around for that to happen. The exception is birds. Keep a good lock out for herons, scarlet and yellow macaws, blue and red macaws and colonies of corn birds. Hurakabra Resort near to Bartica is a good place to anchor off and watch the birds in the mornings. Often while motoring in the Essequibo you will often find a pair of Pied Water Tyrants sitting on your pull pit enjoying the ride.
While you see fishermen working their seine nets out from the river banks, apparently there weren’t that many fish around. November is one of Guyana’s two dry seasons and we were told the fish tend to go to the deep parts of the river where it is cooler.
I suppose mosquitoes count as wildlife and I’m pleased to say we had little trouble with them. Only when we were anchored off Bartica did the odd one come in the cabin during the night. Of course by anchoring away from the river banks you keep away from the areas where they breed. It was the same story with flies and we saw none of the horse flies we found in the Orinoco Delta.
Native Indians
You are not going to see native Amerindians in dug out canoes the way you will in the Orinoco Delta. The Amerindians of Guyana live mainly in the interior towards the border with Brazil. However you will see lots of people with Amerindian blood and once you start chatting with them they will happily tell you their ancestry, one that often has Indian, negro and white all mixed in.
Navigation
Entry to the Essequibo is relatively straight forward but stick closely to the main shipping channel as there are mud banks for over 10 miles out to sea. They are so shallow you will see hundreds of fisherman wooden posts miles out from the mainland. Take your time, do it in daylight and you should be fine. Note that the depth drops to as little as 9 feet at low water when you cross the “bar” a giant sand bank at the start of the mud banks on either side of the channel.
We all owe a great debt to Simon Wall for the excellent job he did in 2006 in plotting a way through the Essequibo to Bartica. The Cruising Guide to Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados and Guyana by Chris Doyle which contains Simon’s charts is an absolute must. BUT and this is a big “but”, do not blindly rely on the charts as the mud banks in this river shift frequently. Also recognize that areas on the chart that are blue and have no depths are uncharted and can and do have mud banks right where the chart shows blue water. How do I know? Let’s just say that preparing lunch while sitting for two hours at 45 degrees on a mud bank can be very challenging. The good news is the mud is quite soft and unlikely to damage your boat plus with a six foot (2 meter) tidal range and currents of up to 3 knots you will eventually be lifted off (or swept off!)
Keep a good look out for fishing nets which can be identified by a flag floating at one end and a fisherman in a boat at the other end. Little white floats hold the net up but are quite difficult to see.
Anchoring
We had no problem anchoring as the holding is excellent. As with the Orinoco it is best to anchor away from the shore and make sure you are properly lit at night.
Customs and Immigration
I cleared Passagemaker in and out of Guyana at Georgetown simply because I wanted to stay with a good friend there for a few nights. The officials were polite and courteous and had a single page yacht entry form ready for us to complete. But note there is no Immigration office at the port itself and you will need to take a taxi to the officer which is on the outskirts of town.
I’m told that you can do customs and immigration in Bartica as well but I didn’t have a chance to check this. Incidentally throughout the two week stay in Guyana we never once had any visits from the coast guard, the police or any other officials. It was very peaceful.
I wouldn’t recommend taking a yacht to Georgetown on the Demerra River except to have a quick “look see”. Being the capital of Guyana the shipping is pretty busy and there is really no where to anchor. I was lucky in that I was able to more at a commercial wharf but the piling was old and with the 2-3 knot current and 6 foot tidal range, poor old Passagemaker suffered some damage to her exterior. Luckily she was build 45 years ago and carries a 6” wide brass capped rubbing strip all the way round but even that took quite a beating.
I’m also told that security is quite a problem. Even large ships coming into port hire small skiffs to circle them as they make their way in as local “thieves” have been known to throw a grappling hook onto the deck, shin up the rope and throw anything they can lay hands on down to their companions waiting below. Even those 4” diameter ropes they use to tie up the ships have been known to disappear over the side!
Security
Talking of security we had absolutely no problems on the Essequibo where people insist that they don’t have the problems Georgetown experiences. While we lifted our dingy out of the water some nights we often left it in the water and no one interfered with it. Indeed no one really came near either Passagemaker or us individually even out of curiosity. Walking around Parika at the mouth of the river or Bartica further up river was a pleasure. We rode our bikes to Parika from Roeden Rust Marina and a shop keeper invited us to leave them in front of his store where he could keep an eye on them while we browsed around. Even in Bartica where we went out to dinner one night and hung around some of the bars, no one tried to interfere with us.
River Traffic
The Essequibo is Guyana’s main artery to large parts of the interior. Indeed there are few roads in this part of Guyana so everything moves by boat. River traffic is not heavy, at most you will see half a dozen larger ships threading their way between the mud banks in a day. However there are lots of small maxi taxi sized speed boats which carry passengers from place to place and these are powered by large outboards so they hurtle along. At night they are not supposed to use the river but occasionally you will hear them flying past without any lights on, so you must keep a good anchor light on at night. Typically these boats travel very close to the river bank so make sure you have a torch to identify your presence if you are using you dingy at night. I’m told the reason they travel close to the river bank is so that when they sink the passengers don’t have far to swim!!
There are no navigation lights on the river itself, even the mouth which is over 20 miles wide has very few so do not try navigating at night.
Don’t expect to see any other yacht except those permanently anchored in the river next to people’s island homes and even then we only saw three. We visited in November and depending on who you spoke to, we were either the 2nd or 5th yacht that visited for the year!
If In Need
If you need help, most people ashore will do their best to assist but recognize that almost no one on the river deals with yachts so there will be very few people who can assist with technical problems. There is a very friendly 75 year old German gentleman (who speaks excellent English) and his delightful 40 year old Guyanese wife who are building a lovely home on the Essequibo just up river from Bartica on the eastern bank. He is Mr. Bernhard Kleinhenz, and his Yacht “Meerstern” can be seen more to his little jetty. He and his wife have circumnavigated the world and I’m sure they could advise you if you need to speak to someone about a problem. Call Bernhard on his cell at 650-6479 or his wife Shamilla on 656-9185.
Parika
This is a rapidly expanding little town on the eastern bank at the mouth of the Essequibo. Large truck and car ferries leave here to cross to Leguan Island, one of the stepping stone islands you have to cross to get over the mouth of the Essequibo if you want to access the more remote areas of Guyana to the North with its border to Venezuela. I would definitely recommend a visit on Sunday morning to what must be the cleanest weekly market I have ever seen. The authorities have set aside an area off the main road where dozens of venders have their little booths. You need to go early apparently as the best produce sells fast and the whole market is over by mid-day. Parika also has an internet café which was US$5 for 30 minutes for a rather slow “high speed” connection.
Roeden Rust Marina
This is not a marine in the normal sense with pontoons and service. Rather it is a place where speed boat owners can have their boats hauled out and stored under cover. The owner Cleo Da Silva (Cleo being a man by the way) is very helpful. His cell phone number is 678-1001. If he is not there, ask for his wife, who is also very friendly. We anchored about 50 feet off the end of their rather rickety wooden jetty in about 25 feet of water and one day when we had to leave the boat all day to go into Georgetown they arranged for a young man to just keep an eye on it from the shore while he did his other chores as they were adamant they have no problem with theft on the river, especially for yachts. They wouldn’t take anything for arranging this but suggested we give the young man a little something so we gave him $1,000 Guyanese Dollars which is about US$5.
Fort Island
As you pass on the eastern side keep your eyes peeled for a glimpse of the ruins of the original fort on just north of the prominent jetty which has some sort of shed on it. You can get in quite close and if you have a good telephoto lens you will get some nice shots without even leaving you yacht.
Shanklands Resort
At the time of writing this in November 2009, Shanklands had been closed for some years and while it has a new Guyanese owner there is some uncertainty about its future. We went ashore but only found a few workers cutting the grass. Incidentally the lovely house with a wide staircase in the front, pictured in the Cruising Guide, is not visible from the river. You need to walk up the hill behind the beach to see it.
Hurakabra River Resort
This beautiful house and beach is on the West bank of the Essequibo quite near to Bartica. GPS points are given in the cruising guide but please note the “White can” which marks the submerged rocks opposite the jetty is no longer there so keep close to the jetty when you are passing. Kit Nascimento wasn’t there when we visited as he seems to live in Georgetown now. However the property is well managed by Dominic cell 642-6958 and his wife Paula cell 675-2822. The will organize excellent meals for approx US15 a head including juice and a desert but you must give them at least four hours notice. I believe there is a fee to tie up stern to in front of their property but you can anchor quite safely just a little way upstream at no cost.
Bartica
This is a bustling little town of two main streets at the junction of the Essequibo and Mazaruni Rivers. It seems that just a few years ago there were only “two cars and five bicycles” here to quote one local. Now it has a large new market and a very active night light thanks to the influx of Brazilians from across the border. Even on a Tuesday night there was lots of loud music and plenty of “action”. There is an ATM at the Scotia Bank branch which is under a hotel and restaurant (which we do not recommend as the service was very poor despite the word “International” in the restaurant’s name.) The maximum cash you could draw out at the time we were there was $30,000 Guyanese dollars (about US$150) but you could make multiple withdrawals at the same time. If you need a taxi to get around, carry groceries or take a day trip into the interior I would recommend “Junior” cell # 693-6270 who was very helpful.
Baganara Resort (Phone 691-0427)
If you want to spend a few nights in a “proper bed” this is an idyllic place to do it. Just up river from Bartica, it is not a “resort” with hundreds of people, just a small “guest House” with a little accommodation wing. You can anchor right in front of the resort and just ‘chill” in their nicely kept gardens. Meals can be organized but only if they have other guests staying there. Don’t be surprised to get “buzzed” by low flying aircraft as they have an airstrip and it is a regular stop for the twice weekly air trips from Georgetown to the Kaieteur Falls in the interior. The falls, which boast the longest single drop in the world, are 5 times the height of Niagara and handle an estimated 60 million tons of water each day, should not be missed and if you book in advance the plane will pick you up at Baganara and drop you back there on its return leg. Expect a trip to the falls to cost approx US $250 per person.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a cruise in one of the world’s most beautiful settings then the Essequibo is for you. I can almost guarantee you will be the only yacht on the river, the people you will meet will all be friendly and helpful, and you will have the extra excitement of navigating around the mud banks which won’t hurt your yacht even if you do get stuck.
Happy Sailing……. Peter Quentrall-Thomas on the motor yacht Passagemaker
(quentrall@gmail.com or go to www.passagermaker.org)
