by Jack Cooley, July 2004
This is titled a “preliminary cruising guide” because I believe it is the first attempt at a cruising guide to Guyana. [See “Part One: Guyana Basics” in last month’s Compass.] It is based on a single sailing trip aboard S/V Mystic Adventure from Trinidad to Guyana and return in a flotilla with three other sailboats. We spent most of the month of March 2004 anchored off the Baganara Resort, on the Essequibo River, some 35 nautical miles upriver from the Atlantic.
It is my sincere hope that someone will carry this project forward by adding additional information and detail.
Although all of the information that follows is believed to be accurate, no warranty is made, expressed or implied. There may be errors and omissions, so undue credence should not be placed in this guide. This guide should be used with navigational charts, navigational aids, vigilant eyeballs AND LOTS OF COMMON SENSE.
Cruisers, bored with sitting out the hurricane season in Trinidad, often look for additional areas to cruise that are out of “the hurricane belt”. Popular destinations include Grenada, Tobago, the delta rivers of the Orinoco and other nearby rivers, the north coast of Venezuela and the Venezuelan offshore islands.
I believe that Guyana can be added to this list of hurricane-season cruising favorites.
The Waypoints
The following are the waypoints we used in sailing from Trinidad to Guyana, and up the Essequibo River past Bartica, to the Baganara Resort (592-226-0605, evergreen.adventures@webworksgy.com, www.baganara.com).
FROM TRINIDAD TO PARIKA STELLING, GUYANA
Boca #1 10º 42.45’N 61º 40.36’W. Exit/approach point for Boca de Monos, Trinidad
Boca #2 10º 49.00’N 61º 37.70’W. Northeast of the Boca
TR1 10º 56.00’N 60° 41.00’W. Off the northeast coast of Trinidad
TR2 10º 45.00’N 60º 25.00’W. East of Emerald Shoal and Prospector Patch. TR1 and TR2 provides good clearance of these shoals and also provides enough “easting” so you should be able to sail most of the way to Guyana under normal tradewind conditions.
TR3 8º 00.00’N 58º 30.00’W. Off the northeast coast of Guyana.
SL1 7º 15.00’N 58º 10.00’W. The “outer marker” waypoint to begin lining up on the entrance to the Essequibo River
ESS1 7º 01.40’N 58º 11.40’W. South of the Essequibo Light (and pilings). The “final approach” waypoint for entering the Essequibo River.
ESS2 6º 57.00’N 58º 16.00’W. In the Ship Channel between the “Bluejacket Banks Pile” and Leguan Bank
ESS3 6º 54.50’N 58º 20.00’W. In the Ship Channel of the Essequibo River
Parika 6º 51.90’N 58º 25.50’W. Actually titled “Parika Stelling” (Stelling is a Dutch word meaning “port” or “harbor”).
Two Brothers 6º 51.44’N 58º 26.02’W. Anchored off “Two Brothers”, a shallow draft marina and fueling point. Customs and Immigration met us at this dock. Insufficient depth to dock at the fuel dock, but from the anchorage you could jerry jug fuel, and possibly potable water.
FROM PARIKA, UP THE ESSEQUIBO RIVER TO BAGANARA RESORT:
These waypoints were taken from actual GPS readings while we were underway and should be accurate. However the “breadcrumb trail” on the GPS map background indicated we were going “overland” much of the time!
In addition, I attempted to check the waypoint coordinates on the charts we used [listed in “Part One: Guyana Basics” in last month’s Compass.] and they did not correlate well. The charts that are available for the Essequibo River are older charts and are certainly not WGS-84 Datum, so that may be part of the problem. So, sailors beware; until more trips have been made up the river, and the waypoints verified, use them with extreme caution and do not take them as gospel!
6º 50.01’N 58º 27.68’W. On the port bank there is a marina for powerboats (shallow draft), two launching ramps and a wooden pier roughly 200 feet long. Two medium sized ships and a barge were moored on the port bank as well.
6º 50.00’N 58º 27.72’W. On port side, Roed-en-Rust (Work and Rest) Village, 3 pilings
6º 47.28’N 58º 30.28’W. Maybe you can catch a glimpse of the old Dutch Fort Zeelandia on Fort Island, to starboard
6º 46.92’N 58º 30.42’W. Off Fort Island
6º 46.22’N 58º 30.86’W. Fort Island to starboard
6º 44.51’N 58º 31.73’W. Kawatta Bamboo I. 50-100 yards to port
6º 42.89’N 58º 32.48’W. Itura Bamboo I. 50-100 yards to port
6º 41.56’N 58º 33.12’W. On course
6º 36.70’N 58º 34.45’W. On course
6º 36.45’N 58º 34.49’W. Possible fuel dock
6º 35.05’N 58º 35.00’W. Near shore
6º 33.69’N 58º 35.37’W. On course
6º 32.54’N 58º 35.08’W. On course, narrow depth channel begins
6º 31.24’N 58º 34.62’W. Paralleling portside river bank, 50 to 100 yards offshore, with depths around 20′, narrow depth channel
6º 30.45’N 58º 34.60’W. Sea buoy to starboard, narrow depth channel
6º 30.02’N 58º 34.85’W. Narrow depth channel ends. On port bank, John Willems’ property (a rentable retreat?) 592-226-5634
6º 29.70’N 58º 35.10’W. On course
6º 29.27’N 58º 35.18’W. Shanklands Resort on port bank
6º 29.01’N 58º 35.19’W. Midway between shore to port and rocks to starboard, depth 37′
6º 28.50’N 58º 35.17’W. Home of Eddie Grant, rock star, is on island to starboard, and Coast Guard Station Mamarikuru is on port shore
6º 27.82’N 58º 35.22’W Midway between round red buoy to port and an island with a home to starboard
6º 26.58’N 58º 35.52’W Paralleling port bank 100 yards offshore
6º 26.16’N 58º 36.47’W
6º 25.78’N 58º 37.59’W Midway between channel markers to port and starboard
6º 24.07’N 58º 37.05’W Abreast of Bartica, a frontier town, estimated population 4,000. Depth 10 to 20 feet. Fuel is available at either of two fuel docks (Texaco 592-455-2514 and Guyoil 592-455-2370). Water should also be available here. Depth at the fuel docks reported to be 15 ft at low tide.
6º 23.20’N 58º 35.60’W. On starboard bank, John Willems house and dock (a rentable retreat, at reasonable rates, in case family wants to visit), tel 592-226-5634
6º 22.73’N 58º 36.77’W. About 50 yards seaward of a rock sprouting two or three trees
6º 20.15’N 58º 35.92’W. Port turn to 90º magnetic, heading across the river toward the middle building at the Baganara Resort.
6º 20.00’N 58º 35.57’W. At anchor, at the Baganara Resort, in 15 to 20 feet of water. Sand bottom, good holding. The boat will swing upriver with the rising tide, downriver with the falling tide, and at some other angle when the mid-day wind sets in from the northeast at 10 to 20 knots. The four boats in the flotilla all swung on one anchor, with about 150 feet of rode, and never dragged anchor, during the three weeks we were there. Anchor at least 200 feet offshore to give sufficient swinging room, and do not anchor off the end of the runway (the pilots are nervous about a mast sticking up along their flight path on final approach)!
ANCHORAGES WE USED:
10º 49.87’N 61º 03.06’W. Grand Riviere, On the north coast of Trinidad, near the east end of the island. This is a fair anchorage under benign conditions but can be a bit rolly. We anchored in sand with a depth of 21 feet, 150 feet of rode and good holding.
07º 12.00’N 58º 14.00’W. Five nautical miles southwest of SL1, off the coast of Guyana. Anchored in sand/mud with depth of 24 feet, 160 feet of rode and good holding. A fair anchorage in benign conditions, but a bit rolly.
07º 38.14’N 58.34.93’W. In the Essequibo River off the main channel, near Lau Lau Island, in 22 feet of water with sand bottom. Good holding with 150 feet of rode.
ADDITIONAL RIVER ANCHORAGES IN GUYANA (based on Admiralty Chart 2782 the following locations appear to be out of the main channel of the river and have good depth):
6º 46.23’N 58º 30.52’W. Off Fort Island
6º 43.42’N 58º 32.65’W. Off English Island
6º 42.94’N 58º 33.50’W. Just upstream from Worm Island
Off Shankland Resort
Off the town of Bartica
Quick Navigation Facts
With our boat, we usually figure 6 knots average speed when planning time and distance to be traveled. On the way to Guyana the equatorial current seemed to be about 1.75 to 2 knots on the nose. Within about 60 miles of the Guyana coast, the current becomes tidal, flowing west with a rising tide and east with a falling tide.
The current in the Essequibo River probably runs about 3 knots at slack tide, maybe 4 to 6 knots with a falling tide, and maybe 1 to 2 knots reverse current (upriver) with a rising tide. We timed our travels up the river to coincide with a rising tide for two reasons: If we ran aground, we hoped to be floated off by the rising tide, and we wanted to be carried upstream by the rising tide, rather than fight the current of a falling tide. You should avail yourself of the tide tables for Parika and Bartica. It appears that the Bartica high tide is about 1.5 hours later than at Parika. Bartica low tide is about 3 hours later than at Parika.
From Trinidad’s Boca to Baganara Resort in Guyana, the distance over the ground (GPS) was 442 nautical miles. However the distance traveled through the water, as registered by our knot log was 563 NM (be sure you have adequate fuel for 563 nautical miles)! Contrast this with 364 nautical miles traveled through the water on our return trip!
Our average speed outbound to Baganara was 4.2 knots, and our return speed averaged 6.4 knots! We traveled 5 days to reach Baganara, but our total time underway was 82 hours (3 1/2 days). We wasted time (and gave up valuable “easting”) while searching for a counter-current between TR2 and TR3. My advice to future cruisers: Don’t waste time looking for a counter-current, and don’t give up your easting – stick to the rhumb line delineated by the waypoints! As it was, we sailed 33 hours. If we had not given up our easting, I believe we could have been under sail alone for at least 50 hours. We also elected to leave waypoint SL1 at daybreak so we could visually avoid scattered pilings in the mouth of the Essequibo River.
To summarize the above in tabular form:
Outbound Leg Inbound Leg
(Trinidad to Guyana) (Guyana to Trinidad)
The number of days we traveled 5 days 3 1/2 days
Total time underway 3 1/2 days 2 1/2 days
Average speed over the ground 4.2 knots 6.4 knots
Distance over the ground 442 NM 442 NM
Distance traveled through the water 563 NM 364 NM
Time under sail (no engine) 1 1/2 days 1 1/2 days
FISHING BOATS
One of Guyana’s industries is commercial fishing (including shrimping). We encountered numerous fishing vessels from the Guyana Coast out to about the 60 fathom line. We were surprised that many of them trail their nets off the bow of their boat. Frequently a black flag will mark the end of the net farthest from the boat. Sometimes they release the net and go elsewhere (maybe to set another net). In this event they usually leave a white flag on the end of the net they detached from. In contrast, the shrimpers trailed their nets from the stern with long arms extending out to port and starboard as well.
SILT
We first encountered the silt laden outflow (beige colored water) from the Essequibo River at about the 20 meter depth (10 to 20 miles off shore). This beige-colored water continued up the Essequibo some 10 to 20 miles beyond Parika. Some sailors fear the heavy silt may increase wear on cutlass bearings and raw water pumps, but we have not noticed any ill effects.
ROUTING
When cruisers from Trinidad first consider this trip, they may wonder why we did not journey south through the Gulf of Paria, then east through the Serpent’s Mouth and the Columbus Channel. At first glance, this route looks much shorter, but with careful measurement, it turned out to be about 30 miles farther! In addition, with prevailing easterly winds piling up over the shallower water in the Serpent’s Mouth, and the possibility of wind against tide, it did not look very appealing. The wind and wave conditions may have been in our favor for the return trip, but the area requires critical navigation, a portion of which may have had to be accomplished after dark. We also understood that there may be some abandoned, unmarked oil wellheads in the Columbus Channel.
Next month: Exploring ashore in Guyana
Read A Preliminary Cruising Guide to Guyana – Part One: Guyana Basics
