Another first light departure from Portobelo sent us on our way to the Rio Chagres. Winds were up and behind us giving us a nice downwind run all the way regenerating most of the time. Once in the river things were suddenly quite calm. We had been told that there was a creek on the first bend in the river that would lead to a small pool and waterfall. After stopping for lunch at the first bend I took the dinghy out and explored three nearby creeks all of which appearing to end in impassably overgrown trickles. On the last exploration I was spooked a little. First I was given a jump by a load of bats taking off when I went under an old bridge. Then, as I was taking the dinghy over a fallen log, a large lump fell in the water. In the corner of my eye the movement made me think a croc had just entered the water. It was only when I looked closer that I realized it really was just a lump of wood.
We took Dignity further up the river and stopped where the charts listed a couple of creeks. This time we all went in the dinghy and explored the two creeks. Although the ride was quite pleasant we did not find any pools or waterfalls. We even tried our luck up a third smaller creek. No luck there either. I’m going to try asking on the morning SSB net to see if anyone can give more specific instructions. We passed another cat on the river, Manana, who’d been given similar information and had similar bad luck looking for the right creek.
On the way to the Chagres River I got in contact with our agent to make sure we were good for the 8th transit. He told us that the authorities had, this year, introduced a new tarrif of $250 for date changes. I expressed my displeasure about finding out about this this late on as hanging around Colon was exactly the scenario I had told him I wanted to avoid and that surprise fees were not what I expected to hear from allegedly the top (and most expensive) agent in the area. He said he’d try to do something with the authorities. Cell phone coverage is poor here in the river. I managed to get a text confirmation from him that we are booked for the 8th but neglecting to tell us the rendezvous time. I guess we’ll get this soon.
Here on the river we get the sounds of the jungle. There are plenty of bird and insect calls often interspersed with the grunts of what I believe are the howler monkeys. From the guide we understand there are paths to walk which could be interesting for us today. We passed the spot they’re supposed to start and it wasn’t clear where to land the dinghy. Another adventure ahead I’m sure.
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