It is early morning Sunday January 5, 2014 and the sun is trying very hard to penetrate a thick layer of fog and it gives a very mystique view over the water with all the other boats behind us hardly visible. We are in the middle of the little rainy season which is December and January. But this year it has rained a lot more than is normally the case. Usually the mornings are nice and for a tropical country cool with temperatures in the low seventies and the rain starts in the afternoon with very heavy localized showers and thunderstorms. But over the past weeks we have had many days that it rained almost constantly. This weather pattern is not only in the northern coast of South America including Brazil but also in the Southern Caribbean with heavy flooding in St. Vincent and St. Lucia with mud slides and due to that loss of lives. In Suriname Christmas has two holidays on December 25 and 26 like in many countries in Europe and Canada and the worst day was the Second Christmas Day when it rained the entire day and caused a lot of flooding. But luckily we had a few days in between without rain when we had the following great events:

On the Second Christmas day all the sailors, ex-sailors living close to Domburg and many other people joined our Christmas dinner in the Marina Cantina. There were 59 people gathered around the table to enjoy great food, drinks and a lot of fun. It rained but that did not reduce the fun. However, it made the BBQ a little more complicated since we had to use another (covered) place to cook the food instead of just next to the cantina.

During the Christmas vacation time HolSu the Fishing Company next to our marina/mooring field has its End of the Year Employee Boat Tour. The owners of the company allow us to get water made in the factory and due to that we visit the place nearly every day to fill a few containers to keep our water tank filled. Since we almost feel like employees I made a joke to Gerben the oldest brother that we should get an invitation for this party, he agreed so we boarded the boat. The owners originally from Harlingen in The Netherlands converted the largest trawler in their fleet to a yacht called “De Twee Gebroeders” (The Two Brothers). They took all the fishing equipment off the boat; built a new deck above the fishing deck resulting in large space to accommodate many people like on this day. On this deck a DJ installed his sound equipment; the drinks were stored in large containers normally used for fish with a lot of ice made in their own factory, a lot of drinks and great food. The dancing started the moment the boat left the pier, but Dorothy and I were “frozen” on the stern deck. Since Gerben wanted to take advantage of many hours of daylight he tried to cast off during low tide while the trawler was still resting in the mud. Due to this he could not turn the ship until she was out of the mud and had sufficient space to make a turn. This meant that he was backing up in the direction of Island Girl and although Dorothy and I trust the very experienced fishing captain it was rather scary to see “De Twee Gebroeders” coming closer and closer to Island Girl. But then we heard the engine going on full power, the boat started blowing out thick dark smoke, it made a steep turn and Dorothy and I started breathing again and we joined the party (See the pictures of “De Twee Gebroeders” in our picture gallery). It was a great party while sailing over the Suriname River first to Paramaribo and then back to the Suralco Bauxite Company loading facility.

December 31 is in Suriname the day of the largest street party called “the Pagara Festival”. A Pagara is a long string of fire crackers up to 200 feet long. Stores in the shopping center of Paramaribo join to create a “Pagara Estafette” (Pagara Relay) that creates a line of fire crackers of over 2 miles long. The streets where this happens are filled with thousands of people dancing and singing on the music played by life bands on nearly every street corner. In the street marching bands are passing by playing exciting calypso type of music. Drinks, mainly “Parbo” and food are everywhere available and it is amazing how such an event can be done; just very exciting fun. Even a rain shower did not change the excitement the party just continued. In the evening we had local Surinamese food including a small pig cooked by the manager of the marina Yenny. On a field on shore next to Island Girl there was a beautiful fireworks display for over an hour from one of the home owners and we also watched fireworks all along the river up to Paramaribo. On New Year’s Day, however, it rained the entire day.

On January 2 we took a Plantation Tour on a boat called “Sweet Merodia”. The Merodia Foundation was established in 1999 by the Surinamese author Cynthia Mc Leod, with the purpose to create possibilities for Surinamese youngsters to get to know and experience their own country in a fun and pleasant way, to teach the youth more about their own history, geography and biology and to increase awareness and appreciation for the environment. The Merodia Foundation organizes trips over the Commewijne and/or Suriname River and during the boat ride one listens to stories about the history of the plantations along the route. We made a stop at plantation “Rust en Werk” and at plantation “Frederiksdorp”. Cynthia Mc Load is 77 years old and the daughter of the last governor and first president of Suriname. She is not only a great writer but gives many presentations and tells great stories about the history of the plantations and the slavery in Suriname. Gerben the oldest brother of the HolSu fishing company together with his family including his son and his family from The Netherlands who spent the holidays in Suriname were also on the boat and we all had a great time listening to Cynthia’s stories, walking on the plantations and the boat ride on the Suriname and Commewijne Rivers.

Dorothy and I also made a few great trips such as a trip to the south side of the Brokopondo Lake to a place called Pokigron, where we had a base camp in 1971 that could only be reached by boat over the Brokopondo Lake and the Suriname River passing one large river rapids. Now it is only a two hour trip over a small but very nice road built by the Chinese. The interesting part of this trip is that although you drive in an air conditioned car, have cell phone connection, the small villages along the road and Pokigron are the same as in the past (see our pictures).

Over the past couple of weeks a total of 7 boats arrived in Suriname from The Netherlands and one boat from Switzerland crossing the Atlantic. HolSu’s new trawler arrived after a 21 day trip and two boats we met in Guyana on the Essequibo came in just before Christmas and we all together meet nearly every afternoon for happy hour that sometimes extends to late in the evening. Nettie and Jelle two sailors who arrived 5 years ago and built a very nice house close to the marina invited us for a nice dinner in their home. Their boat is still moored in the river, but they are not intending to leave Suriname. We visited Mieke and George on their 35 year old trawler “Southern Cross” many times and due to their strong relationship with Suriname are also not intending to leave. George even predicts that we like it so much here that we will not leave either.

We are not only staying in Suriname because we like it here so much, but also to complete the investigations on the tumor and other spots in my lungs and my dental treatment. According to the lung specialist the last X-Ray indicated that the spots on my lungs are reduced which means that they were probably caused by an infection. After we get a written statement from the lung specialist for further treatment we will start planning the continuation of our trip back to the Caribbean with the next destination of Tobago from which we will report in our next blog.