WINLINK SITREPS
While we were in the remote Rio Orinoco Delta region, every few days we posted a SITREP on our Tiger Lilly Sailblogs site via the Remote Post feature of Sailblogs via the HAM Radio WINLINK system. Here is a compilation of those daily posts:

10 April - AM: Anchored at Pelican Island on the Reo Macareo. Stowed sailing gear and rigged the boat for river ops. Had a nice visit with 2 fishermen/businessmen who spoke English, they told us a lot about the area. They also told us that the Rio Macareo had very few security problems - we feel good about that. PM: ran about 20 miles of river today, cruised by a few Waro villages, humble living, nice folks. We are in a pleasant anchorage with howler monkeys in the trees, and pink river dolphin feeding all around the boat. Intentions: explore in the dink tomorrow AM, then continue heading up the river PM. All is well onboard.

11 April - Today was bird day for the crew of Tiger Lilly. We watched the sunrise this morning from deck chairs on the foredeck, with a toucan sitting in a tree next to the boat, and several pink river dolphin feeding in our anchorage. A pretty good way to take our morning coffee! We spent most of the day in the dinghy exploring the area around our current anchorage, motoring up and drifting down a long cano (creek), and circumnavigating two large islands in the main river. There is a tidal variation of about 2 meters each 6 hours here, which makes the Rio Orinoco Delta a very dynamic area with so much current flowing. Once the rainy season starts there will be a lot of water draining through the Delta from as far away as the mountains of Columbia and the edge of the northern watershed of the Amazon. We saw a rare harpy eagle (we think it was a harpy - we had no idea he was rare until we got back to the boat and checked the bird app on the iPad2), toucan, grey heron, corn birds (black bodies with striking yellow wing undersides) ducking in and out of their woven hanging nests, kingfisher (he escorted us up and down the cano), several hoatzins (large pheasant like birds which are noisy and smelly - and they are unique in that they have their own genus), a pair of large macaws, and many other small birds which we have no idea what they are. Bird watching in the tropical forest of the Reo Macareo is great fun, as is exploring in the dinghy. The rain forest has the most vibrant shades of green we have ever seen. The night sky down here is huge, with an amazing multitude of stars - the atmosphere is so clean and pollution-free. Just before dark we went back out in the dinghy to listen to the howler monkeys - they are actually quite fearsome sounding, though we still have not actually seen them. We have been pleasantly surprised with the bug situation; this is our third day on the Reo Macareo and so far no mosquitoes - just plenty of horse flies to deal with during the day. The rainy season has not yet started (2 to 3 weeks away), and the Trade Winds keep the temperature quite pleasant - we actually need a sheet at night. Intentions: Tomorrow we will get back underway and head up river. Devi and Hunter from S/V Arctic Tern told us about a side cano trip they took their yacht down, and we are eager to do the same. All is well onboard.

13 April - Friday we departed from the Reo Macareo and headed southeast up the Cano Guapoa. It was narrower and shallower than the Reo Macareo, but we got through just fine. The banks are quite high as we come to the end of the dry season in the Delta. We can see by the stains on the tree trunks that once the rainy season sets in most of this country will be submerged under another 10 to 12 feet of water. The Cano Guapoa has wonderful bird life along its banks, the most remarkable bird we saw was a huge red tailed hawk perched on a dead tree in one of the picturesque tree-lined bends the cano makes. At first we thought it was some sort of golden eagle, but the iPad2 Bird App cleared that up. A few miles into the cano the river water changed from brackish to sweet - fresh water with tannic acid giving it a distinctive dark tea-like clear color. We ran the entire length of the cano, until it came to a tee junction. However, we could not get through because of the bank to bank water hyacinth that stretched as far as we could see, and came right up to the cap rail on Tiger Lilly's sides. We turned around and headed back in the direction from whence we came until the hyacinth thinned out, and anchored for the night. We had more of the pink river dolphin in the anchorage, and as we took the dink up the cano for a row they preformed for us - almost close enough to touch. We cheered them as they jumped and fed - hopefully on the piranha! When we were deep into the water hyacinth we were thinking that we really did not want to get a big ball of that stuff fouled in the propeller and then have to get in the water with who-knows-what to clear it; but all was well, and we came through unscathed. Saturday we got underway and ran back the entire length of the Cano Guapoa to the Reo Macareo, then south to a narrow cano which connected to the Lau Lau Lagoon. We are currently anchored in the Lau Lau Lagoon. Several times during the last two days we passed Waro Indian fishing camps, and the Indians paddled out in their dugout canoes to meet us. Lilly had some packages made up of used clothing, fabric, house-wares, and for the children balloons and a piece of candy. They are shy folks, living right on the edge of subsistence, and they seemed grateful for what we had for them. Lilly brought a gleam of enjoyment to their seemingly otherwise difficult lives. We had some rain in the afternoon, and again over night - perhaps the dry season is coming to an end, and the wet season is coming on. Intentions: We will spend a couple of days right here in the Lau Lau Lagoon. The Lau Lau is actually an oxbow-shaped section of the old river, which jumped its banks and created a cut-off, straightening itself out. Now the isolated section is a lake-like lagoon filled with fish and bird life. As we came up the cano leading into the Lau Lau right at sunset, we spotted a heard of water buffalo in a corral on the west bank. We will take the dink back up the cano tomorrow morning and see what's up with water buffalo ranching in Venezuela. We are about 60 miles up the Reo Macareo, and from here on up-stream the country will become low with several large cattle ranches on the banks of the Delta. Tomorrow, 14 April is Election Day here in Venezuela, and they will choose a successor to the recently deceased President Chavez. Because of the past tensions between Venezuela and the USA we will keep a low profile during their balloting - but it certainly could not be worse than the crazies back in the good old USA during our last election!

15 April - We are currently anchored in the Reo Macareo at the mouth of Cano Tirital. It is a picturesque anchorage (9-04.55N 061-50.30W, on the Reo Macareo at 72 miles upstream from Punta Bombeador) with a view down the cano of trees overhanging the bends of the creek, brilliant green water hyacinth with purple flowers in bloom, and fish rising to take bugs on the surface of the water. It was absolutely stunning at sunset as the light softened, the greens deepened, and the wind laid down and made the surface of the cano a bronze mirror. There is a Waro Indian village (about 6 families) living just down-stream of our anchorage. As we passed the village on the way to the anchorage we hove-to and Lilly passed out some of the clothes, house wares, and children's novelties she had collected in Trinidad to a dugout canoe loaded with 7 Waro kids hanging on Tiger Lilly's side. Their canoe had only about 4 inches of freeboard, and the current was running fast down the side of the boat as we kept station abeam of the village. But the kids knew how to expertly handle their little vessel, and no one went over the side, including an infant being held by her sister who was also steering the canoe with a broad paddle taller than her. Both Lilly and the kids had fun, and their parents were hollering encouragement from the high bank of the river. This would be their dry season camp, and in a few months it will be completely under water as the rainy season inundates the entire Savannah under 10 to 12 additional feet of water. They live in open sheds with dirt floors and galvanized / corrugated steel roofs, hammocks slung from the rafters, and personal effects are hung in bags on the supporting posts - rugged living for sure. A plastic barrel, government issued, holds the river water they drink and wash with. Their pigs have free run of the place, and seem to prefer the shade offered in the Waro's humble home, as do the ever-present pack of emaciated Indian dogs. After we anchored we set off in Grace the dinghy to explore Cano Tirital. It is probably the best we have seen so far - the bird life was magnificent, and in the space of about 90 minutes we saw a lovely maroon backed jacana stepping across the lily pads in search of his dinner, 3 large crested guan socializing atop a fig tree, and a stately red tailed hawk who hissed at us as we rowed up HIS cano. To top it all off, the howler monkeys put on an impressive concert of deep growling and fierce howls as darkness settled over the cano. Fine business all. Yesterday we were anchored in the Lau Lau Lagoon which has cattle and buffalo grazing on its banks. We rowed up the Cano Lau Lau and visited with two young men tending a cattle camp - hardy Venezuelan lads living pretty much the same way as do the Waro. They raise water buffalo (large black Asian cattle-like animals) because the land is so low and wet that most cattle would not survive here. They had four pretty tough buffalo dogs too - they were tearing up some snakes they caught in one of the shallow ponds in the pasture - while a large eagle who would have liked to have had those snakes for HIS lunch looked on. On the way back up the cano we caught a quick glimpse of a capy bara, South America's giant rodent, as he scurried into his den on the bank under a tree. The geography around the river has gradually changed from tropical rain forest at the mouth of the river, to open savanna surrounded by jungle north of the Lau Lau Lagoon, and now (some 70 miles from where we crossed the bar and entered the Reo Macareo out at the Serpents Mouth) the Llanos. The Llanos is a low plain which extends all the way from the Rio Orinoco Delta in Eastern Venezuela to the Andes Mountains. It floods in the rainy season, which is just about to start - we can see water stains on the tree trunks about 10 feet above the ground. In fact, we would like to see the rainy season get going any time now as we will need plenty of water in the river to be able to make the passage between the Reo Macareo and the Rio Grande - our preferred route back out to the sea. If the channel is not deep enough, then we will have to return from whence we came - back down-stream some 100 miles of river, and reach the Tropical Atlantic via the Serpents Mouth - and then beat / tack into plenty of wind and current to turn the corner to the east at Punta Bombeador and go south. If we are just a bit lucky, we will go back to the sea via the Rio Grande and have a much better tacking angle for the sail to the Essequibo River in Guyana. On the positive side we have seen a decided change from the clear skies which dominated our first days on the river - the afternoons are now much darker, and we have seen some light rain. So this issue of our exit from the Delta is unresolved and hanging over us, and will stay there for the next week or so. Lilly absolutely cannot STAND all this talk of geography, and channels, and Indians, SHE sez, "Tom-Tom, OH MY GOSH - we have just about worked our way through the fresh provisions and store-bought bread, and I cannot remember the difference between baking soda and baking powder! THIS IS GETTING FLIPPING SERIOUS!!"

16 April - Early this morning, while the river was still shrouded in its pre-dawn mist, we slipped into the dinghy and rowed up into Cano Tirital to see what we could see. What we saw was a pretty little jacana and his mate feeding in the water hyacinth. We spent the better part of an hour watching this interesting fellow and his mate as they flitted about and flashed their brilliant under-wing yellow feathers in a mating display. The Waro fishermen were also on the cano pulling their nets, which they had set yesterday evening. By 0930 we were underway and heading up the Reo Macareo. We ran the river until just before sunset and anchored on the Reo Macareo in sight of the shipping channel buoys on the Rio Grande - our intermediate goal on this cruise of the Rio Orinoco Delta. On tomorrow morning's high tide we shall see if there is sufficient water in the river for Tiger Lilly to get over the bar. The way we propose to do that is use the river current setting into the Reo Macareo to stem the tide and keep control under bare steerageway while we watch the trend on the fathometer, steering left and right, and search for a channel - we need about 8 feet of water to get through (but 7 feet will work). We have had mixed, but no recent, reports on the water depth in this area. Intentions: Run the bar into the Rio Grande in the AM, then find a nearby anchorage to get organized for our cruise to the sea via the Rio Grande - or head back down the Reo Macareo to the Serpents Mouth if there isn't. Only time will tell. It has been a long day running the river (and finding a few bumps in it too), but we are securely anchored and all is well onboard.

17 April - 0835 under way on the Brazos Macareo, then over the bar and into the Rio Grande - no problem, we breezed right over the bar with plenty of water to spare. 0920 entered the Rio Grande at Mile 139 (miles from the sea buoy) and turned east towards the sea. The transition from the Brazos Macareo into the Rio Grande was not nearly as difficult as anticipated: we stayed close to the north bank and saw no less than 13 feet on the bar, and usually 15-16 feet. Like most things in life we worry about, doing it was much easier than thinking (read that worrying) about it. PM: Motor-sailed east down the Rio Grande under a reefed stays'l. There is about 1 knot of favorable current pushing us down the river towards the sea, and 14-16 knots of easterly Trade Wind blowing against it making the river a bit rough. Motor-sailing with the stays'l doesn't add much to the speed, but it does make the boat much more comfortable in a steep chop. Had an afternoon rain squall to rinse down the deck and cool things off a bit. 1530 anchored in 15 feet at Mile 108 in the lee of Santa Elena Island across the river from the village of Sacupana. It is a bit of an awkward anchorage as a strong current rips across the sand bank opposing the brisk easterly wind - and Tiger Lilly is having a difficult time making up her mind how she will tend. Intentions: Run another 40 or so miles down the river tomorrow. We did our exploring on the Reo Macareo, and intend to keep moving down the Rio Grande towards the Reo Amacuro, and then out to sea. So, we are snuggled down for the night, getting ready to watch a movie on the computer (we have a couple hundred on an external hard drive), and Lucy, I mean Lilly, asks Tom while he is popping the pop corn in a kettle on the stove top (the old-fashioned way), "Do we have to keep the lid on, or could we just once watch it pop?" COULD WE WATCH IT POP? Never a dull moment on Tiger Lilly! All is well onboard.

18 April - 0600 Up & about. 0627 Under way from Mile 108 down the Rio Grande, heading east towards the sea. We motor-sail at 3000 RPM, which produces a speed over the ground of anywhere from 5 to 6 knots, depending on the direction and the amount of current in the river. 0700 Checked in with George (KP2G) the HAM weather man on the Caribbean HAM Weather Net; 7.250 MHZ lower side-band. George transmits from his home on St. Johns Island in the US Virgin Islands 6 days a week - and also on Sunday if there is a significant weather event in the works (like a hurricane). He is a dear soul, to get up early and research the tropical weather situation on the Internet, and then transmit the information to HAM Radio Maritime Mobile stations (sailboat cruisers like us) all over the Caribbean. We enjoy having coffee with George each morning - where ever we are. 0800 Checked in with Net Control on the COCONUT SSB Net: 4.060 MHZ upper side-band. We were trying to contact our friends Rosie and Dan who are in St. Kitts aboard their boat S/V Exit Strategy - but no joy. 0955 Hove-to at Mile 85 off a Waro camp on the south bank of the river. When the Indians saw us coming they sent three canoes out to the center of the river, so we stopped to say "OLA" and to distribute the used house hold goods and clothing which Lilly collected for them in Grenada and Trinidad. All three of the dugout canoes were filled with children, and only one was paddled by an adult. We think that their parents send them out alone because we will have a heart for the kids - and of course it works. Here is the absolutely amazing part of this particular Waro encounter: one of the canoes had 3 kids in it - and none were older than FIVE YEARS OLD! (In the PICTURE GALLERY are some photos of these amazing children.) They were tiny, as are most of the Waro children, and they were paddling the biggest canoe. The boy in the bow had a deeply cleft lip, and a deformed foot - birth defects and infant mortality are high among the Waro. Now picture this, we are in the middle of the Rio Orinoco, the 8th largest river in the world, the current is honking by their camp at about a knot and a half, they were the last of the three canoes to come alongside (all the while Tiger Lilly is drifting down-stream on the strong current), and these youngsters had to paddle about a half a mile back up-stream to get home - and that is exactly what they did. Next time you see a five year-old, try to visualize kids from the "First World" doing such a thing - or their parents encouraging them to do so! NOON - LUNCH! Lilly put together chicken, potatoes, vegetables, and cristophene (like a tropical cucumber). Yum-Yum! 1445 Mile 60, and the town of Curiapo abeam to port with a huge two story tall brightly painted statue of Christopher Columbus in the middle of the town. We did not have the heart to stop and tell them that we think that the Chinese were here first. You don't believe us? Then read Captain Gavin Menzies' book "1421 The Year China Discovered America." We see a LOT of Chinese facial features in the Waro people. Tom's geographer daughter Dawn may be in denial about this interesting facet of history, but we certainly believe it happened pretty much the way the good Captain describes it - check it out. 1600 Anchored in 46 feet in Cano Noina, Mile 55. As Tom drafts this SITREP Lilly is out in Grace our dinghy rowing with the local Waro teenage boys. From all the noise and shouting out there, they must be having fun. Intentions: Tomorrow AM motor-sail down to the mouth of the Rio Grande and spend a day or so in the Reo Amacuro. The LOG on the GPS indicates that thus far we have cruised over 250 miles in the Rio Orinoco Delta. This region is such an interesting and enjoyable place to visit. We have been warmly welcomed throughout the Delta by the Waro Amerindians and Venezuelans alike, and we feel quite safe here. We hope that other cruisers will give this area a look - we know that you will not be disappointed. Well, now you have an answer when asked, "What do they do all day?"

20 April - Yesterday we started out from our anchorage at Cano Noina (Mile 55) on the Rio Grande, motor-sailed down the river as it widened out to meet the sea, turned south in to the Reo Amacuro (Mile 28), and then ran about 12 miles up the Reo Amacuro to just past the little town of San Jose de Amacuro. The entrance to the Reo Amacuro was a bit hairy; we ran before about 25 knots of wind riding a strong flood current on a rough sea (And did we mention low visibility in a rain squall?), and then found 8 feet of water on the entrance bar instead of the 16 feet the charts showed - and we need at least 7 feet. With that much wind blowing up her skirt, and current pushing her along, there was no turning Tiger Lilly around in that narrow entrance - or slowing her down either - so we sucked it up and ran hard for the river between the high trees, and hoped for the best. It would not have been so stressful if we KNEW there was only 8 feet on the bar, but to watch that fathometer steadily go down - with no idea where it will bottom out, or if Tiger Lilly would bottom out - really tightens up the pucker factor. Our Gallant Captain aged a bit on that entrance! Lilly sez: Can you IMAGINE my Tom-Tom, Mr. Tidy-Whitey, Captain By-The-Book, tightening up any more than his usual dogged-down, high-strength, double bottomed, triple-tempered, hot-dipped galvanized normality? I am sure glad that I had a touch of the mal-de-mer, stayed below, and slept through THAT ONE! When we entered the Reo Amacuro we passed a large steel station barge marked "ARMADA BOLIVARIANA DE VENEZUELA" - the first official presence we have seen in the Delta, and a Venezuelan Marine with an automatic weapon waved us in to be inspected. We anchored off the barge (in 70ft - the Amacuro is deep once you are in) and Tom rowed to the barge while Lilly watched the boat in a heavy rain squall. A very cordial First Lieutenant (Carlos) from the Venezuelan Marines (the Station Chief) examined our papers and welcomed us to Venezuela. Carlos was in his early 20's and was a polished, educated, friendly fellow who spoke enough English for us to get our business satisfactorily completed. All this anchoring, and dinghy rowing, and document inspecting took place in a pouring rain - it seems as though the rainy season has arrived in the Delta. On the recommendation of a friend (Richard of S/V Mr. Hopper), before we left Trinidad we visited the Venezuelan Embassy (four times) and finally got an email from them giving us permission to visit the Rio Orinoco Delta. This email helped us to avoid checking-in with the Port Captain in Puerto Ordaz (Mile 184), a place we did not want to go since it was 50 miles further up the Rio Grande than where we started. Since we were not checked-in to Venezuela, for the past two weeks we have been sailing under a yellow quebec flag beneath the Venezuelan ensign on the starboard mast spreader. Carlos loved our piece of paper from the Embassy; we had printed out their email, which was in both Spanish and English, and had it ready to present. Carlos was in his early 20's, was a friendly but very squared-away Marine, and he had a lot of responsibility in a very isolated outback post. As we departed, all of the Marines were on the deck of the barge with their cell phones, waving and taking pictures of Tiger Lilly heading up the river. All in all, it was a very positive experience, considering the political friction between our two governments. As we motored along the waterfront of San Jose de Amacuro, Tiger Lilly was the little town's main attraction on a sleepy Friday afternoon. Later, we talked to a passing barco run by a Guyanese fellow who spoke good English, and he told us that the last time a yacht had come up the Amacuro was 7 years ago. Cruising this region is so much more interesting than going up and down the same islands of the Caribbean's Lesser Antilles with hundreds of other yachts; we hope that more of our friends come to the Delta to experience the Waro Amerindians, the fantastic bird life, the tropical rain forest and jungle, and the friendly Venezuelan people. For the naysayers - so far so good - we have not yet been killed, raped, or robbed by pirates! (But then we are not out of here yet, and you might have a chance to say "I told you so!") We are not caviler about security on Tiger Lilly - but we also do not want to experience "paralysis by analysis" as we have too often seen in the cruising community when it comes to trying something that is not spelled out in excruciating detail in one of Doyles Guides. A year ago there was an ugly armed robbery incident on the Reo Manamo here in the Delta, and we have yet to find anyone who has been here since. So far, all of the crews of the local vessels approaching us waved, smiled, and gave a thumbs-up towards the American ensign flying from our utility arch on the stern. But one never knows; so Tom holds up the hand-held VHF and acts like he is talking to someone (although there is no one to talk to), while Lilly waves - and takes their picture. Pirates - like Bad Guys everywhere - do not want to be identified or found out. The alternative is to pull out a Glock 9mm and shoot anyone who comes close (we don't even own a firearm), or stay in a safe anchorage and do pot-luck suppers and play Mexican Train dominoes in Trinidad - the murder capital of the world. We have a security plan, we have drilled it, and we keep our eyes open all the time - but we are not going to stay home and let the Bad Guys win. Isn't that what terrorism is really all about - denying us our precious freedom? The closest we have come to pirates is Lilly's son Ryan with plenty of attitude and a tattoo of a pirate lady named "Tiger Lilly" on his arm! Our anchorage on the Reo Amacuro, just west of the little town of San Jose de Amacuro, is quiet and picturesque. We are right in the thick of the jungle, anchored in 50 feet of water with lots of current carrying floating islands of water hyacinth, and the river is only about 150 meters wide. The Amacuro is the highway for the local folks towards the interior and the gold mines, and we constantly have visitors. Yesterday afternoon, just after we anchored, a large boat with over twenty people in it kept station about 30 feet off of our starboard side for almost a half an hour. Men, women and children were enthusiastically talking and pointing at every part of the boat and the crew as we secured the deck and prepared for dinner. We think that perhaps they are selling tickets in town to come see the bizarre white yachties! This morning, while we were doing the wash - and hanging it out in a rain squall - four teenage boys were wading in the mangroves next to the boat and appeared to be intently discussing those strange people in the shiny velero. This afternoon we took the boat down to the San Jose de Amacuro and rowed ashore in the dinghy. A very nice fellow by the name of Jose took our line at the dock, and he gave us a tour of the town. It turned out that Jose was the son of the Mayor, Tomas Lugo. Senior Lugo invited us into his home, and we had a nice visit - the Mayor spoke passable English. Everyone in Venezuela whom we have come in contact with, from the Waro Indians who have visited Tiger Lilly on the river, to the Marine officer who checked our papers, to the Mayor and his family here in San Jose de Amacuro, have been so kind, and we feel welcome and secure here. Intentions: We are now at our last anchorage in the Rio Orinoco Delta. We intend to spend a few days here, and then hoist the dinghy on deck, secure Tiger Lilly for sea, and set sail for the Essequibo River in Guyana. The Chaguaramas naysayers - who seldom go anywhere - say we cannot sail down this coast, beating into the Trades and with the Guiana Current on the nose, but we are damn sure going to give it a go!

23 April - Tiger Lilly is anchored as before at San Jose De Amacuro on the west fork of the Reo Amacuro in the Rio Orinoco Delta of Eastern Venezuela. Yesterday afternoon we found ourselves surrounded by a huge floating island of water hyacinth which threatened to drag the boat down the river on the tide. Lilly stood in the bow pulpit and pulled the submerged tendrils to the surface with our proper fir and bronze boat hook, and Tom was under the bow in the hard dinghy chopping the thick vegetation free with a machete (don't bring a rubber ducky dinghy or an aluminum telescoping / collapsing pussy boat hook to that show). While we were working our way through this mess, with leaves, and roots, and very smelly mud flying everywhere - and while Tom still had ten fingers and ten toes, and was trying not to think about all the accounts he had read of snakes in the water hyacinth - a Waro Indian man - who really knew how to handle a machete, and presumably a snake, and whom Lilly had previously given a "Lilly Package" for his family, came over to the boat to help; a very nice gesture returned. This morning Lilly announced that she would like to have that man and his family aboard for a social visit - we estimated two adults and six kids. They live in a wall-less roofed-over shelter on the river just abeam of our boat on the south bank - we are neighbors, and considering we both live outdoors in open homes - you could say we are CLOSE neighbors! So Lilly rowed over to their home and invited his "family" to come out to Tiger Lilly at 1600 - which produced big smiles all around; and immediately all six kids ran down the boardwalk that connects the Waro homes on the river, to tell their cousins. Well, after three dugout canoes and an outboard powered barco got done unloading, we had three dads, seven moms, and (as far as we could count) thirteen children aboard. Twenty-three Waro Indians aboard Tiger Lilly, quite an extended family indeed! Tom was in the galley busily passing out strong South American style brewed coffee for the adults, Tang flavored cold juice for the kids, amusing a rotating audience in the main cabin looking at the computer with a slide-show of pictures we took while we have been in the Rio Orinoco Delta, and popping multiple kettles of popcorn - with the lid on the kettle. Meanwhile, Lilly was conducting an on-deck tour for the men, keeping the conversation going in the cockpit with a child on each knee - and no one spoke any English, while keeping one eye towards making sure everything was still tied-down and put away. IT WAS A BUSY LITTLE VISIT! To say that Captain Tom is not fond of small children is perhaps understatement, yet even he had to admit that this bakers-dozen of kids (the oldest was about 8 years-old) was exceptionally well behaved. And besides, the infants were all breast-feeding on their uninhibited young mothers; so the Captain allowed that perhaps there were some side-benefits to having the smelly little crumb-snatchers aboard. All in all, it was a most enjoyable visit; we got a great deal of satisfaction from having them aboard, and they seemed to enjoy their visit to the Spaceship Tiger Lilly. We do come from two completely different worlds. Intentions: We are getting ourselves organized and rested (when not having a party for 23 Indians aboard - thanks Lilly) for our offshore beat southeast to Guyana. Tomorrow the sewing machine comes out so Tom can create a Guyana courtesy ensign, and Lilly will prepare some ready-made meals for what we anticipate to be a three day slog to windward - where galley time is best minimized. Lilly sez: Hey, my Momma didn't raise any dummies, DON'T look for ME in any windward-going galley. This guy can cook, he can sew, he can stand on his flippin head, and he gives a great back rub too - he's my Tom-Tom! All is well aboard Tiger Lilly - we will sleep well tonight!

25 April - We are currently anchored about 4 miles from the mouth of the Reo Amacuro waiting for the winds to improve offshore. We get wind files via the HAM Radio WINLINK system from the National Weather Service in Miami. These GRIB files forecast the winds in a requested area of the ocean we designate (the Rio Orinoco Delta and the coast of Guyana) over a requested interval of time (every 12 hours, out to 72 hours), and present the data in a graphical format of arrows superimposed on a chart of the requested area. Currently the GRIB files are forecasting light east-southeast and southeast winds for a coast that we have to sail down in a southeast direction, and it will stay this way for the next 4 days or so - not very good for our side. In addition to coming from the wrong direction, the forecast velocity is only 5 to 10 knots, not enough to move our heavy boat towards our destination on Guyana's Essequibo River - so we will wait and watch the weather. Nature rules, out here onboard a cruising sailboat - one of the major differences between here and suburbia. We are working the To-Do List, watching some of the movies we brought along, and of course we have some great books aboard. Lilly is reading Mitchner's "CARIBBEAN" and I am wading through Conrad's "LORD JIM" on our iPad2 - one of the perks of our lifestyle is the ability to take time out and read. It is dead quiet and absolutely dark at night on this river. There are some scattered Indian huts a few miles back up the river, and the Venezuelan Navy (Armada) outpost out at the mouth, but where we are the river is deserted. Well, that is not exactly so, occasionally boats pass us in the night as they carry cargo and passengers between the various small settlements in the Delta, but this stretch of the Reo Amacuro is pretty much ours for the present. We are alone in thousands of acres of tropical forest with the noises of the night, and the passing rain showers - it is quite a humbling and unique experience.

26 April - AM: Fired up the HAM radio and downloaded a set of GRIB wind files for the next 72 hours. It looks as though we will be here for a few more days waiting for the southeast component of the offshore wind to back north of east. We shifted to an anchorage at the mouth of the Reo Amacuro so that we could run the bar on the PM high tide. PM: Had the Station Chief, Lieutenant Carlos of the Venezuelan Armada Station Amacuro aboard for coffee and a tour. What a fine young man he is, and we thoroughly enjoyed having him aboard. We departed the Reo Amacuro on the 1740 6.3 foot high tide. On the way out we found a channel to the west of the charted channel with much better depth than the 7 and 8 foot soundings we saw coming in. It seems there is never a dull moment aboard Tiger Lilly; just about the time we had the channel figured out, Lilly spotted a fishing net stretched right across the entire mouth of the Reo Amacuro directly in front of the boat, and we were riding a 2 knot ebb out of the river! El Capitan had his eyes glued to the fathometer looking for the channel, and fortunately Admiral Lilly established the connection between the double black flagged buoy on the port bow, and the fishing boat way off on the starboard bow. We came within about half a boat length of wrapping a fishing net in the propeller! Thankfully a full power emergency backing bell - and all the friggin rudder she's got - saved our bacon. The high tide gave us sufficient water to go around the net on the shallow end of the bar with a foot of water left under the keel. We then motored the few miles east to the entrance of Reo Barima and found out that both the C-MAP and the NAVIONICS electronic charts have the entrance to this river wrong also. After a little creative steering and sounding work we found our way into the Reo Barima.
EVENING: We anchored just before dark off the pilot station at the mouth of the Reo Barima. Moderate rain is falling, and we are collecting the elixir of life, fresh water, with our deck collection system. In the 3 weeks we have been in the Delta we have seen a shift in the weather, and the wet season is starting to establish itself. INTENTIONS: Tomorrow we will shift anchorage up the Reo Barima to find a cano to explore, and to see what we can see. Lilly asked - Is that like when the Bears Came Over The Mountain? Yes Lilly, very much like that - except Tiger Lilly came over the bar to see what she could see. All is well aboard Tiger Lilly. (And pretty much normal in Lilly's inquiring mind.)

27 April - We are still anchored off the Reo Barima Pilot Station, watching the rain come down and waiting for the southeast wind to back into the east so we can sail out the mouth of the Rio Grande and proceed to sea. Yesterday we made our Guyana flag and worked on a few small projects. Later today we will move up the Reo Barima and see what we can see. All is well aboard Tiger Lilly.

30 April - Our time in the Rio Orinoco Delta is just about over. We have cruised over 350 miles of the rivers and canos of the Delta, thoroughly enjoyed the area and its people, and tomorrow morning we will use the 0813 high tide to run the Reo Barima bar and thence out to sea. We anticipate it will take at least 3 days to beat down the Guyana coast to the Essequibo River. It will be a beat all the way, with a short starboard tack out to the Guiana Current (2 knots running NW at about the 10 fathom curve), and then a long (hopefully) port tack down the coast until we run out of water (10-12 feet), and then back off shore again. The National Weather Service, Tropical Prediction Center, Miami, GRIB files are indicating that we will have east and east-northeast winds of 10-15 knots for the next 72 hours - pretty light for a heavy boat like Tiger Lilly, so we anticipate a slow passage; but the direction is certainly improving. We will endeavor to keep posting on Sailblogs and Position Reports, however if the weather is wet or sloppy the computer will stay in the locker and we will check in by voice with the Maritime Mobile Net each day (14.300 MHZ USB). During our time in the Delta we have seen the Dry Season come to an end, and the Wet Season get a start - so it will likely be a wet passage as well. Our Guyana destination is the village of Bartica, some 40 miles up the Essequibo. We will need the flood tidal current in the Essequibo to help us along our way, so once we reach the river we will lay over somewhere out at the mouth until the next available daylight flood current to run up to Bartica. So, here we are cooking up a big pot of chicken soup for the offshore passage, and rationing it out in meal-sized Tupperware containers. Tom is searching through a pile of lids for the corresponding tops, and Lilly sez "I made that job easy by marking the tops." She was so very proud of herself; since cooking and domestic chores never really fit in with her time-consuming run / bike / swim training program, she is learning many new skills. But when Tom inspected the tops and the bottoms - every one of them had the SAME FRIGGIN MARK, and there was no way to tell one from the other! And then she tells him, "But Tom-Tom I know where they all fit!" Lovely woman, but her actions are just not the product of an organized mind - it can drive a fellow NUTS! That's the news from Tiger Lilly - all is well onboard.

3 May - We have really enjoyed nearly a month cruising Venezuela's interesting and colorful Rio Orinoco Delta; and we have felt quite comfortable and welcome here, with not a single security incident. As we departed the Rio Grande to stand out to sea and sail for Guyana, a large flock of stunning scarlet ibis flew right over Tiger Lilly's masthead in a perfect Vee-formation - which of course we took as a farewell salute from a friendly and beautiful Venezuela. The nay-sayers were WRONG (as they usually are), and we are so glad we ignored them and visited this beautiful region. We have completed our voyage from the Rio Orinoco Delta in Eastern Venezuela down the Northeast Coast of South America, and have arrived at the Essequibo River in Guyana. The straight-line distance between anchorages is about 200 miles, but we tacked down the coast under sail and covered over 275 miles. For three days we tacked back and forth between the shallow muddy coast and the strong northwest flowing Guiana Current, against predominantly easterly winds, with a short tack out to the current and a longer tack back to the mud - a challenging bit of sailing. The shallow coast has many wrecks (both charted and uncharted), and there is a very active fishing boat fleet working their nets day and night. The unlit fishing nets were such a hazard, that at night we anchored in the shallow open sea (with a triple-reefed main set as a riding sail) and waited for daylight before we could carry on. We did have one incident when a fishing boat picked up their net and drug it down the current up and over Tiger Lilly's anchor chain - producing a bit of night-time drama. Tom's first indication of trouble was when he was awakened out of a dead sleep with a screech from Lilly that "THERE IS SOMETHING ON OUR ANCHOR!" We could smell it before we could see it, and when Tom arrived on the bow (with razor knife in hand) a large fishing net was tightly strung across the anchor chain / bow, and Tiger Lilly was ensnared in a tight vee-shaped trap. (We liked the scarlet ibis' Vee a whole lot better.) A few prudent swipes with the razor knife later, the whole mess cleared the bow like a giant rubber band, thankfully snapping into the dark night and well clear of the boat. Then we sat in the cockpit, watching the fishing boat recover their now two sections of net, and wondering if they were going to give us some grief over an issue they clearly caused. Apparently, the skipper figured out what happened, and why, and anchored about a mile away to sort out his mess. As you can imagine, it took a while to get back to sleep after that one. The approach to the entrance of the Essequibo was a bit of a puzzle: the enterprising (and apparently un-regulated) Guyanese fishermen have set posts all across the shallow river entrance bar on which to string their nets. Finding our way through that mess, in a black rain squall, was a challenge we had not anticipated - akin to playing Pick-Up-Sticks with tree trunks, blindfolded, in two knots of current. But all is well that ends well, and we are safely anchored just inside the mouth of the river at Leguan Island. The next step in our voyage is to proceed 30 miles up the Essequibo and check-in with Guyana Customs and Immigration at the town of Bartica - and then take a few days off. We are going to take it easy going up the Essequibo, to time our arrival in Bartica to Monday morning during regular business hours, when (we assume) Customs and Immigration do not charge weekend overtime rates for clearing-in. The same damn fools and hand-wringers that said we could not cruise the Rio Orinoco Delta safely, also told us that we could not sail the Guyana coast, that we would have to motor all the way down here - but they were WRONG about that too. If you are a cruiser looking for something out of the ordinary, and are up for a challenge, we recommend combining a cruise through the Delta with a sail to Guyana. We are excited about being here! Guyana is one of the least traveled countries in South America, and the grandeur of the land and its natural beauty are not to be equaled anywhere. We intend to see some of this enchanting place, right after we get some rest. Lilly sez: "I don't want to sit and watch a National Geographic Special on TV - I want to live one. Let's go Tom-Tom!" All is well aboard Tiger Lilly.

FEEDBACK
If you use this pilot to cruise the Delta we would appreciate hearing from you. If you send us any corrections or additions we will enter them and hopefully make the experience for those who follow in our wake better and safer. This document was written by sailors for sailors - we hope it helps YOU.

By the time you have read this far, you have probably wasted a perfectly good hour, so you might just as well carry on and view the photos that illustrate some of the points we have made above. At the top-right of this BLOG is a hyperlink labeled PHOTO GALLERY. If you click on that link and follow the logic tree down as follows: Main / Ports of Call / South America / Venezuela / Rio Orinoco Delta Pilot; you will be cruising the Delta with us before you know it. If you are interested in the western region of the Rio Orinoco Delta, you can scroll down to the very first entry on this BLOG, posted in August 2008 - the Pedernales Pilot. Tom aboard S/V Tiger Lilly, and Tony aboard S/V Tarnimara cruised some 250 miles into the Reo Pedernales and the Reo Manamo. Check it out!