Day 14 - Rainy Dayz

 There is a lot of rain in Tortuguero. All night a thunderstorm raged, so violent that the window panes rattled. The rain came down in buckets... buckets I tell you!

It seemed to have dried off a bit in the morning so I wandered down to Tortuguero Adventures, the same company I have booked my turtle tour with, and asked to hire a kayak. The price seems to have dropped from the initial $20 that I was quoted over email, to $15 dollars when I checked yesterday to $10 if you pay cash today. I'm not complaining!

It was a sit in kayak, very stable... a lifejacket was provided... set my watch... turn on gps and off I go.

I had decided to go explore the river that ran beside the national park bit (you had to pay the N. P entry fees if you wanted to go in that bit) and go and find the river trails laid out.

The river was calm, occasionally disturbed by the water taxis plying their trade. There were a few other people out on the water in canoes with guides or packed into a motorboat with a guide at the helm.

I always prefer to do it by myself if possible and in this respect I didnt think I'd be missing out on much if I didn't have a guide. I could navigate the waters just fine... I'm pretty good at spotting stuff in the trees now (as long as it moves) and by myself in a kayak I could glide silently along the river banks to try and spot lizards and snakes etc.

So I set off... crossing the wide part of. the river before it split into several channels. I followed the channel on the left and then continued a bit up the River Tortuguero... it was hard work as the flow was against me and it was running pretty fast. And then the heavens opened and more buckets came down! An absolute deluge. It didn't really. matter as I was in my swim shorts but the rain was running into my eyes bringing with it suncream and mosquito repellant.

This. part of the river had nowhere to duck and hide as there was a lot of water weed, so I cut and run, did an about turn and made for the next channel which was part of the river trail network. Here there were areas of overhanging trees and palms that I could duck into and shade myself from the deluge still pouring down. I sat there very happy watching the rain drops hit the trees and the water. I watched as boats full of people huddled under ponchos looking miserable passed by. Some of them waved or grinned at me as they saw me under my makeshift shelter.  But they didnt look happy.

I felt totally content, watching the world go by. It was really peaceful and I just waited out the downpour in my little shelter. At some point I realised that it was raining more in my shelter than it was outside, as raindrops were still coming off the trees even though the rain had actually stopped.

So I punted out and continued up the river. As it does here, the sun came out and my legs began to burn.... the polar opposite to how it had been a few minutes earlier, I had even been a bit cold.

I paddled up the river... watching the spider monkeys dart around the tree tops, listening to the howls of the howler monkeys  in the distance... enjoying the freedom and the fresh air.

As I paddled further up the river there were more obstacles, such as logs half submerged, that I had to get around.

I of course saw the odd heron... can't get away from them and some of them let me glide in quite close to take a photo. There were also some wader type birds whoch took off with a high pitched squark as I came along... pretty things and quite funny how they hopped around the river weeds.

I was just coming to the end of the naviagle river, blocked by a log all the way across when something splashed in the weeds... It was a loud splash and having heard similar in the amazon, I figured it was a Caiman, hiding during the day, I must have startled it. I glided through the water closer to where the sound had come from... I could just see him, snout and eye poking up from the weeds, staring at me. I managed to get quite close without disturbing him too much. He was well camouflaged and not easy to pick out. I managed a bit of video and just as I stopped filming and started paddling quietly, he snapped, presumably at a fish that had got too close. Pretty cool to see, shame I missed getting it on video.

I kayakked back down the river, pretty hot, sweaty and tired. I resolved to leave the other bit of river for another day and headed back to land.

After dinner, fahitas with chips (they have really large meal sizes here) I decided on going on a little night walk of my own, back to the trail that I had gone down beside the beach. I reasoned if I kept my torch pointed away from the turtle beaches it would be ok.

So I set off when it got dark but of cohrse there were loads of people around that area because they were going on the turtle tour, or night walks with a guide and so I got a bit frustrated about the crowds.

I walked down and back again without finding much of interest, sometimes it just goes that way and then headed back and crashed for the day. Lets see what tomorrow brings!