Life On The Suriname River

Crystal Blues arrived on the Suriname River exactly a week ago, on June 26. Having covered just on 5000 nautical miles in 8 weeks, we were looking for somewhere safe and calm to rest up and do essential maintenance.

We motored up river that morning, starting at the arrival buoy, well offshore, at first light (6:00am). From there we were in a narrow dredged  channel to enter the river - in fact we followed two small cargo ships into the river, the first ocean traffic we'd seen in days.

By 12:30pm we had arrived at Waterland, a very friendly and surprisingly sophisticated resort / restaurant / marina in the middle of the jungle. The marina is small, just twelve berths, but has AC power (110v/60hz), potable water on tap, a first class floating dock and a beautiful secure environment.

The contrasts that day were quite amazing - from Atlantic swells in the early morning to jungle river travel later in the day. We followed the river through the capital of Paramaribo, then further inland past the village of Domburg, when all signs of habitation disappeared. Just jungle green on both banks, until we reached Waterland, about 30 nautical miles inland (the channel is marked and deep all the way up river).

Then the final contrast hit us - within 30 minutes of arrival we were drinking cold beer in an open air bistro under a jungle canopy overlooking the river.  We prepared ourselves for the 'special' Sunday lunch here as Brazilian jazz drifted across the compound, mixed with the sounds of jungle birds, howler monkeys and two very tired but very happy cruisers. Cheers !