Bartica
'Sarf & West mate, Sarf & West'
Pete Bernfeld
Sun 4 Oct 2009 11:56
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06:24.037N 058:37.045W
Anchored off the Town of Bartica. We cleared
Customs & Immigration last night, which was very easy, because a chap called
Kit Nascimento arrangerd it for us. For anybody following in our footsteps,
kit's number (landline) at his place on the Essequibo river is 592 455 32000
(that includes the country code). He 'dropped by' whilst we were anchored off
Roeden Rust on Saturday morning and asked me to call him when we were
approaching Bartica. I did, and he sent 'his man' by fast dingy to pick up C
& I and bring them out to the boat, so very easy. Officials were pleasant
(you need to print out/write your own Gen Dec as they don't have forms) and the
cost of clearing in was US$ 12.50. The approximate exchange rate is £1 = Guyanan
$ 300 or 1 US$= 188 G$.
Had a meal ashore last night in a Brazilian
restaurant, excellent meat but not really cheap, about £5.50 a head. Also met 3
gold miners (two local one ex- New Yorker) in a bar. Interesting characters,
each had their own company so the market economy is alive and well.
Off to Kits place for Sunday lunch today, an epic
trip of 11 nm, but a very tortuous route round the various mud banks and
occasional rock, still the waypoints up here were accurate enough if sometimes
needing a little 'interpretating' - waypoints shown in Doyle's guide to Guyana.
Pictures when I get a wifi link.
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