Monday, June 15, 2009

El Rio Chagres

Pearl S. Buck and Jupiter's Smile cautiously navigated the waters into the Rio Chagres.  We traveled upstream until we were in sight of the dam that retains the water in Lago Gatun.  The primary use of this water is for operating the Panama Canal.  Anchoring is permitted in the river, but we saw this small lake to the north and decided to anchor there out of the river's current.  It was soon obvious that we were in howler monkey territory.  The calls between several troops of these small black monkeys (with the loudest vocalizations of any animal) made that abundantly clear.  Flocks of pairs of parrots, storks, mackaws and toucans flew overhead and an occasional crocodile was spotted.  The location was idyllic.

Thetis joined us within a few days and aside from a few locals we saw very few other people.  We were near a dock in the national park and could dinghy to it, disembark and walk to the road that crossed the river and went to Colon.  We never left our dinghy at the dock, however, due to the reports of thefts here.  Dorothy on Pearl S. Buck delivered us to the dock and then picked us up when we returned acting as guard while we were in Colon.

No comments: