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Next stop Cayo Campos
This time we set off we followed a route along the inside of the reef to the south of the cays towards our destination. There were several lovely looking anchorages along the way, but the wind was blowing strongly from the south and we needed a northerly anchorage for the night and then a southerly anchorage for the following night as another northern was going to be bearing down towards us. So we motor sailed along the crystal clear waters of the inside where you would swear the water only a few feet deep.
Canalizo Aguarsiente and Acopio anchorage
Canalizo Aguarsiente was the channel we took between the cays and allowed us to pass from the southern Caribbean side to the Golfo de Batsbano side of the cays. The channel again looks so shallow, but is in fact quite deep enough. It had a wicked current running through which must keep it clear of silt. Once on the Golfo de Batsbano side of the cays we carefully followed given tracks and waypoints to the area know as Acopio, which is near a fishing station. There we dropped anchor and spent a lovely quiet evening and night.
The plan was to move after breakfast to the anchorage off of Cayo Campos, however when we went to shift the anchor there was a problem. We were stuck to the bottom as the chain and anchor had snagged to “something”. Luckily for us we have dive gear, so John put on the equipment and went below. He found we were wrapped around an old mooring weight in the form of an engine. After freeing us we were then off down the short channel to the southwestern side of Cayo Campos.
Cayo Campos
This cay is known for its large population of monkeys. Apparently the monkeys were put there as part of a research project. The population has grown, the research project is over and so there are rangers stationed there to feed the monkeys daily. The cay is truly beautiful, just the perfect beach with palm tree and hut for the rangers. We were anchored right in front in the beautiful clear water.
We went ashore and introduced ourselves to the rangers, of which there were three very friendly men. They told us about the pathways to walk to the different beaches and that the monkeys were fed at 3:00ish.
We had a short walk to one of the beaches on the south side, which was mainly lined with mangroves, but it was very pretty.
The cangrejo monkeys
We went ashore for the monkey feeding. One of the rangers brought out a large tub of what looked like large yellow pellets. He then called what sounded like “Noël! Noël!” and from the mangroves at the edge of the bay monkeys started to approach the pellets he tossed. There were probably over a hundred monkeys, not all at once but in separate groups/tribes.
They would take turns to come close and gather the pellets, stuffing them into their cheeks. Occasionally arguments and small fights broke out. Some of them seemed to sit at the side and watch, others had a drink of water from the trough,
the young chased each other and scampered up the coconut trees while a few were chased away at sat at a distance watching all that was going on. We watched the monkeys for an hour or so before heading back to the boat.
Southern beach walk
Early the next morning we set off ashore, said hello to the rangers and started down the track towards the large Playa – beach that runs all along the south coast. The path led inland and then cut across and up to a casuarinas grove, which we had seen behind the beach.
When we approached we found pools of green water within the grove, almost as if some caverns had collapsed and filled with either rain or sea water, maybe both. The area was quite different than any I had ever seen.
We wound our way around the ponds and out onto the beach where we headed towards the east – away from where the boat was anchored at the western end of the cay.
This beach was gorgeous, huge, sweeping off into the distance and we set off to find the end point. The top regions were covered in all sorts of litter and shells, beachcomber’s paradise, so I kept finding myself drawn to the lines and piles of debris. I found a little stuffed red bear, a small pink bunny, net floats and numerous shells and this was without really raking through the whole area.
Along the shoreline in the shallows were quite a few string rays hiding while above soared numerous birds, vultures, sea birds and osprey to name a few. We finally rounded the distant point only to see another in the distance, so off we set again to find the end. We finally did get to an area, which was close to the end of the island, but could not continue as the mangroves took over. John did try and sank up to his thighs in the quicksand type mangrove sludge.
We headed back along the way we had passed, but once we reached the casuarinas grove where we had entered the beach we decided to continue along the beach and shoreline to the western end and the camp where the dingy was located.
The beach narrowed and became rockier and then the mangroves were to the waterline so it meant wading along the shoreline. John tried to cut across a sand bar to wade away from the mangroves and again found the soft sinking muck sinking to his hips this time. Again there was a ton of sea trash thrown up, just everything imaginable, the plastic packing found in packages being just enmeshed in the seaweed, really very sad for the sea life.
This walk took over 5 hours, we arrived back just before 3:00pm in need of a swim to cool off, but we both had a wonderful time hiking the shoreline of Cayo Campos.
Around the Cayo
Living under our boat all the time we were anchored was a very large barracuda. He was an odd fish as he would dart out and try to eat the scrapes of our food; normally this breed catches fish to eat. John and I thought he was probably ill or elderly, anyway we called him Barney. He stayed with us right up till we left.
Another day we dingied to the neighboring island hoping to find the mangrove channels to the other side. We ended up just cruising the shoreline and then visiting the large sandbar in the bay where we were anchored and where a good number of cormorants were each day.
The sandbar was really quite large and most of the surrounding area was quite shallow. The colours of the bay across the water were just amazing, such clear blues and turquoises, so beautiful.
On our final day we had hoped to spend the day snorkeling, but the wind was blowing off the reefs and the currents were running strong so we went for another beach romp.
This time we took the dingy over the shallows to the southern beach where the shoreline was sheltered, hauled it up and set off. I spent most of my time looking through all the beach trash for shells and sea beans.
We both had another look at the ponds and still could not really understand how they had been formed. John found a message in a plastic bottle, but it just gave a name and date, no other information.
That evening the rangers gave us 4 coconuts as we had given them some fishing lures to trawl with. They normally trawled each day for their fish dinner.
We left Cayo Campos after several wonderful days enjoying the area immensely.
