We stopped at a modest hut that led to the mangroves. After packing our crap into waterproof bags, we promptly set out to drag our kayaks into the water and hopped right in. Paddling out against the current toward the bay, the misty waters simply... took our breath away. The halfway across the choppy waters, we realised we didn't have lifejackets on :0000
Slugging it out across the bay, we then skirted the opposite limestone cliff. When we finally approached the river mouth, we took a rest from the paddling and let the tide take us in. Steep cliffs flanked either side and climbing vegetation, including some gorgeous palms, slithered up the rock face. We reminisced King Kong and proceeded to scoff at how impossible it must have been for the blonde to run barefoot on this kind of substrate AND still look ravishing.
The stillness of the canyons was unsettling yet overwhelmingly serene. As we took it all in in silence, Dave mumbled something about Apocalypse Now, and then we said no not really this is more like Anaconda. In the stillness, we stopped for a break, and the boys took a smoke, while I lay down on my back, still reeling from the surreality of it all.
And then it rained. Our guide took out a large knife and chopped up a plump pineapple for everyone. "Leave the skin on your kayak for the monkeys" He said.
Monkeys?!
We paddled into the mangroves, dominated by rhizophora, so we had to negotiate delicately between all the prop roots, colliding with the trees every now and then. I nearly freaked at what seemed like the ventral view of a large ass spider going up a trunk right in front of my face, only to collect myself when I figured it must be a tree-climbing crab.
As we made a sharp corner past a cliff and thick mangroves on the other side, loud shrieks greeted us and only too quickly, a very soaked monkey (it was raining) hopped in front of me and grabbed the pineapple skins off my kayak. One, two, three, more and more OMG I squealed pleasedon'tstealmycamera as one sat next to me when I ran out of fruit, and proceeded to rest her arms on mine looking imploringly into my eyes. She had a baby holding on to her!
When the monkeys decided that we were out of candy, they scooted up the cliff and half watched us paddle forward, half savouring their spoils of the morning. Not so crab-eating macaques eh?
We followed the river through as it made a nice loop in the cliffs before we emerged to the same bay we crossed earlier. A full 3 hours later, we made it back to the kayak hut, thoroughly soaked, shagged out, and still gushing from the adventure.
