Trip Report Week 7 to 13. Place. Veracruz and surroundings. Who? Ken Johnson and Scott Cartier traveled from Corpus Christi in an attempt to fight back for our visits there. The receiving team: Juan Luis and myself. Paddling conditions.- Water at mild temperature. Just about right. Wind varying from weak some days to 35-45 mph others. Days sunny and hot with refreshing wind. Places visited. Camped in La Laguna which is the tip of a water inlet river type estuary that feeds two lagoons with tidal changes. We stayed on the largest, solitary second lagoon. Paddled the lagoons, surfed in the beach, paddled in open sea, made a circuit to islands off from Veracuz and visited the Catemaco Lagoon with its monkey Islands. Boats. Had seven singles to test and one double. On first day Sat. 8, wind was strong coming from the North so we went to a beach called Anton Lizardo. This faces North and therefore all the trash (ourselves included) would land there. Went out and paddled back and sideways several times exchanging boats. Surfing was great. Juan Luis capsized once but rolled. I did the same on the first time. With my second boat missed a roll and did a paddle float reentry and roll in the surf. It worked well. The only problem is how to pump with so much motion. Had to get to beach half paddling and half balancing with the paddle float. Scott was determined not to capsize, but didnīt count on me. He was behind on most of the tests but at one time he passed me and suddenly I picked up a wave that took me straight to him at astounding speed. Shouted at him and tipped over to avoid collision but momentum was great and still got him even being half body under water. He had to swim. He rolls well in his boat and conditions but it is not easy when in different boat, country, environment, etc. Fortunately he was not hurt physically. I didnt ask about his feelings. Ken did great in all boats. We surfed the double. It was a joy. Hard to pick up a wave but once there, you were like a brakeless locomotive. Great fun. After that we had to honor the palapa by the beach who served shrimp in coconut with mango sauce among other things. Pictures sorted by place visited can be seen in my album http://community.webshots.com/user/cayucochief and in Ken, Juan Luis and Scott picture albums: http://community.webshots.com/user/johnsonkw1 http://community.webshots.com.user/juanluisdelvalle http://home.stx.rr.com/scartier/Quetico%20Park%202002/Veracruz/index.html SECOND DAY (Sunday).- Meeting with local kayakers in Boca del Rio and upriver travel to our camping place. 10.5 miles. Met the local kayakers. Some had Olympic K1 and K2, some had surfski type boats and some others sea kayaks. Paddled together up river up to the Gulf Club. We raced the K2 in our double sea kayak. They were ahead but not by much. Juan Luis did some rolls and sculling. Ken showed some bracings and edging. Juan Luis and I rolled the double twice to the joy of the locals. Had a beer and they returned watching the beautiful houses and restaurants, while we continued up river through the marshes and two big lagoons. Stopped for some good seafood in Mandinga and continued to our campsite. Very enjoyable day. Saw all kinds of birds in the marshes, crabs, and fish jumping around. THIRD DAY. Travelled to Chachalacas. 25 miles North of Veracruz. Nice river estuary and open water paddling. Wind expected to pick up to 35 mph by noon, an actually did. Left Ken, Scott and Juan Luis in the river at Ursulo Galvan and I drove to the river mouth and paddled up river to meet them. Once together we followed the river into the sea and went out by the river mouth. The first one trashed was Juan Luis who rolled up and went on. Waves were braking at 3 feet going out but 4 to 6 feet coming back. Swell was 1-2 foot going out and 3-5 coming back. Paddled parallel to the beach up to the sand dunes. Surfed in with almost no consequence. One fell when stepping out. Ken ran a good wave and braced hard on another to make a nice side landing. Scott and Juan Luis climbed on the dunes and took some pictures. As Ken and I were signaling Juan Luis, that Scott had reached a higher dune peak, he took the picture and Ken and I seemed Hawaiian dancing. Wind and waves picked up. Launching again was not easy. I helped each one out. All of them were shifted sideways while placing the sprayskirt and had to use some kind of help. Finally I was left alone and had to coordinate all very carefully to make it. It worked on the second attempt. Coming back to the car, we decided that, since wind had picked up and kept on rising, it was no good to enter the river mouth, but better to land on the beach near the car. I started to approach the beach and everything started to look really scary. Bottom is shallow for a while and swell rises up and brakers are tall. We paddled back with following seas and each wave would hide all other paddlers. Once, I saw Juan Luis on my left back side on top of a big green wall, getting ready to slide in front of it. I feared for the outcome until I realized that afterwards it was my turn on that same wave. He didnīt take it and I paddled back to avoid it. Then I turned to my left side and saw another big wall coming towards me. I misjudged and received it with a high brace but it was not powerful enough and I kept going and ended in the water. Tried a roll twice and missed barely. Barely or not, it makes no difference. Picked up my paddle float and as I was getting ready to reenter and roll Ken was there. I rolled up and he rafted up with me in the middle of the brakers for me to pump out. He was worried with one coming wave and urged me to hurry up, so I half pumped and placed the sprayskirt when it hit us strongly. I shouted brace and we both leaned to the wave still rafted up. It worked great. The wave passed us and we were upright. We separated, he capsized and rolled up and left the breakers and landed safely. Scott was caught by the last wave before safe beach. Juan Luis landed OK. I moved towards the beach with precarious balance due to water in my boat and fell over again. Rolled up with my paddle float and managed to get to shore, with two more rolls in between, until I found the way to keep the balance with the paddle float on one side and the boat full of water. Tino was waiting in his palapa with cold Coronas and great sea food. What a great day. I need more practice in the surf and roll. FOURTH DAY.- Veracruz Islands Circuit.- I had dreamed of doing a circuit around the principal islands in one day. So this was the day. Put the data on the GPS. Took the compass bearings, packed with all the safety equipment, lunch and some stools. We visited Isla de Sacrificios. Found the reef crossing and continued to Isla Verde crossing uneventfully the Ship Channel. Found another reef crossing and continued out to the next Islands and light house. It is remarkable how clear and transparent the water is out there and how pretty the corals and underwater look. We continued out and saw a sculptoric building way out. As we were closer we saw it was a wrecked big ship like a tanker on another group of reefs. Needless to say it has become a touristic attraction and motor boats come out 7 miles to see it. Continued our circuit and landed in a tiny longitudinal section of sand and shells where there are two lightposts. Had tuna tacos and fig cookies. Going back practiced rolls. Ken and Juan Luis got theirs OK and I did mine with the paddle float. Getting close to the Port of Veracruz, we tried to get in but some in the group were tired and we continued back to the car with back wind, and staying away from the breakes so that we would not repeat the previous day episode. Landed after little more than four hours in the most pleasant and beautiful kayaking trip I have made, averaging overall 3.6 mph for 14.7 miles including most stops (not lunch). Unfortunately fauna was mostly absent. LAST DAY.- Catemaco Lagoon.- Paddled 9 miles in the mountain Lagoon south of Veracruz in the Los Tuxtlas biosphere world reserve. We went to the islands. The second one is special because it has Macaco monkeys brought from Thailand, and are the attraction of the place. We sprinted and caught up with one of the local row boats to confirm the latest siting of the monkeys. Boats come to see and feed them, and the monkeys are eager to climb on boats and almost got ready to jump on our kayaks. We ate in a palapa by the lake and drove back to our camping site to get ready to part the next day. What a great company we had. Enjoyed very much their stay and their trip their paddling skills and their positive focus of all situations. Best Regards, Rafael El cayuco chief. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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