Bonaire, Dutch Antilles 20 Feb to 6 March 2010

On way back from Ecuador spent two weeks in Bonaire, Dutch Antilles.

Signed up with Wannadive for a PADI open water course in first week.

Based at Eden Beach, using pool and the sea. Course included 4 open water dives.

Lizards and iguanas abound!

Bonaire is pleasant and warm!!

Nice restaurants, like this Argentine steak house, but self catered mostly.

Made a couple of boat dives on Klein Bonaire, a smaller uninhabited island ringed by coral reefs.

The diving was excellent, good viz and great coral formations.

Plenty of fish, like this parrot fish, and also saw rays, a turtle, squid, lobster and so on!!

Snorkelled at various places in between dives.

Bonaire has around 100 dive sites, many of which can be accessed from the shore and the whole coast is a marine reserve

Large cruise shjips visit from time to time.

Aboard the Wannadive boat.

Driving into the National Park on North end of Bonaire, a wild place!

Did about 12 open water dives whilst on the island.

Rio Cosanga 19 Feb 2010

Finished our trip with a really great run on the Cosanga (lower) with some rain boosting the flow.
Here we use a sports facility for changing in the rain!!

Dan Dixon cruising on the Cosanga, amazingly a first time down for him!!

Ricky threads his way through one of the longest rapids.

Olga and Oleg steering the catamaran through a long rapid on the Cosanga.

Rio Piatua 18 Feb 2010

Teamed up with Ricky, Dan Dixon, Matt Terry plus Oleg and Olga to run the Piatua, a recently discovered gem of a river that drains into the Anzu, itself a tributary of the Napo. This is a river that is described as "California in the jungle" with magnificent granite boulders in the streambed throughout the run and crystal clear water from the wild Llanganates.

A short hike takes you to the put in from a suspension bridge.

The action starts immediately and is characterised by steep and complex rapids of grade 3 and four for the whole of the run. The vast majority of the river can be read from one's boat.

Olga and Oleg work their way through the maze. Dan did this run without a paddle just for the heck of it.........but he does have big hands!!

Chris running a steeper drop..........

Dan hand paddling...........

Olga working on her tight turns.......

Typical Piatua scenery............

......and a fine slap upo meal in Tena afterwards.

L to R, Matt Terry; Oleg; Olga; Chris, Dan with his daughter and wife; Ricky

Rio Misahualli 17 Feb 2010

Drove south to Tena and put on the Rio Tena which soon joins the Misahaualli. The first couple of hours are flat, and in places dugouts are tied up, as local people use them to cross the river.

The Lower Misahualli then enters a jungle canyon with nice defined rapids that eventually l;ead top a class 6 waterfall that must be portaged or can be "sneaked at 5+!!"

The portage was hot and tough with the catamaran, but eventually we made it through.

After the falls, seen above, the river drops into a big rapid called "Land of Giants"


This leads to a widening of the canyon and easier water. Nice springs drop into the river.

Easy floating leads top Puerto Misahualli at the confluence with the Rio Napo, one of the longest rivers in Ecuador and tributary of the Amazon. Here there are numerous dugout taxis that ply the route downriver with passengers, powered by outboards.

Quijos River - Chaco/Bonbon section 16 Feb 2010

Paddled the Chaco and Bon Bon Gorges on the Quijos. Bigger water.

Nice basalt canyons fringed with beautiful jungle.


Some nice and well defined class 3 and four........


........ a chance to play "tarzan", swinging on a jungle "rope" into the Quijos!!


Getting all washed up in eddies..........

and riding home in the back of the truck in warm rain!!

Quijos River - Cheesehouse 15 Feb 2010

Travelled from La Concordia via Quito to collect Oleg and Olga and then on to Baeza in Ricky's spare truck or camioneta. It was a perfect truck for the kayak and the catamaran!


At Baeza we stayed at casa de Rodrigo and Rodrigo drove shuttles for us on the Quijos. Here he is curiously lookingh on as Oleg and Olga prepare their Kulik for our first run.


Cheesehouse section followed by Bridge to Bridge. Continuous rapids which at times reach 4 plus.

The catamaran flippoed once at an awkward ledge where the Quijosd dumped them vertically into a steep pourover, but we rescued it all quickly!


The river was a good test for the manouevring capabilities of the cat and the crew!

This was the week of carnival in Ecuador and New Baeza was in party mode........


.........with lots of mud and water slinging..........we got a soaking too!!


..........and lots of loud music!

Chris, back in Cody's Jefe on the Quijos.

Scot and Russians in Ecuador!! 14 Feb 2010

Olga and Oleg arrived in Quito from St Petersburg and went staright to top of the gondola on Pichincha, overlooking the city.....into thin air!!!


There they went horse riding!!

....and also explored the old colonial centre of Quito.



I met then on Sunday evening and on Monday we drove over the paramo and high pass towards Papallacta and the Amazon drainages. Here Olga and I are on the paramo in front of a veiled Volcan Antisana, en route to the Quijos Valley. The Rio Quijos starts on the glaciers of Antisana.

Ecuador 8-12 Feb 2010 West Slope

Met up with Ricardo Alzamora in Mindo where we kayaked the Mindo and Upper Blanco together before heading to do a second descent of the Rio Pachijal, which Ricky did first descent of a few years back and got benighted on. Pic above shows Ricky and Maria Clara with their daughter Isabella. :-)

The walk in the the Pachijal goes through some serrious mud as you can see in this picture.
After a while a muddy mule trail takes off, eventually, after more than an hour descending steeply through the jungle towards the river.

On the way down we had to make way for mules ascending with timber that is being extracted from these steep slopes.

After a short paddle on class3-4 we had to make the epic portage round a series of waterfalls and siphons. The portage is on RHS looking upstream in the view above. It took us an hour and half to get back into the river. The walk in and this portage took a lot out of me in the heat. A long succession of very fine class 4 and easy 5 rapids, with one short awkwartd portage over a blockage, led to a section where the gradient eased and the river became class 2 and 3. Made it to Pachijhal in about 6 hours overall. A really adventurous and rugged trip.

South Post Creag Meagaidh 30th January 2010

James leads up the first pitch of South Post Direct on Creag Meagaidh. A classic route up the Post Face. This entry pitch, a long 50m ice pitch, is followed by 100m of easier snow. Leads to a grade 3/4 ice pitch, a short snow slope and then a classic 40m steep ice pitch which fell to me to lead (which can be avoided on the left at grade 3). Easier grade 2+ ground above leads in about 80m more to the summit plateau. A wonderful day, almost calm and very cold. Middle ice pitch was rather rotten and the best ice was saved for the last major pitch which was excellent. Grade 5 (4).