The Orinoco, Bandits, Emily, and Puerto La Cruz, Part 8
On our way to the Orinoco the next stop was Columbus Bay on the southwest corner of Trinidad. When Columbus stopped there, and he did, imagine his surprise to find that it had his same name.
Let me pause here and explain what our very tentative river excursion plans were.
The Orinoco River was a favorite of Marlin Perkins; remember the Mutual of Omaha TV series? Remember when his staged encounter with an anaconda went sour and he was almost killed? The Orinoco is the third largest river in the world, it is sparsely populated, navigable for about 800 miles, has 350 different varieties of fish, yada, yada. The delta region of the river is about 100 miles wide, but also branches into several other rivers that flow northeastward to the Gulf of Paria that separates Venezuela and Trinidad. Among the northern outflows is the Rio Macareo, no small river in its own right, it joins the main channel of the Orinoco 100 miles upriver. The main shipping channel of the Orinoco goes into the delta region at Boca Grande. Gold, iron, and lots of other minerals are mined in copious quantities in areas adjacent to the river system and ships routinely make the trip to Puerto Ordaz. Depending upon the season, river depths change by 40 to 50 feet. Since it was well into the rainy season, the river was high.
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On the trip to Tobago, we passed a huge oil rig being towed to a new location. It moved slowly.
Roy and Dunia
Waters of the Orinoco merging with the Serpent's Mouth
