Firefly - French Guyana - Up the Maroni River

On 26th February 2017, after two days and one night at the rolly anchorage south of Iles Royale, one of the Iles du Salut, we lifted the anchor and headed north east approximately 100NM to the Maroni River entrance. Our destination was St Laurent Du Maroni, a town on the boarder with Suriname some 25 miles up river. St Laurent officially became a town in 1949 and now has a population of 40,000. It was historically a prisoner reception port for the French penal colonies within French Guyana, where all prisoners including Dreyfus and Papillon came first after their voyage from France.

Our little detour up the river was suggested by Tim and Magda from fellow WARC yacht Bellafonte who had been in email contact with Davide Matelicani. Italian Davide, with good English and a strong Aussie accent is the driving force behind the marina at St Laurent - he gave us good instructions and they were needed. We timed our arrival at the safe water mark in the mouth of the river for dawn and high tide. We proceeded up stream, navigating through the various sand and mud banks, the lowest depth we saw was about 2 metres below our keel.

About half way we anchored as suggested by Davide for brunch (delicious all day breakfast cooked by Paul) at the Creek Coswine and waited for the next incoming tide to take us up to the marina. It had rained all morning - what did we expect in a rain forest in the Amazon basin? However, the rain had cleared by lunch time and our trip and the scenery up through the mangroves and jungle on both the French Guyana and Suriname side of the river was very interesting, the channel being well marked with lateral buoys.

Davide was there to meet us at the marina's mooring field. The marina is work in progress, there are no pontoons yet; these are planned for next year but our mooring was close to the dock and sheltered by the wreck of a prison ship the Edith Cavel which has now curiously sprouted trees and looks like a forested island. Formal entry procedures were made very easy by Davide and included a welcome drink and a familiarisation tour around the town (in his car) even dropping us off at a good Creole Restaurant for supper.

Since its closure as a prison town St Laurent du Maroni has become a major crossing point into the country from Suriname. There was civil war across the border in the 1990's and now a large proportion of the town's residents are refugees from the war. Even now many try to cross illegally to enjoy the benefits of the European Union! Clearly they succeed as there was thriving township and market at the waters edge just a few miles upstream of the town - with a constant stream of local pirogues (river boats) and no visible immigration controls.

The historic buildings from the prison era remain and include impressive officer's residences, a church and the Hotel de Ville. The town has now expanded out on a formal grid plan with wide streets. We were there at carnival time but the celebrations were rather tame compared to those we missed in Brazil.

So after two days we are now heading down the river and back to sea, speeding down with the current at 9 knots. Many thanks to Davide for such brilliant hospitality - we wish him the best of luck with his future plans. If anyone is interested in a similar trip look at www.marinaslm.com and the new RCC Cruising Guide for Suriname and French Guyana.

Paul, Gerard and Peter