Upriver Adventure


Mark became known as Mr. Fix-it during our time in the Morovo Lagoon. He and Matt from SV Perry were busy almost every day as word spread that there were yacht guys who could repair boats. Somehow word even spread deep into the bush where someone had an aluminum boat that needed some patching up. So we all joined Mark for an upriver adventure. “Milton” came along with us to ensure we took the right estuary and arrived safely.

Mark and Matt fixing an aluminum boat in the bush.

The river was edged with a wall of greenery. It was as if we had just hopped aboard the Disneyland Jungle Cruise without the corny twenty-something commentator using annoying puns. But this was the real deal. They say there’d been over 18 crocs killed near the villages that line this river. All of us were on high alert, searching the maze of mangrove roots for beady eyes barely above the water’s surface. Any bubble that came up or a wake that didn’t match the current was suspect. Surely we were surrounded by crocs.

Baby Croc
Kids being kids as we work on boats

Getting ready to leave

After a thirty minute upriver commute, we hadn’t had any certain croc sightings, and I can’t say I was disappointed. Somehow sitting in a rubber inflatable dinghy didn’t seem much defense against a creature that boasts the strongest bite ever measured at 3,700 pounds per square inch!! I felt like a sitting rubber ducky!

Squall on ride back to boats

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