Kayaking In Mexico
On first February weekend we visited the lower mountains
on the East side of Mexico, in order to explore for the first time the Valles
river section that starts in Cd. Valles Tamps and ends in a little town called
El Pujal. View
Map.
The trip was organized by Eduardo the leader of "Los Cocoones", an old
friends group. The name was given to them after the film in which elders in
a nursing home behave like youngsters after swimming in a pool where aliens
left their cocoons in a controlled atmosphere with the right temperature
and nourishing liquids.
The 5 "Cocoones" and myself (I am starting to become honorary member) started
the trip early Saturday morning using two of our "Xel-Ha" (say SHELL-HA) kayaks
16.3 feet and 24 inches wide, and two canoes. One Mexican made fiberglass canoe
and a Dagger Venturer.
They expected flatwater and smooth riding but we encountered some rapids
every now and then with average on the first part of the trip of 1 rapid
every third of a mile.
Rapids were all classified as class 1, very few up to class 2. The
interesting part of it was that water level was not too deep, and one could
see rocks coming out every now and then or one could anticipate them due to
the way water rose or run around them.
At points, specially at the beginning, we were afraid of bottom fractures
and we had to get out and walk behind the kayaks and canoes over sharp and
shaky rocks grabbing them as they followed the stream, or sliding them down
and having somebody hold them down river, and walk around the rapid.
In between rapids water was deep and still and the wider and calmer it was
the strongest the rapids we would encounter farther down. The scene was of
big trees, lots of sugar cane fields, tropical plants with hanging lianas
and orchids. Lots of ducks, storks, some pelicans and every now and then a
seagull or very similar. We could hear many other bird species, even
parrots all around. Most of the time one could not see outside of the river
walls and trees.
The rocky environment was amazing because you could see under the water and
on the river sides big stone pieces like columns of 6 to 8 feet long and
about one foot per side like perfect construction material. Flat sections
of several yards as flat as cement made floors, with 4 inches wide. Walls
with perfect cleavage planes for yards and yards that made the whole thing
look like an old Greek palace in ruins with stairs and columns.
We had a detailed map, a deck fixed compass and a Garmin e-map GPS. The day
was little cold and cloudy. Without a clear sight of the sun we seemed to
be going always in the same direction. I kept thinking that it was east
because I know the river ends in the Gulf of Mexico, but both the GPS and
the compass indicated sections going west, southwest, north, but mostly
south and southeast.
The most fun was in the rapids because only one canoe was meant for them.
The sea kayaks had a hard time turning very quickly in short river bends.
We had to lean and brace but tilting the blade so as to get the faster turn
in the shorter space. I didn't at first since I am a beginner in rapids and
on a fast running right turn I was sent towards the left wall where I faced
some branches that didn't let me use the paddle. I was leaning at 45
degrees and the paddle tangled in the branches so I held one branch with my
right hand and positioned the paddle for a brace with my left hand and
quickly released the branch, held the paddle, braced and hip flicked to
recover balance. All others were looking and laughs and claps were the
response to that circus act.
Farther down there was a smooth right turn followed by a wide open left
turn with a lot of current and a tall threatening wall. The funny thing is
that the leading canoe, with Eduardo and Damian, who always passed first to
check for the safest route, made a quick correction to avoid hitting the
wall, with so much energy that they spinned to the left staying stranded on
the eddy and quiet waters on the left of the stream. I was second and since
my corrections were always a little bit short I stayed right on the stream
all along passing my peers as they were spinning. The other kayak and the
second canoe tried for a quick turn as well and also spinned and stopped.
Fortunately enough, because of the camping heavy load, no vessel capsized.
We laughed a lot.
After that it was democratically decided that all following rapids were
navigable and we just looked for the best possible pass, where currents
were greater, assuming that water was deeper and we just went through.
Every now and then we could hear or feel a rock in front or under us. Every
now and then one boat was stranded leaning sideways with water pushing it
against a rock. As the rider would stand up with one foot on the river, the
boat would start moving again and timing had to be very good to avoid
loosing the boat or opening a wide compass.
Being the first time we were cautious ending with the next GPS statistics.
| Distance traveled: |
27.1 km (16.8 miles) |
| Total time: |
8:05:99 |
| Stopped time: |
3:52:26 |
| Moving time: |
4:12:44 |
| Moving Ave: |
6.4 kph (4 mph) |
| Overall Ave: |
3.4 kph (2.11 mph) |
| Max speed: |
50.0 kph (31 mph) |
The last figure is the most amazing result. I guess it is the speed at
which we were passing some of the rapids.
In the last part of the trip, 12-14 km at least (7-9 miles), the river was
wide and flat and we just paddled and paddled to reach the objective. Since
the guy with the map stayed behind, we would ask fishermen and farmers and
they would say, "almost there, just around the bend", and it would take
several of those answers and many bends before the bridge, road and town
appeared.
Unfortunately to me, I made a puncture in the front compartment but I
didn't feel water in because it was damping my unfolded sleeping bag inside
and it was catching water and swelling to fill the whole space, so I just
kept feeling the kayak heavier and heavier and more difficult to lean and
poor tracking, which is unusual.
The tip looked pretty low as compared to the other kayak and at one time I
was thinking that I could not lean because I was too tired, but sure
enough, the sleeping bag weight once coming out was about 80 pounds and we
had to take it out slowly to release water before being able to carry it.
By the end of the day we were cold, tired and hungry but very happy.
On the second day we visited the most beautiful falls in rivers around the area.
You can request pictures to my e-mail and I´ll be happy to e-mail them individually
on a zip file.
Conclusions.
For this type of rivers we need a kayak in between the short maneuverable
river kayak (too slow for the straight sections), and the long sea kayak
(hard to turn and weak against continuous rock banging). We are planning to
make ourselves a shorter kayak, maybe SOT, with good reinforcement, more
rocker, flat bottom, rounded bow and a little line on the stern for easy
paddling on the straight sections. It must be a hybrid not too slow on
flatwater but lively enough for rapids and maybe for surfing.
Any suggestions of boats available or things to include in the design are
welcome. (Last weeks e-mail with Duanne´s beautiful surfing kayak suggests
that something like that would be the right vessel).
You guys Eduardo, Pablo, Rafael, Goyo and Damián are great friends and good
companions. I enjoyed this trip like I had not done since our crossing from
Acapulco to Puerto Marqués last year.
Rafael
Submitted on September 21, 2003