Not far from the spectacular azur water of the Caribbean beaches, we can find a very different ecosystem to explore. Fresh water tropical creeks transitioning into mangrove lagoons offer rich and diverse habitat. Here we explore one such waterway, that we found between Havana and Puerto Escondido in Cuba, right out into the beautiful Caribbean.
You can never really predict what you'll see on these backwater paddles, so here are some key moments:

2:14 – Interesting ruins at the launch site
13:31 – What is that thing crawling along my handhold branch (closer again at 13:42)?
19:21 – Short portage
20:40 – Meeting a fisherman while looking for a nicer re-entry spot on the portage
29:11 – A bridge
35:50 – Vultures
42:00 – One of the many dense sections
48:25 – A water tower means we must be close to the coast
54:17 – Doing up the spray skirt in anticipation of the ocean break
55:24 – Almost surreal return to civilization after hours of jungle and mangrove paddling
55:52 – Packraft ocean water polo?
56:43 – Getting out through the fairly gentle shore break
1:03:17 – Meeting a snorkelling spear fisherman with a string of fish – must film that underwater!
1:04:00 – Filming when I should have been paddling = backward surfing, lol
1:06:13 – Surfing in
1:08:22 – Portuguese man o' war, also called Bluebottle jellyfish, with a very nasty sting, on the beach


If you enjoyed this please consider hitting the like button and subscribing. This helps the channel get noticed, so that others get a chance to see it, and may just surprise you with some interesting new videos. Thank you.