Representatives from the media along with officials from Cara Inn were supposed to sail up to the Shanklands Resort for a press conference to introduce the Guyanese public to`Explore Sail’.

Though the trip was work-related and may have been a run-of-the mill assignment for the more seasoned reporters, I was anticipating a great adventure.

As I stood there, foremost in my mind was actually getting to the resort. You see, I had never been there before. But what was even scarier was the fact that I had never travelled by speedboat.

When everyone had arrived, we departed Georgetown around 08:30 hrs. The ride up the East Bank to the Demerara Harbour Bridge was all too familiar, because I live on the Bank.

Having been told that the ride to Parika was a very long one (I’d never gone there either), I was prepared for it and had equipped myself with two of the daily newspapers.

On the long journey, there was very little conversation and I soon grew tired of reading. The scenery didn’t hold my interest for long either, and soon, the breeze lulled me to slumber.

At Parika, I got out of the bus and stretched my legs, and looked at the little boat in which I was expected to travel. Immediately, waves of panic consumed me.

The thought of travelling in a boat crashing into the waves was bad enough, but then travelling in that little speedboat, was scary!

But excitement got the better of me, and I was soon in the speedboat.

A few minutes later, when everyone was seated, the deafening roar of the boat engine signalled it was time to move.

In retrospect, the boat ride was not half as bad as I had anticipated.

As the boat tore through the water, what little fright that I was feeling was replaced by sheer exhilaration.

Since there was very little that could have been done on the boat except talk (which no one seemed inclined to do) I decided to take in the expanse of the beautiful Essequibo River. This time, I did not sleep.

The boat sailed along and after quite some time, life seemed to emerge from little houses all along the bank.

After an hour on the mighty Essequibo, we finally arrived at our destination.

We were then taken to the Resort’s beach house and asked to help ourselves to light refreshments.

There, we also met with the officials of the Explore Sail group. The press conference started about an hour after we arrived at the Resort.

Explore Sail is another approach to market Guyana as a tourist destination. This time, it is being done in the form of a cruise.

The idea is to bring persons from various countries to Guyana for a 17-day cruise. The persons will sail from St. Lucia to Guyana on a 61-ft luxury yacht followed by 10 days exploring Guyana.

The promoters are currently looking at marketing in Australia, Europe and the USA.

The product, which has already been launched in Berlin, had an overwhelming response according to co-chairman of the Cara Hotels, Paul Stephenson.

The crew said that they are here on a fact-finding mission to assess what Guyana has to offer and are quite satisfied with what they have seen so far.

According to Stephenson, this new initiative will also open avenues for increased revenue and jobs.

After the conference, the visitors were taken aboard the Venus Ocean Star and given a tour of the boat. The yacht, which was built to accommodate six persons and the two-member crew, is spacious, with bathroom and living quarters.

After the press conference, it was lunchtime. We were served a combination of beautifully prepared dishes such as baked chicken, vegetable salad.

The rest of the day was filled with excitement and relaxation as I enjoyed the scenery that Shanklands has to offer.

The group set sail for the Parika Stelling around 3:15 pm. The ride back was a little uncomfortable because the river that had appeared so calm mere hours before, was now angrily lashing against the boat.

I glanced around nervously and noticed to my surprise that persons on the boat were sleeping! How could they sleep through this? I thought.

The ride back to the stelling continued on that same bumpy path. After an hour, we were back on land.