Peru 3 - Good news or bad news?

I'm just over halfway through my stay in the Amazon, and given the events of yesterday thought I should do a blog post, so you can all experience what I'm going through.

Bad news: My 600mm tried to escape into a lake yesterday.
Good news: I saved it and it's dried out now and works.
Bad news: In drying it out my camera broke.
Good news: I have a back up camera (small consolation).

Yesterday I went out on a boat on a small lake at the edge of a palm swamp. I had my D800 and 600mm on a tripod in front of me, nice and stable... At some point, however, I moved too suddenly and my lens made a sudden bid for freedom. Fortunately I was holding on to the tripod, so the lens never got more than halfway into the water, and I pulled it back out. Everything seemed to be working well (despite being very wet), but I left it out to dry.

That afternoon all seemed well - camera could take pictures, and there was no water/condensation in the lens. To be safe it is now sitting in a dry bag with a load of silica gel to get all the moisture out. Unfortunately all was not as it seemed, as I discovered that afternoon. I had my 200-400 on and had come across a group of Peruvian Spider and Brown Capuchin Monkeys. Great, so I lifted my camera up and started shooting. Strangely enough, though, the AF was having great difficulty locking on, even to the simplest most contrasty subjects like a dark leaf against the sky. Something is definitely wrong with the electronics inside, so it's pretty much unusable for the rest of the trip. Thank god I brought a spare, because I was considering not doing. I think if I hadn't this post would be interspersed with some (read millions) of choice words which would have definitely (not) helped me feel much better.

Anyway, I'm now left with 1 functioning camera, which is of course far better than 0, but worse than 2. I can't do anything about it though, so am going to have to make the most of it. I think the difference I'll notice most will be the ISO capability. An awful lot of my shots so far have been taken between ISO 1000 and 1600...maybe time for some artful blur shots then!

More good news: I had my first in print magazine cover this month! It's in Plantlife, and a picture of it is below, thanks to my dad for sending a photo of it to me.

More more good news: Just before I left I also had 4 pages on Bitterns in Birdwatching Magazine!

And here's a picture of a Dusky Titi monkey. These are fairly common here, and every morning about about 5.30 burst into life with an extremely untuneful racket. It's far better than hearing cars go past and jets flying overhead though, which is what I'll be back with on 4 May. I must admit I'm looking forward to it though - cool, not humid, and I will no longer be eating 3 meals of rice a day!