Mainstay Lake is a lake in the

Pomeroon-Supenaam Pomeroon-Supenaam (Region 2) is a region of Guyana. Venezuela claims the territory as part of Guayana Esequiba. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the north, the region of Essequibo Islands-West Demerara to the east, the region of Cuyuni-Mazaruni ...

Region of

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

, near the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

coast, northwest of the mouth of the

Essequibo River The Essequibo River (Spanish: ''Río Esequibo'' originally called by Alonso de Ojeda ''Río Dulce'') is the largest river in Guyana, and the largest river between the Orinoco and Amazon. Rising in the Acarai Mountains near the Brazil–Guyana bor ...

, north of

Adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

. There is a stretch of white sand at the edge of the lake.

Economic activity

A resort has been built next to the lake, a seven miles from the region’s administrative hub at

Anna Regina Anna Regina is the capital of the Pomeroon-Supenaam Region of Guyana. Anna Regina stands on the Atlantic coast, northwest of the mouth of the Essequibo River, 19 km north of Adventure, and was established as a town in 1970. Its population w ...

, or through the resort on a twenty-minute flight from Georgetown to the resort’s airstrip. Mainstay Lake Resort hosts an annual

regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...

as well as a regular Easter Car and Bike Show. The resort was closed for seven months in 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. A pineapple processing facility was established in Mainstay/Whyaka in 2002, an initiative of the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) and Amazon Caribbean Ltd (AMCAR). Due to declining pineapple farming in the area, AMCAR closed the facility in 2014; there were talks of reopening in 2019.

Settlement

''Whyaka'' or ''Whyak'' is a thirteen square-mile

Amerindian The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the Am ...

community of mostly

Arawak The Arawak are a group of indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. Specifically, the term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to the Lokono of South America and the Taíno, who historically lived in the Greater ...

people. Arawaks were the first to inhabit the Mainstay area who called it ‘Quacabuka’ meaning ‘in-between'. The village has a population of 576 and features a primary school (once known as St. Vincent Anglican School) and a nursery school, a health centre, a community centre, a ballfield, a chicken farm, a pine factory, a heritage park. Secondary schooling is done in Anna Regina or Cotton Field. The toshao is Milton Fredericks. The location of the Mainstay Village is .

References

{{commons category Tourist attractions in Guyana Lakes of Guyana