Look out for that swamp, Skipper!

I, also, have made the mistake of landing in a swamp. Don't do it. If you must, your bow is your friend. Use it to kill leeches and everything else in the vicinity before you debark.

I'm not sure why you were trying to build a bed instead of a portal. That suggests you're skipping a biome. Or two. You don't mention whether you were sailing on a boat or a raft, but I'm guessing the latter.

If you're not able to build at least a Karve, you're not ready for the swamps and it will take you so long to recover your stuff that you should just write it off.